Emma - Jane Austen - Episode 4- All Is Well That Ends Well - The Conclusion - a podcast by Christy and Garry Shriver

Emma - Jane Austen - Episode 4- All Is Well That Ends Well - The Conclusion

 

HI, I’m Christy Shriver.  We discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.

 

I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  This is our concluding episode to Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Emma.  And what a fun series it has been.  There have been no deaths, well, unless you count Mrs. Churchill but she was generally ungrieved.  There’s no generational abuse, no hysteria, no ghosts or no violence of any kind.  Christy, I didn’t realize you in the English department believed in books like this. This is the anti-Wuthering Heights.

 

 You books that happiness.  It’s true try to avoid that if we can, but in this one case, we’ve made an exception..  Next week, for our poetry supplement, we’re going to discuss William Blake and his poems about chimney sweepers- they’re pretty tragic, so hopefully, if someone comes to the canon of English literature looking for despair and angst, we can find something to offer.  We generally do.

 

Well, I guess, I better enjoy the comedic ending of Emma while it’s available- and if the definition of comedy is that we end in marriage- Emma fits the bill. There is not one, not two but three weddings at the end of this book that starts with a wedding.  On week one we met our first bride- Miss Taylor who becomes Mrs. Weston.  We meet the Woodhouses and learned a little about Regency England.  In week two we flew through 17 chapters of the book meeting Emma, her family and being introduced to Harriet- the girl who will be Emma’s matchmaking victim and who narrowing escapes matrimonial destruction- But we follow the near-miss disaster by looking at the silly love triangle constituted by Emma- Harriet- and Mr. Elton finishing with Mr. Elton’s buffoonish confession of love to Emma.  We also spent a large part of the discussion defending the claim that Austen is, among other things, making an argument about the nature of what Aristotle calls virtuous friendships claiming that the most satisfying of relationships is between those who are intellectual equals.  Last week, we picked up with the second love triangle- Emma- Frank Churchhill and Jane Fairfax.  We drew a parallel between Frank and Jane versus Emma and Knightly- a secret love versus a hidden love, as you called it.  We also met the entire town of Highbury making the most fun of the ridiculous upstarts, Mr. and Mrs Elton. We finished by reading the end of chapter 38 where we begin to see a little sparkle between Emma and Knightly with the acknowledgement that they are not brother and sister.

 

And that is where we will pick up with chapter 39 and race to the end and all the weddings.  These episodes I know have been longer than usual, but on the other hand, I feel like we’ve skipped over so much.  We’ve tried to give you something different to look for every episode as you read the book- and while there are some books you can listen to our podcast and skip the books- I’ve heard people do that with the Macchiavelli episodes, Emma is not one of them.  There is just too many things to say- and if we went on for much longer, most of you would just turn off your device and call us Miss Bates.  So, where to start?  Well,  before we talk about Frank Churchhill rescuing Harriett, eating strawberrys at Donwell Box Hill and the other events of the story,  I want to point out something that I read in Janice Barcha’s article on Austen’s word choice that I just found interesting and thought you might too.  It’s about her diction.  Now diction is just a fancy term for any person’s choice of words.  We all have words that we tend to use and this part of what is called our idiolect- we don’t even think about it but the words that come out of our mouths are unique and really determined by our educational level, the region where we live, our personality- all kinds of thing.   No two people have the same idiolect- and if we know someone really well,  lot’s of us can recognize who’s texting us or writing just by their diction.  This is something, I don’t know Garry what can you tell me about how many words an average native English speaker uses on average.

 

Well, as you knew when you asked me that, that’s a tricky question.  The truth is, the majority of native English speakers know thousands of words by the time they are adults- in fact linguists tell us that even most 5 year olds can recognize almost 10,000 words.  However, that’s not the same as saying they use all those words.  Most of us will use the same 1000 in about 89% of everything they say.  I’m assuming this would be what you’re calling our idiolect.

 

Yes- although to be honest- your idiolect isn’t just your vocabulary, but also your speech patterns and pronunciation-  but the reason I bring it up is because in Emma, Austen plays around with this in a fun sort of way.  She gives each character a very distinctive idiolect, but she also gives the entire community their own sort of sociolect- In the book Emma, Austen uses the word “very” 1212 times.  That is several times per page.  Now, before you just say, well that’s just the way Austen writes- that’s HER idiolect- let me assure you that’s not true.  She ONLY does this in Emma.  

 

That’s weird.  Why?

 

Well, there’s speculation about that.  At first I thought it was her making fun of Emma- like inserting like into her speech pattern to make her sound spoiled or valley like we do when we make fun of California people- but that’s not true.  All of the characters when they talk over use the word very.  When they first discuss Mrs. Elton, before they decide they don’t like her, she’s not a pleasing woman, Emma calls her, “ very- very pleasing young woman”... she’s “very nicely dressed.”  And Harriet responds not by saying she’s attached to Mr. Elton, but she’s VERY attached to him.  You can pick any page of this book and you’ll see it.  It’s funny.  And you know who’s the most prone to use the word very

 

No, who?

 

Mr. Woodhouse.  Listen to him, “I am very glad I did think of her.  It was very lucky, for I would not have had poor James think himself slighted upon any account, and I am sure she will make a very good servant.”  He’s just talking about one of the house servants.  

 

But couldn’t you argue that Austen is just giving people personality.  I mean one of the ways you know immediately Miss Bate is talking is through all the crazy punctuation and the endless barrage of “you knows”…

 

Well, that’s certainly true of Mrs Bates- she has one of the most distinctive idiolects in the whole book and I’m sure many an actress has had a lot of fun playing that role.  But Barchas argues, and I think it’s worth mentioning here because this is kind of the idea I wanted to center this week’s podcast around- is that it contributes to one of the overall themes in this book- the theme of isolation and confinement. Austen goes to great lengths to create a small community, a small world with its own language even- that Emma- uniquely Emma- is never  to leave- and although the first statement in the entire book declares that Emma has nothing to vex her ever- Austen, through her unique narrative technique- by the end of the novel- absolutely convinces us that this is not the case- she does have things to vex her- in fact- many of her faults that annoy us- her snobbishness, her meddling in people’s lives in particular- are in large part a result of her vexation at being isolated.

 

And why do you think that is?  

 

Well, I think it centers around her father. And Austen’s portrayal of Mr. Woodhouse is unusual. First of all, he’s very dear to everyone- where they will make fun of Miss Bates and Mrs. Elton, you don’t see anyone making fun of Mr. Woodhouse, even though he has so many selfish and irritating demands and habits- you would think no one would want to be around him at all. But instead they say he is, and I quote, “tender at heart”.

 

But he clearly has what may be called hypochondria, although, I know it’s not scientific to diagnose fictional characters. He does use his illnesses, either real or perceived to control the actions of everyone in his world- especially Emma- but he does it to everyone- dictating when people come and go, what they eat, how many are even invited to parties.  His best friend in town, Mr. Perry is quoted all the time- and often misquoted we notice from the very beginning when we have this discussion about eating cake.

 

And yet, Emma is entirely devoted to him- it’s the driving focus of her life- and is what is causing all of her isolation. She can’t marry because she can’t leave her father. According to her own admission and I quote, “I must beg you not to talk of the sea.  It makes me envious and miserable; I who have never seen it!”  And for modern readers, especially female readers, I think it’s what makes us empathize with her in many instances and makes us angry with her father.

 

Well, there’s a couple of world view issues here that I think are important to consider. The first that comes to mind is the Christian worldview that is embedded in this novel although not overtly.  Of course, Christianity is not the only worldview like this, in fact, almost all traditional religious world views share this value – Emma demonstrates a sacred commitment to one’s parents. It’s in the ten commandments- honor thy father and thy mother- among other sacred texts.  Of course, our modern secular worldview reverses this and sees it as the duty of the father to honor the child- but that is a fairly recent reversal- most cultures throughout time- saw the caring for one’s parents as a sacred duty- almost above all else. Emma has no mother and is the sole-caretaker of her father and has been.  She has adopted this responsibility and will not forsake it for anything no matter the cost- in Knightly’s words—it is her duty- and so his hypochondria confines her to Highbury.

 

But in my mind, if I were friend, it would drive me nuts to see someone trapped like that.

 

For sure, in our minds, but that brings me to the second issue of worldview- how we see mental illness today is very different.  Back then, there was a consensus that mental health was connected to physical health- and of course it is- but they understood it slightly differently than we do.  If you were in a bad humour- that was a physical issue.- and there were literally four humours.  Mr. Woodhouse was a nervous man- that meant his nervous system was mal-functioning.  This condition is related to excessive black bile- an obstruction of the spleen.  If you look at medical books from the time period they actually say that “hypochondria is an obstruction of the spleen by thickened and distempered blood; extending itself often to the liver and other parts”.  So, to abandon or blame someone for having hypochondria would be the equivalent of blaming someone for having hemophelia or arthritis- cruel to do.  Of course in modern times we would refer to Mr. Woodhouse as suffering from any number of anxiety disorders.

 

Well, Frank Churchhill’s mother seemed to have it too…well they thought she did until she actually died, so who knows what all that woman had.  But having those ideas in our mind, when we come to the climax of the book…things make a lot more sense as to why Knightly and Emma getting together is such an ordeal….and literally almost does not happen.

 

Which brings us to the end of the ball where we see the romantic connection between these two kind of begin.

 

It begins, but then takes a back seat to all the silly drama that comes with the characters of Harriet, Frank Churchill and Mrs. Elton, albeit it different ways.  First, Harriet gets assaulted by gypsies and low and behold who shows up just in the nick of time- Frank Churchill who rescues her from her oppresses.  Also, It seems Mr. Elton’s snubbing her at the party and her getting rescued by Knightley is enough to cure Harriet of being in love with him, those events plus the fact that he’s married has finally led Harriet to decide to give up her infatuation with him as well as the treasures of his she’s been holding onto: one being a pencil stub. 

 

Speaking of Frank Churchill, there’s also this scene where apparently asks a question about Mr. Perry revealing that he knew private information that wasn’t commonly known.  As readers we can tell that he must have obviously heard it from Jane, but he claims he must have dreamed it.  While they are playing a word game, he seems to apologize to Jane by writing out the word “blunder” and then perhaps “pardon”- although we as readers don’t actually see that one. 

 

Well- pardon and blunder seem good words for Frank Churchill because for me, what is emerging is this comparison between Frank and Emma.  They are both spoiled rich kids, but Emma, although snobby does seem to be guided by a sense of duty where Frank does not.  He’s introduced not doing right by his father and now, it seems, he’s kind of not doing right by his fiancé.  Jane Fairfax is very upset.  Frank Churchill is flirting with Emma, is telling things in pubic that she’s told him in confidence and seems very cavalier about the whole thing.  Which takes us to the adventure at Donwell Abbey- a contrivance by the silly Mrs Elton to get all the best people in town to hang out together.
Furthermore, Mrs. Elton, who wants to prove she’s a somebody- has taken it upon herself to get a job for Jane Fairfax.  

 

Which, in the words of Emma left Jane looking vexed.  And this is where the word mystery does seem to fit this novel.  There are all these disconnected events that don’t go together, and I as a  first time reader get a little confused as to what it all means.  I didn’t understand the word game.  I didn’t understand why Jane seems so upset most of the time, and here she’s so upset she actually leaves the party on foot, begging Emma to keep her leaving a secret for as long as possible, and then of course Frank Churchhill randomly showing up and in a foul mood.  None of it makes sense.

 

No, and the big take down on Box Hill doesn’t either.  This scene is really where Emma hits her lowest moment in the whole book, and really, in terms of her own personal growth, this is where we see a real turning point from which she never returns.  Although, this really isn’t considered by most to be the climax of the novel.  Most critics call the climax of the novel that moment where Emma realizes she’s in love with Knightly.  And I get that.  I don’t even disagree with that.  I love that part.  But for me, this book is about Emma- and it is in this moment- here at Box Hill that Emma comes into her own.  When she viscerates the helpless and and kind hearted Miss Bates for no reason and then Knightly shames her, she fundamentally really changes- for me it’s the moment she takes command of who she wants to be in her life- and I really like that.

 

Well, on the surface, it absolutely makes no sense she should attack Miss Bates.  Miss Bates, of course is her normal slightly annoying self, but she never is anything but kind and grateful, especially to Emma.

 

No, but like all of us, when we get in a bad mood and feel defensive, isn’t it true that we often attack the weak links.  And this is what happens here, and really why I think she comes into her own.  They entire Highbury entourage is out on this excursion to the place called “Box Hill”.  Everyone seems off- no one is having fun.  We will find out later the real reason, but Frank Churchhill seems especially flirtatious with Emma- on the surface it seems playful, but it’s one of those conversations that isn’t. 

 

No- what’s really happening is Emma and Frank are having a power struggle- for no better reason than they seem to be bored.  The whole conversation is worth picking apart, but we don’t have time to really do that, but I want to point how two intelligent people verbally duel.  

 

It starts with Frank thanking Emma for inviting him suggesting he wasn’t going to come.  Emma counters by attacking him.  She says this, “Yes, you were very cross; and I do not know what about, except that you were too late for the best strawberries.  I was a kinder friend than you deserved.  But you were humble.  You begged hard to be commanded to come.” 

“Don’t say I was cross.  I was fatigued.  The heat overcame me.”

“It is hotter today”

“No to my feelings.  I am perfectly comfortable today.”

“You are comfortable because you are under command.”

“Your command- yes.”

“Perhaps I intended you to say so, but I meant self-command.”

 

Now, this is where Frank dominates Emma, making her angry because she cannot regain control over this argument.  This is what he does, she says something- like she does here, and then he changes what she says to mean something she didn’t say.  He begins to put words in her mouth.  He does it again, and again.  Until finally he claims in front of everyone that Emma would like to hear what everyone was thinking.  Emma replies, “Oh! No-, no”.  “Upon no account in the world. It is the very last thing I would stand the brunt of just now.  Let me hear anything rather than what you are all thinking of.”  But he doesn’t stop.  He goes on to say this, Garry read it for us,

 

“Ladies and gentlemen- I am ordered by Miss Woodhouse to say, that she waves her right of knowing exactly what you may all be thinking of and only requires something very entertaining from each of you, in a general way.  Here are seven of you, besides myself, who she is pleased to say, am very entertaining already, and she only demands from each of you either one thing very clever, be it prose or verse, original or repeated- or two things moderately clever- or three things very dull indeed, and she engages to laugh heartily at them all.”

 

Now here’s the kicker, Emma who is never told what to do by anyone, is being pushed around very uncomfortably.  All of this that he is saying, she did not say.  She didn’t order him to do anything.  She didn’t say he was entertaining, and she did not commit to laugh at anything.  The only problem is, she doesn’t know how to handle Frank Churchhill’s bullying of her.  He keeps undermining her, so for the first and last time, I really believe, she picks on the weaker target- Miss Bates.  It’s one of those moments when everyone feels the sting. 

Garry read Miss Bates lines in your best spinster accent.  

 

“Oh very well.  Then I need not be uneasy.  Three things very dull indeed. That will just do for me, you know.  I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as every I open my mouth, shan’t I?  Do not you all think I shall?”

 

To which Emma says, “Ah ma’am.  But there may be a difficulty.  Pardon me- but you will be linited as to number- only three at once.”

 

Of course, Miss Bates is immediately shamed, turns to Knightly and says, “Ah! Well- to be sure.  Yes, I see what she means, and I will t ry to hold my tongue.  I must make myself very disagreeable, o she would not have said such a thing to an old friend.”

 

Ouch- and of course with that one- even the Eltons get up and walk off.  It’s awful.  And later on Knightly addresses this issue with her.  He says a lot, but the bottom line is, she bullied someone who was defenseless.  I love what her thoughts say, “She was vexed beyond what could have been expressed- almost beyond what she could conceal.  Never had she felt so agitated, mortified, grieved, at any circumstance in her life.  She was most forcibly struck. The truth of his representation there was no denying.  She felt it at her heart.  How could she have been so brutal, so cruel to Miss Bates!  And at the end of this chapter, there are tears running down Emma’s cheeks.  Although, I will say, don’t let the tears fool you- this is the moment, Emma gets her power.  She will not be dominated ever again.  

 

Yes- and unlike the many times Emma has vowed to reform her ways, but we were left unconvinced, no one leaves chapter 43 without feeling the shift in her posture, the little girl is gone and the lady has emerged.

 

I agree and everything about the end of the novel is Emma cleaning up all the messes she had made by living by reacting to everything else in her world.  She has to clean up the Miss Bates mess which she immediately does by trying to do right by Miss Bates.  She is forced to clean up the fake romance with Frank Churchill by him admitting his true love for Jane and she admitting she never really did love him.  Then we come back to Harriet.  Remember, the story starts with Emma breaking up this relationship Harriet has with a man she clearly loves, Robert Martin.  At the end of the novel, Harriet confesses that she actually has fallen in love with Knightly and has reason to believe he’s in love with her.  When Emma hears Harrriet’s confession, she is floored.  The text reads, “Til now that she was threated with its loss, Emma had never known how much of her happiness depended on being first with Mr. Knightley, first in interest and affection.  Satisfied that it was so, and feeling it her due, she had enjoyed it without reflection; and only in the dread of being supplanted, found how inexpressibly important it had been…..She had been first with him for many years past.  She had not deserved it; she had often been negligent or persever, slighting his advice, or even wilfully…..read 384 til very dear?’’

 

And of course, this is where, although we are reading the narrator going into Emma’s brain, we once again start to disagree with her understanding of what is going on.  Because in one sense, what she is saying is true.  It’s likely she had taken for granted his relationship with her.  But, he had done the same. Knightley, although he’s 12 years older, is not perfect..and in fact, he’s not perfect now.  He’s run off to his brother’s house…he only comes back when he hears that Frank and Jane are engaged and he’s worried that Emma is upset.  In fact, he’s actually done the same thing as Emma has done- taken HER for granted.  His profession of love is sincere, his marriage proposal spontaneous, and I know I am a dude- but I find these lines very heartfelt and very romantic.  Christy, I think these lines are worth reading- 

 

I agree

 

Page 397

 

“I cannot make speeches, Emma, If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.  But you know what I am.  You hear nothing but truth from me.  I have blamed you, and lectured, you and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have bourne i.t. 

And of course, Emma is absolutely speechless- we get two pages of just her thoughts.  And interestingly enough, Austen doesn’t tell us her reply.  The text said that she spoke.  What did she say? Just what she ought of course. A lady always does.”  But she doesn’t tell us what exactly that was.  Emma is allowed privacy from even the audience.  And of course, the next couple of chapters is just about the unraveling of all the mysterious and playful plot twists Austen has woven for us.  Frank Churchill in a letter that last an entire chapter, reveals his secret engagement with Jane, the fact that that day walking back from the strawberry patch she had broken up with him,

 

 I guess that explains why he’s so cross and perhaps why he was so flirtatious with Emma the next day.  

 

I guess it does.  And then of course, we get the grand finale- the birth of a baby girl, and then  not one, not two but three weddings.  The first- Harriet and Robert Martin- that Emma almost derailed.  The second- Jane and Frank- that Mrs. Churchhill would have derailed had she not, to everyone’s delight, suddenly and tragically died.  The third, a wedding Mr. Woodhouse tried very hard and almost derailed.  Mr. Woodhouse was not happy about Emma marrying, and even with Mr. Knightley agreeing to move in with them instead of Emma moving to his house, Mr. Woodhouse just couldn’t adjust to the idea of Emma being married.

 

This co-dependency seems almost more than anyone should ever have to agree to, and I can’t imagine this working out well.

 

Well, fortunately we don’t ever have to know what happens after..all we know is that just as it looked like the wedding was to be called off, there is an poultryhouse incident that sets all aright….read to the end of the book…

Well, there you have it- Eden has been restored.  Everyone paired with their virtuous friend- Aristotle would be proud. 

 

 Austen calls it, “perfect happiness of the union.”  It’s what makes her books delightful. 

 

 It’s a community of imperfect people- no doubt- but that’s okay.  They are integrated individuals- each being their own person- their foibles make for annoyances, but that’s what community is about. We leave happy…and undisturbed.  

 

Garry- do you really think so?  Are you a jane-ite?

 

Well, , I don’t know if I’m a Jane-ite, but I have to admit, after I got into it, I really did enjoy this book.

 

And to speak in Highbury- I am most very very glad you did.  

 

Me too. If you enjoyed this episode, please don’t forget to give us a rating social media, or your podcast app like podbeam,  Spotify or Apple.  If you’re in the business world, you know the internet bosses that reign from on high, like us better if you do.  Stop in to see us on intagram, FB, Linked In or Twitter, but most importantly, share an episode with an friend.  That’s how we grow.

 

Peace out.

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