Emma, Week 2

Since my last posting, my opinions of some of the characters has changed dramatically. In the first part that I read, I found Emma Woodhouse to be a wonderful person, and I just loved her. I wasn't so fond of Harriet, though I thought she resembled me the most. Now, I think the tables have turned. In reading chapters 8-16, I've realized how...vain (?) Emma is. At first, Emma and Mr. Knightley have an argument about who is "better", Harriet or Mr. Martin. Knightley of course knows that it was Emma who practically forced Harriet to refuse Martin. He accuses Emma of doing bad matchmaking. What he, George, and his brother, John, see is that Emma is trying to match up Mr. Elton with Harriet. What they know, but Emma doesn't, is that Mr. Elton is not at all interested in Harriet. He has always loved Emma. She doesn't know this, just because she is so busy matching Harriet and Elton. She wants so badly to get appreciated for her amazing matchmaking skills that she becomes vain, in my opinion. The second thing she does in this part is when she goes to the poor and "helps" them. However, all throughout the book she talks about wanting to be "useful" to the world. I think this means that wanting to help the poor makes her look better for her image, which is a huge part of her extreme vanity. The huge vain thing that she does in this section is to be truly annoyed with Elton for following her around at the party, and not staying home with Harriet, who is sick and can't go. But, it gets worse. When Emma and Elton are leaving the party, they unfortunately get stuck in the same carriage together, alone. After a long night of partying and maybe even drinking, Elton declares his love for Emma and actually proposes to her, right in the carriage on the way back to Hartfield. Of course, Emma quickly dismisses him, and they ride the whole way home in silence. This makes me very dissapointed in Emma. It is so vain of her. This is the very first time that she realizes that Elton has indeed loved her, and definitely not Harriet the whole time. However, it makes me angry that Emma doesn't even consider Elton. I know that Emma has vowed to never get married, but after all that she has said about him, you'd think that she liked him somewhat. Apparently not. My opinion of Emma changed completely. But, I do believe that she is a very troubled woman, and it will most likely take the whole novel for her to realize what her life is about and who she really is. I bet my opinions will shift each section I read.

~Emma Woodhouse~ (ok that's enough, Emma...... :D )