Emma, Week 6

SIGNIFICANCE OF A QUOTE: "A few minutes were sufficient for making her acquainted with her own heart. A mind like hers, once opening to suspicion, made rapid progress; she touched, she admitted, she acknowledged the whole truth. Why was it so much worse that Harriet should be in love with Mr. Knightley than with Frank Churchill? Why was the evil so dreadfully increased by Harriet's having some hope of a return? It darted through her with the speed of and arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!" (430). Yeah, this is a really long quote, but I feel that the whole thing is important to understand how Emma was feeling at this time of realization. She was discovering that she really didn't know her own heart very well at all. She has been so pre-occupied the rest of the book with other people's hearts and loves that she forgot about her own. She just realized that she was in love with Mr. Knightley the whole time. When Harriet shows a lot of interest for him, she realizes that she's jealous, and that's why she and Harriet actually openly fought about this situation for a few minutes. The cause of this argument was again, a misunderstanding of feelings. This seems to be a recurring theme in the book Emma. Misunderstandings and assumptions. It happens (even a few times maybe) in every section I read. It seems to me like it's the only thing holding the plot together (or not holding it together.... maybe tearing it apart....?). I find this really interesting that Jane Austen keeps putting them into the plot, when it just complicates matters further. I suppose it does make the book a lot more interesting and makes the reader want to keep reading and not stop. I know that it's worked for me. I can't stop reading it. Another thing that shoked me when I read this quote was how quickly Emma evaluated her feelings and her heart. It was astonishing to me how fast she could understand how she felt, and especially after such a long time of not looking into herself and knowing what her heart felt. For me, I have to do this very often because a lot of things happen that make you try to re-think decisions and feelings. It usually doesn't even take a couple minutes, either, even with how often I ponder things. I thought about how nice it would be to be able to do this so easily and quickly. It would save me a lot of time. But then, I just realized how maybe it takes her so little time because she doesn't have all that much to think about, like maybe, she's not that deep and thoughtful. She might be really shallow and vain (as I've discovered before), and that's why it's so easy. Something inside me wants to forgive her and say that she's not vain and shallow, because I like her so much. If one wanted to cynical and mean, though, she would definitely be shallow and vain. I think she's just very good at knowing her own feelings, which is why it's so easy for her. One more section! I'm going to miss reading about Emma! But, I want to know if she blows off her friendship with Harriet for Mr. Knightley, or if she forgets about Knightley to stay friends with Harriet.................