If you’ve ever thought about adding matchmaking to your list of hobbies, read Emma first in order to be forewarned about the potential side effects—making a hilarious fool of yourself takes first place in the list.
Emma is a little longer than Pride and Prejudice—to compare it to some other authors, in the same ballpark with Little Women or Hard Times.
Some things about Emma would certainly be a little over the head of an ordinary 12 year old, but I think most girls that age would still enjoy it. 15+ is a safer general estimate though. And of course, it’s much more of a girl book than a boy book.
Jump to the end if you like for a few concluding remarks; or go straight through for a load of detail!
The Plot [spoiler alert!]
Emma, the eponymous heroine, is a rich, good tempered, good looking, intelligent girl—about 20 years old when the book opens. This does not sound very promising material for a foray into romantic despair; but Emma has a weakness which will create troubles enough for her. Not to make a mystery of it, she’s a matchmaker.
After a signal success in marrying off her governess, Emma (though sorry to lose her best friend) is ready to try her skill again. She befriends a girl younger than herself, Harriet Smith, and casts about to find a suitable young man. Mr. Elton, the handsome curate of the town, seems to check all the boxes.
There is, however, a slight difficulty in the way. Mr. Martin—a perfectly respectable young farmer, is already well acquainted with Harriet and would very much like to marry her. Harriet, not having strong feelings one way or the other, is ready to be influenced by Emma, who is unhesitating in encouraging her (quite tactfully—Emma is beautifully and hilariously subtle) to reject Mr. Martin.
Emma’s objections to the match are a little out of date. She “can’t possibly visit Mrs. Martin of Abbey Mill Farm;” and this is not a pretense to deter Harriet, but really because Mr. Martin is so far below her in the social scale. Emma is a bit snobbish at this point in the book (even for her time), but also, things were simply different back then and it would actually have been more than odd for a wealthy young woman to have an intimate friendship with a farmer’s wife. From a twenty-first century perspective, this is not completely intelligible, but you simply have to take it for granted and let the story move on.
Emma’s interference is viewed as a piece of utter folly by her brother-in-law; more accurately, the brother of her brother-in-law. Mr. Knightley, sixteen years Emma’s senior, has an elder brother’s privilege of rebuking her, and wields the privilege frequently. But Emma puts her nose in the air, convinced she has made a wise choice on Harriet’s behalf.
Mr. Elton continues to show enough interest to make Emma all but sure of him. But when Harriet gets sick right before a party, Emma is surprised to find that Mr. Elton is hardly distraught at all—in fact, seems a good deal more concerned about Emma’s chances of getting sick, than Harriet’s chances of not getting well. From initial suspicion of her mistake, to full confirmation, is only a matter of the beginning of the party to the end of it; Mr. Elton proposes to Emma on the way home, and the two soon feel mutually insulted—Emma, that Mr. Elton should dare to presume to her, and Mr. Elton, that Emma should have mistaken his attentions for angling for the penniless nobody, Harriet Smith.
Furious with Mr. Elton, and not very pleased with herself, Emma eats humble pie and tells Harriet, who is all sorrowful humility. Mortified at her failure, Emma resolves that this had better be the end of her matchmaking career.
Now let me rush to spoil the plot as quickly as possible—first introducing two other characters. Emma’s governess married a middle aged man, a longtime resident of the town, who had a son by a first marriage. The son, Frank, grew up with his aunt and uncle, even formally adopting their last name. Although encouraged, and half expected, to visit home for his father’s wedding, Frank Churchill keeps postponing his visit, on the ground of his aunt’s poor health.
Jane Fairfax—talented and accomplished to a degree that totally outshines Emma, and with an aunt who never loses an opportunity to brag on her—has been an irritation to Emma for years. Not that they know each other personally; Jane has spent most of her life with friends of her father, and only occasionally visits her aunt and grandmother in Emma’s hometown. But Emma is sick of hearing of all Jane’s accomplishments.
This same Jane Fairfax, as it happened, met Frank Churchill several months before and the two had secretly gotten engaged. When her friends go to visit Ireland, Jane declines their invitation and instead returns to her hometown—probably, though not explicitly, with the desire of being nearer Frank Churchill. Lo and behold, Frank suddenly finds an opportunity to visit home.
Their engagement is a secret because of Frank’s aunt, a proud woman far above her station, who would never approve of Frank’s engagement to a Miss Fairfax whose worldly prospect is going out to earn her bread as a governess. Frank, to keep it a secret, does not scruple to flirt with Emma on his visits, doing his best to throw dust in everyone’s eyes. An optimistic fellow, he rolls with the punches and takes it too much for granted that Emma knows he’s not serious.
Emma, in fact, does realize that Frank is not in love with her—after revolving it around in her head for a while. But, flattered by his apparent admiration, she does nothing to check him—in fact, is rather encouraging. And in the back of her head she wonders whether he wouldn’t be a good match for Harriet—though, of course, since her matchmaking days are over, she is resolved not to interfere.
Mr. Elton, piqued by Emma’s refusal and Harriet’s presumption, has meanwhile gone and found himself a wife. I forget how many thousands of pounds—something short of Emma, anyway, but vastly above Harriet. Poor Harriet, who is still rather in love with Mr. Elton, strives to conquer her inclination, and Mr. and the new Mrs. Elton certainly do what lies in them to help her, by snubbing her mercilessly. Most notably, Mr. Elton, after asking Mrs. Weston to dance with him, pointedly refuses to dance with Harriet when Mrs. Weston declines and suggests Harriet as an alternative. This snub is noticed by Mr. Knightley, who is also at the ball. Gentlemanly as ever, Mr. Knightley immediately asks Harriet to dance with him. Emma is grateful for his thoughtfulness, and also amused to catch Mr. Knightley dancing at last.
A bit after this, Harriet is rescued from an onslaught of gypsies by Frank Churchill—a coincidence that Emma smiles over, auguring results from it. Without saying anything specific—or mentioning any names—Emma tells Harriet that more wonderful things have happened…
Meanwhile, Jane disapproves strongly of Frank’s careless conduct with regard to Emma. The two quarrel multiple times, and finally Jane decides to break the engagement. Frank, summoned urgently back to his uncle upon the death of his aunt, has only time to scribble a few brief lines, but confident that his short note will keep Jane from taking rash steps, he puts he matter out of his head.
But Jane never gets the letter, because Frank by mistake locked it up his drawer instead of sending it. Disillusioned and half heartbroken, she resolves to accept a place as a governess—a resolution that takes everyone around her by surprise. Frank, when he hears of it, is utterly shocked and horrified to discover that his letter was never sent. But now that his aunt is dead, he is able to speak to his uncle of his engagement, get his permission, and rush to see Jane.
Upon this, of course, the secret comes out (and this, by the way, is the first you as a reader hear of it—aside from a bit of foreshadowing). Frank’s step-mother (Emma’s old governess) is hurt for Emma’s sake, and has a terrible time trying to tell Emma. But Emma takes it well, though with a good deal of embarrassment considering her previous behavior. Still, not being in love with Frank, she is able to set her old governess’s mind at rest.
But now, once more, Emma must try to undo her mistaken encouragement to Harriet. Greatly to her surprise, however, she finds that Harriet is not even slightly fazed by the news of Frank’s engagement. After a bit of mutual confusion, Emma and Harriet realize that in their previous conversation they had both been thinking of very different people—Emma, of Frank Churchill and his rescuing Harriet from the gypsies—Harriet, of Mr. Knightley and his rescuing her from Mr. Elton’s rudeness. The idea of Harriet marrying Mr. Knightley certainly takes Emma by surprise—and the surprise is not a pleasant one. It’s even less pleasant when Harriet explains why she thinks Mr. Knightley does in fact like her. Long story short, Emma realizes that the idea of Harriet marrying Mr. Knightley is peculiarly distasteful, because Mr. Knightley ought to marry—if anyone—Emma.
Well, after that it needs only for Mr. Knightley to explain that he is not in love with Harriet, and Emma to explain that she is not in love with Frank—which happens in due time, and then, after tying up the loose ends (i.e., marrying Harriet off to Mr. Martin), the book comes to an end.
The plotline is hilarious, packed with the irony of Emma’s stupidity—but likeable stupidity. Mr. Knightley is an awesome character, and so is his brother. In fact, all the characters are fun to read about in their different ways, several of them having their own idiosyncratic humor, wonderfully sustained through the course of the book. Emma is probably my third favorite of Jane Austen’s books.
9/10
The Point
Emma is a thoroughly enjoyable book, with lots of humor—and this may be its main reason for existence, but Emma’s mistakes, as they spring from over confidence in her own perceptions, provide a moral to the novel.
All throughout her series of poor decisions, Emma only ever sees what she wants to see. She sees Mr. Elton, and sees only a potential suitor for Harriet; sees Frank as a potential suitor for herself and never considers Jane Fairfax. Only actual events can convince her otherwise—no hints can possibly do it. She’s vain of her own conclusions, and must learn the hard way that she does not see everything and had better listen to other people’s opinions—and where appropriate, let others make their own decisions.
I’m impressed that Austen can weave a whole novel out of this one ordinary fault. Emma is so consistent in her blindness, that it gets illustrated in multiple ways, but all fitting smoothly into the story’s arc.
7/10
The Style
Jane Austen’s style is direct and to the point, without wasted descriptive scenes. It’s a little detached and unemotional—I can’t imagine crying over anything written in that style. But there’s a constant thread of irony and humor running through her work and it definitely shines in Emma.
7/10
Conclusion
8/10
Emma is full of humor from cover to cover. It has an intriguing plotline—and woven into the plot, a good reminder not to be overconfident of your own judgment! It’s one of those books I can always count on for an enjoyable read, no matter how many times I’ve read it before.
You can find an ebook version of Emma at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/158
These other book reviews might also be up your alley!
Geneva D 
What do you think?