Emma being the villain doesn't seem to make much sense to me. In my eyes, a villain is a villain only if they have evil purposes. (Well, admittedly there are complications, exceptions, etc., but that's kind of the basic theme.) If Harriet was the heroine of Emma, Emma would be the antagonist because she is keeping Harriet from happiness, but she wouldn't be the villain because she isn't doing it intentionally. But Harriet isn't the heroine; Emma is. And Emma, while certainly not being perfect, tries to be good as a general rule, and so she can't be the villain.
So what about Mr. Elton? Well. Mr. Elton certainly seems to be a good choice for a villain. He's slimy and mean and revengeful and mercenary...but that doesn't make him a real villain. Think about Wickham;Wickham lives a wild life and tries to ruin others. Mr. Elton is a respectable clergyman who is somewhat disagreeable. He doesn't actively work towards wrecking anyone's life.
 |
| The lovelight in his eyes...:D |
There's Mrs. Elton, who really shouldn't be allowed in civilized society. She's petty, over-sweet, and has a too-high opinion of her own social standing (and a too-high opinion of herself in general!), but again, she doesn't actively work towards someone else's destruction. Admittedly she makes Jane Fairfax's life miserable, but she does it with good enough, if misguided, intentions.
And then there's Frank Churchill. When he makes his grand entrance, he's already engaged to Jane Fairfax, but he's so anxious to hide it from his aunt (see! Another reason why I don't like him! I kind of agree with Mr. Knightley on this; he should be able to stand up to his aunt if he loves Jane so much.) that he pretends to be in love with Emma. As she herself points out, he could very well have broken her heart and pretty much destroyed her life. It was only good luck that he didn't. He was only thinking about himself, and he nearly ruined not only the heart and health of Jane Fairfax, the creditability of Mr. Dixon, the happiness of Emma, and the respectability of his father, but also his own life. I think Frank Churchill is a lot like Willoughby: he played with a woman's feelings for a trivial reason and it nearly backfired. What kind of a man does that?
 |
| Heehee, I spy Obi-Wan before he was Obi-Wan... |
What do you think of Frank Churchill? Who do you think is the real villain of Emma?
12 comments:
Now I want to see Emma more than ever. Why won't Netflix put this version on? Mean Netflix.
Not having seen or read it, I can't say much about villains, but reading this I think in the end I will end up agreeing with you. That Frank fellow sounds more villainy than the others.
Jack,
NETFLIX SHOULD GET EMMA. You need to watch it. :)
I'm glad I convinced you about Frank...I'll be interested to hear your opinion once you've read/watched Emma. :)
YESSSS.
My basic opinion is that Frank is the best Villain Candidate and there aren't many people who agree with me. :P So I'm glad you dooo. I still don't think him quite a villain, but I think he fits the best into the JA Villain Mold, haha.
And stuff about Emma being her own villain is nonsense. ;)
Melody,
YES! I'm glad you agree with me. There isn't really a perfect villain, but then Jane Austen never creates stereotypical stuff. ;)
And Emma being the villain IS nonsense. She's just annoying sometimes. :D
I've nominated this post for I'd Like To Share. :) (And it's not because you nominated one of mine... before I even thought of that, I was trying to think of what post to nominate and I remembered liking this one. Heehee. :D)
Thank you! (And by the way, I really loved your Jane Austen Party post. I really want to do a party like that. The only problem is that I don't have any friends where I live who are interested in JA...yet. I'm working on it. ;))
Hi, I found your blog through Hamlette's Soliloquoy. :) I love your take on this. I've never studied Emma in this sort of light, and your post has really got me to thinking. I think you put exactly into words why I can't stand Mr. Churchill.
Joanna,
Hello, m'dear! Always happy to meet another blogger. :) Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed my post and that you agree with me about Frank Churchill--he is something of a John Thorpe-ish rattle, isn't he? :P
OMGOODNESS I cannot stand Thorpe. He was so rude and overbearing in the book, and then the 2007 movie made him SUPER creepy. I'm amazed Catherine could keep up manners around him. :)
Ohhh.... after seeing North and South I cannot think of Fred- er, Frank- as a villain. There is no villain in Emma, IMHO. 'Mr. E.' is pretty bad though.
Joanna,
UGH, I know exactly what you mean about Thorpe. He INFURIATES me every time I read the book. :P
Miss Elliot,
Haha, I haven't watched N&S, so I'm afraid I don't "get" your reference--care to explain? :) But anyways, I don't think the Emma-villain debate will ever be fully resolved; I rather like to think that Miss Austen made it ambiguous on purpose. ;) I personally think that Frank is the villain, but that's just my opinion--the caro sposo is pretty nasty too. :P
Oh sorry, I thought you'd seen N&S. (You should watch it, it's WONDERFUL!!) Anyways, Rupert Evans (Frank Churchill) is the brother of the 'leading lady', Margaret Hale. He's really really sweet. :-) His name is Frederick 'Fred' Hale in N&S.
Post a Comment