Emma Tag!

Lady Anorien over at Along the Brandywine is doing an Emma party this week!  Naturally I am taking part, so here I am (after a lengthy absence...*cringes*  My sincere apologies.) answering the tag!
1. Have you ever read Emma?
Um.  Let me think.
YES. :D  I adore it.

2. If so, is that how you first made her acquaintance? (If not, feel free to elaborate!)
Yup!  It was actually how I first made the acquaintance of Jane Austen.  Though I first thought Emma was dry as dust, my opinion changed right speedily.

3. Do you have a favorite film adaptation?
Emma '09.  Indubitably.  It's gorgeous, and Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller are PERFECT as Emma and Mr Knightley.

4. Favorite dress(es) from that film?
Hmmm...I really like Emma's Highbury Market dress.  I also like her ball dress, and honorable mention goes to the Box Hill dress.

5. Share a line you love from either the book or movie/s—several if you like!
 "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more," of course! *melts*

6. Is Emma one of your favorite heroines? Why or why not?
Ehmmm...not really.  I do like her most of the time, but she can be irritating and sometimes makes me cringe, so she's not first on my list of favorite Austen heroines.  That honor goes to Elinor, closely followed by Lizzy, Catherine, and Anne. :P

7. What is one of Emma’s strengths (good qualities)?
Her solicitude for her father and her ability to make the best of most situations. 

8. Describe in one (or two…or three) sentences, why Mr. Knightley is so wonderful.
Ummm...he embodies the spirit of chivalry and he's always a perfect gentleman.  Also he values truth over tact.  (Though I prefer Mr Tilney, personally.  Mr Knightley occasionally annoys me.  VERY occasionally.)

9. Why do you think Mr. Knightley and Emma are so well suited to each other?
They complement and help each other.  He can see her flaws (and has the courage to point them out) while still loving her; she softens his heart and pride. 

10. Would you rather spend a week in Highbury with the Westons—on Abbey-Mill Farm with the Martins—or in London with the John Knightleys?
A week in Highbury with the Westons, no question.  For one thing, I'd get to meet everyone in Highbury since the Westons are so social, and for another, it would be a genuine pleasure to get to meet them.  Mrs Weston is so sweet, and I get the feeling that it would be very easy to talk to Mr Weston, and I like people who make me like them with whom I can converse without effort.

~Miss Jane Bennet

Frank Churchill and the Villain of Emma

When reading posts on Emma, I've noticed that there seems to be a certain ambiguity on the identity of the villain.  There are four choices of Emma villains: Frank Churchill, Mr. Elton, Mrs. Elton, and Emma herself.  My personal opinion is that Frank is the villain.

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?

I'm Running Out of Interesting Names

Yes, I am.  I'll just have to call the rest of this series "Continuation," or something boring like that.  But.  Anyway.Continuing our Emma character exam, the obvious next person is...
Mr. Knightley! [please insert cheers here.]
So, without further ado, may I present...

(Otherwise known as Mr. Angry Eyes; see Sink Me! for more info.)
Mr. Knightley is knightly.  If you've heard that once, you've heard it 100 times.  No WONDER he gets so angry sometimes.  If I got a pun like that on my name all the time, I'd be mad too.
But that's kind of off-topic here, so let's get back.
In the beginning of the story, Mr. Knightley is "a sensible man of seven or eight-and-thirty," who has been a friend of the Woodhouse family for a long time.  This is owing to several facts:
a) he's next to them in social status,
b) he is the older brother of Isabella Woodhouse's husband, and
c) his expertise in handling Emma's invalid father is second only to Emma's herself.
Mr. Knightley is friendly, blunt and honest- sometimes painfully so- but he can also be commanding or intimidating, and once moves Emma to tears- of shame.
When Emma makes friends with Harriet Smith, Mr. Knightley sees Harriet's worship of Emma as a bad thing, but doesn't mention it to Emma, taking the advice of Emma's old governess, who had recently married and moved out of the family.  He takes it gracefully- even gratefully- showing that he's humble as well.  When he's wrong, he admits it, and when he's proved right- which happens more often- he doesn't gloat.  He can be sarcastic and dry while still behaving in a perfectly gentleman-like manner.
If you don't know who my favorite Austen hero is now...well, I think it's obvious.  He's second only in heroism to Sir Percy Blakeney, who is the awesomest (yes, I KNOW it's not a word.  It's the only word that can describe Sir Percy, though.) hero in the history of literature and media in general.
ANYWAY.
Mr. Knightley is gentle and courteous, and hates seeing less fortunate people being belittled because they're annoying or talk too much.  Yes, I'm talking to you, Miss Bates, so listen up.  However, if he's trying to say something to Miss Bates, and she talks over him, he just talks louder until she's forced to answer his questions AFTER they've been asked.  :)
Even though he loves Emma, Mr. Knightley doesn't let that cloud his judgement of her actions.  During the Box Hill party, he scolds Emma severely because she was rude.  However, even though he's jealous of Frank Churchill- the guy's young, handsome, and seems to have Emma's affection- he doesn't try to be spiteful or separate the two.  He's somewhat miserable, but he won't let that spoil Emma's happiness.
I'm sorry that this post has been a little mixed-up, and maybe I'll do more on Mr. Knightley tomorrow.  However, I'm in somewhat of a hurry right now, so I'll have to end this post.  Again, I apologize and hope people keep reading this blog!
Notes: It's hard to believe, but I'm actually going to be busier now that school's out, so I might not have time to post every day like I have been.  I'll try my hardest, though!  I'll either continue on Mr. Knightley tomorrow or pick a different topic.  Maybe I'll post an "Which Austen Heroine Are You?" quiz.  I've been wanting to do that for a while! :)
PLEASE leave comments.  I'd love to know what your opinions are!
-Miss Jane Bennet

This Post is Going to be Very Different!

*grins deviously*
Okay, I can stop scaring you now.
So far, all my posts have been reasonably brief.  So now, I shall make up for that with a very very long Emma post.  I promised to write one of those a while ago...
So here it is!
Okay, first I'm going to tell you how I met Jane Austen, and then I'm going to pick apart the WHOLE story and tell you what I do and do not like about my favorite novel.
Once upon a time, a girl who blogs under the pseudonym, "Miss Jane Bennet," was very exceedingly Bored.  For she had been charmed by every book at that great and powerful Facility, the library, and at her home.  Or so this misled girl believed.  Thus she went to ask her wise Mother if there really was not anything to read, anywhere, for she was sinking under the great Pool of Boredom and felt exceedingly vexed.  That day, however, her luck was with her, for her Mother suggested that she read Emma.  This great tome was by a lovely lady named JANE AUSTEN and was the (alas!) shortest Jane Austen book the girl's family had.
The girl started it in good faith and found the first chapters (forgive me PLEASE!) very exceedingly Boring.  She kept reading, however, because after all, what else was there to do?  
So she struggled on through the great dry desert that was Emma, and succeeded in finishing it.  She was very proud of this accomplishment.  
Then, she saw the next great novel of the Her Greatness Jane Austen, and figured, Why not?  Thus it came about that she read Sense and Sensibility.  She enjoyed this book well enough- at least, it was superior to Emma- but still it didn't seem to her a good novel.  But it was good, and so she read the last book the family had, Pride and Prejudice, and was HOOKED forever.
Okay, I CANNOT keep doing this anymore.  The rest of the story in non-medieval language:
I ended up reading all the Jane Austen books, and liked them exceedingly.  I followed Jane Austen blogs, through which I was introduced to the Scarlet Pimpernel.  (More on that in a later post.)
I thought that I MUST be missing something, because so many people liked Emma and Sense and Sensibility.  So I went back and reread the books, determined to be pleased, and enjoyed them (I really like this word, sorry) exceedingly.
THE END.
Only it wasn't.  I couldn't decide which was my favorite.  Whichever book I was reading was my favorite.  When I read a different one, that one became my favorite.  I laughed at Tilney, was charmed by Wentworth and cried with Anne when she read The Letter, identified with Fanny Price and Lizzy Bennet (I am a shy, prejudiced person, sad to say), admired Elinor Dashwood, and thought "Knightley" the epitome of knightlEyness.  It's spelled with an E, everybody.  This is a standard warning on every Austen site in existence.  Lizzy uses a Y, Knightley is spelled with an E, and Austen is always, ALWAYS AustEn.  With an E.  Don't forget it.  
All right, I think I've covered someone from all the books.
Oh yeah, and while hating her, I was also vaguely impressed by Lady Susan.  (NOT that I would EVER want to be like her.)
But ANYWAY.
Back to Emma.
So, I couldn't decide which was my favorite Austen book, as I've said before.  Thus, I simply picked the one who had given me the inglorious introduction to Austen: Emma.  The first one I've read is always the best, in my opinion.  Same for movies, which is partly why I like S&S71 better than any other S&S.  I mean, besides the fact that I haven't watched any of the other versions.
But I digress.
See?  This post is going to be really long.
All RIGHT already, I'll stop going off on random tangents.  First, I'll go through the main characters and pick them apart and expose their flaws and their virtues.  (I may have to make this into more than one post, by the way.)
Okay.  Let's get started already.
Note: Those who haven't read the book...read it right now!  Then come back and read this post, because there are plenty of spoilers.
It makes sense to start with the person the book is named after, right?  Then I'll start with...(drumroll please)
Emma.                                                      

By the way, the 2009 version is my favorite movie (TV?) adaptation of Emma.
Emma is the heroine (obviously) and is...complicated.  She's kind-hearted and means well, but she causes big problems in the other characters' lives by her unnecessary meddling.  She is definitely not my favorite Austen heroine (that honor belongs to...oh goodness, I can't decide.  I TOLD you!  But maybe...either Lizzy Bennet, Fanny Price, or Elinor Dashwood.) but she gained my respect and love as the story went on.  She begins as being a somewhat spoiled, rich young woman who has been petted, told she is higher than anybody else in Highbury (Heh. Pun unintended.) (the town where she lives) and has been pretty much able to run the household since she was 12.  Now, that's a little bit impressive, but whatever.
She is very pretty and clever, but she's not especially vain about either of those attributes.  That's a plus.   However, she does have an ingrained sense of not only her own self-worth, but her self-importance.  
But...those are pretty much just petty things in her character.  Her main flaw is thinking that she knows better than anyone else what's best for them...and that she'll act upon that belief.  (She's kind of like a parent when she says, "I know what's best for you better than you do," only parents really do, and she's still...not naive exactly, but inexperienced.  She's been sheltered for most of her (pretty short) life, and she doesn't have the wisdom to be able to effectually guide anyone safely through life.
As the story goes on, Emma causes big problems in many characters' lives, especially Harriet Smith's.  Harriet is Emma's new friend who looks up to her with practically hero worship.  This (as Mr. Knightley says) is bad for Emma.  She does NOT need another worshiper. 
 Harriet receives a proposal from the man she loves, but she turns to Emma for help, who advises (surreptitiously) to refuse him because she considers the man to be beneath Harriet's station.  Harriet does so, and to get Harriet's mind off Robert Martin (the guy who proposed), Emma leads her to believe that Mr. Elton, a charming, unmarried clergyman, loves her.  In Emma's defense, she really does believe herself that Elton loves Harriet, because he visits Hartfield (Emma's house) so often.  But anyway, Harriet falls madly in love with Mr. Elton.  This leads to disaster when, on the way home from a Christmas party, Mr. Elton proposes to HER and claims he never thought of Harriet except as Emma's friend.  Emma (needless to say) refuses him, and breaks the news as gently as possible to Harriet, who is heartbroken.  Emma (to her credit) feels very remorseful and attempts to comfort Harriet in every way possible.  
In the meantime, Mr. Knightley has been introduced.  I had a hard time figuring out what relation he was to Emma, so I'll just tell you now: he's the older brother of Emma's older sister (Isabella Woodhouse)'s husband (John Knightley).   He acts as sort of an adviser to Emma.  He's the only person who not only sees flaws in Emma, but is willing to tell her about them (sternly, too!).  This makes Emma respect and admire him, while disliking him at times for daring to find fault with her.  
Back to the storyline.
Emma thinks that the best cure for Harriet would be to make her fall in love with ANOTHER man.  Baaaaaad idea.  Harriet does fall in love again, but she falls in love (BIG SPOILER ALERT) with Mr. Knightley.  At first, Emma doesn't want to interfere, so she won't let Harriet tell her the name of the man she loves now.  She does encourage Harriet in her love, though, because she thinks Harriet is in love with a different guy.  Not Mr. Knightley.  When she realizes that not only does Harriet love Mr. Knightley, but that she suspects that the affection is returned, she finally figures out that she loves Mr. Knightley.  She also realizes how foolish and blind she's been, by making Harriet refuse Martin and that she may have ruined her own life.  Agitated and sorrowful, she goes for a walk in the garden, and there meets none other than Mr. Knightley, who confesses that he loves her and proposes.  She (obviously!) says yes, and though she's sorry for Harriet, won't let that stand in the way of her own and Mr. Knightley's happiness.
After breaking the news to Harriet, she suggests that Harriet go to London with Isabella Woodhouse to take her mind off things, and Harriet (who, I think, is slightly resentful) accepts gladly.  There she meets Robert Martin, who proposes again.   Harriet accepts, and the story ends happily ever after. END OF BIG SPOILERS.
I think that Emma is the most human of the heroines.  She has flaws- pretty big ones- and these are what make some readers never warm up to her.  But she improves, matures, and gains wisdom as the story goes on.  I think that it is because of this humanity that she is either detested or loved, and that's what makes the story of Emma so endearing.

Sorry, but if I did articles this long on every one of the characters, I'd be typing all day.  I'm turning this into a series that will last however long is necessary.  Please tell me if you want this series continued every day or between different topics in the comments below!  Thanks!
Notes: I'll be continuing the Emma series, either all in a row, or in between different topics, probably for quite some time.  Please comment and suggest different topics.  As soon as I get a few members, I'm going to do a game or a blog party.
God Bless!
-Miss Jane Bennet