Programme (Thistledown Theatre's Emma)

Yet, in M r Knightley?s
r ebuke, w e see that Emma?s
advantages ?of bir th,
education and for tune? make
it her duty to r esist using her
w it at the expense of a
w oman w ho is self-evidently
her infer ior in all thr ee
r espects.
This moment on Box H ill is
just one example of how
Emma?s extr emely pr ivileged
position in society makes it
difficult for her to empathise
w ith those less for tunate.
Emma is unique amongst
Austen?s her oines in that she
does not shar e the financial
insecur ity of her
counter par ts in other novels.
Thr oughout her w or k Austen
r epeatedly explor es the
position of the young w omen
of the upper classes w ho
possess neither for tune nor
pr oper ty, and so must look to
mar r iage to secur e their
futur e. That Austen
r epeatedly under scor es this
pr ecar ious position of
w omen is unsur pr ising,
given that she her self (like
Cather ine M or land of
N or thanger Abbey) w as the
daughter of a cler gyman:
once he died, the Austen
family home and income
w ould no longer be
available. To get a sense of
how Austen felt about this
state of affair s one only has
to look to those in her novels
w ho w ill inher it the family
pr oper ty and for tune: the
r idiculous M r Collins in
Pr ide and Pr ejudice, or the
selfish (and alr eady w ealthy)
John Dashw ood and his
dr eadful w ife in Sense and
Sensibility. A pr imar y
concer n for an Austen
her oine is that she must
make a pr udent mar r iage in
or der to maintain her social
position and financial
secur ity, and the pr essur e
for her to do so is alw ays
ther e in the backgr ound.
N ot so for Emma. Emma
" Em m a b oast s a
p osi t i on ot h er
Au st en h er oi n es
l ack : sh e d oes
n ot n eed t o
m ar r y t o secu r e
h er f u t u r e."
boasts a position w hich
other Austen her oines lack:
she does not need to mar r y
to secur e her futur e.
Per haps it is for this r eason
that Emma tr eats mar r iage
as some sor t of game. We
see her evident enjoyment in
tr ying to pair off her pr otégé
H ar r iet w ith someone
capable of r aising H ar r iet?s
social standing. Emma
means w ell of cour se, but
her actions ? w hich actually
thr eaten to r uin the futur e of
her fr iend ? r eveal just how
little she under stands the
mar r iage ?game?. Yet the
point is that Emma does not
have to under stand, her
futur e is secur e. This
fr eedom is painfully set
against the position of Jane
Fair fax w ho does need to
mar r y for secur ity, or else
face sliding dow n the social
scale by taking a job as a
gover ness: doomed to alw ays
be in the w or ld of the
leisur ed elite but no longer
tr uly one of them. Emma?s
failur e to under stand the
pr ecar iousness of Jane and
H ar r iet?s positions stems
fr om lack of exper ience,
w hich pr ovides an
explanation (if not excuse)
for her actions. H ow ever ,
Austen does not shy aw ay
fr om addr essing Emma?s
selfishness and insensitivity
w hen meddling w ith the
futur e pr ospects of someone
like H ar r iet, meddling w hich
is, to bor r ow M r Knightley?s
w or ds, ?badly done indeed.?
Tr uly, ther e is much to
dislike in our eponymous
her oine w hen w e fir st meet
her. N onetheless, Austen
manages to avoid cr eating a
char acter no one w ill ?much
like? thr ough the clever (and
indeed pioneer ing) use of a
nar r ative per spective w hich
is lar gely limited to Emma?s
point of view. By telling the
stor y in this w ay, Austen is
able to avoid alienating the
r eader fr om her her oine,
allow ing just enough
empathy in or der that, w hilst
w e do not condone Emma?s
actions, w e r eadily for give
them.
This for giveness also spr ings
fr om Emma?s pr ogr ession to
matur ity under the guiding
influence of the novel?s mor al
centr e, M r Knightley. Like all
Austen?s novels, this one has
a love stor y at its cor e, and
yet it is so much mor e than
that. Emma is a stor y of
self-discover y, of a young
w oman?s gr ow th to matur ity,
and because that young
w oman is as complicated as
Emma is, it is per haps the
most compelling of all
Austen?s novels; it cer tainly
has the most inter esting
her oine, if not the most
likeable one.
D r. Jen Su g d en
w ith contr ibutions fr om
Al exan d er Osb or n
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