Handsome, Clever, and Rich

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

I first read these lines when I was sixteen, perhaps a little unaware that I was about to discover my most favorite book in the world - one that would transcend even my love for J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. I wish I could have fallen in love with Jane Austen's Emma sooner, but I suppose it was simply the right timing. 

I didn't read it sooner for a few reasons. Chiefly, I didn't really clamor to read anything by Jane Austen because my mother burned me out on Emma Thompson's adaptation of Sense & Sensibility when I was a little girl (a movie I appreciate now that I'm older and understand her reasoning for watching so often). Then when I finally did my first foray into Austen literature was Pride & Prejudice. For some reason, thirteen or fourteen year old me just didn't understand why everybody in the world adored the book or its leading characters. It was somewhat of a let down because I had been determined to fall in love with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy like teenage girls are supposed to do. Whenever the subject arose, I never knew if I should pretend that I liked it and feel guilty that I didn't or take the special snowflake route of saying it was overrated. Even to this day, I am not as in love with Pride & Prejudice, Elizabeth, or Mr. Darcy as much as the rest of the world and I'm not certain I'll ever understand why. 

source: Wikipedia

Fast forward a few years to a rainy, summer afternoon. The 1996 adaptation of Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow was on Fox and I caught a bit of it in the middle. I was absolutely hooked and had to get a copy of the book immediately. I did and was all the more in raptures as I read through this gem of a novel, never wishing to put it down. Every praise of Jane Austen suddenly made sense to me. I hadn't found my bosom-friend in Elizabeth, but in Emma. I hadn't lost my heart to Mr. Darcy, but oh how my teenage heart beat wildly at the very thought of Mr. Knightley. Emma not only opened my soul to the world of Austen at long last, it also became my one true literature love. 

Yesterday I finished my re-read of the novel, having spent one too many years since having visited it in print (trust me, I watch the Paltrow adaptation as tirelessly as I did when I first got my DVD of it the Christmas after falling in love with the book). I am happy to say that my passion for this book has not dwindled in even the least. On the contrary, I seem to love it more deeply the older I get even if I am now more than a handful of years older than the titular heroine. 

Emma Woodhouse

source: IMDb

Why do I prefer Emma to Elizabeth? Emma is spoiled, prone to jealousy, attention-seeking, vain, snobbish, clueless, a bit childish, obstinate, and a myriad of other varying personality traits that fascinate me even if I've known similar people with these characteristics who drove me nuts because they clashed with my own brand of these characteristics. In fact, I connected with her when I was younger because although I am not rich and handsome like she, I do have quite a few of her flaws. Now that I'm older, however, I realize I'm not really an

source: The Art of Clothes

Emma so much as I'm a Marianne Dashwood. I don't have the energy and vanity to be an Emma full time. But this disparity has made her all the more interesting to me. On the one hand, I wonder had I come from a rich family, would my personality somehow aligned more to Emma's? I also enjoy watching her grow while never losing that sort of harmless self-centeredness that she just wouldn't be herself without. For example, I love how one minute Emma is all remorse for Harriet and yet as soon as Harriet is gone away for awhile, Emma pretty much forgets she exists in favor of her own happiness. It's just hilariously flawed and realistic. I love it and am even guilty of the same duplicity from time to time. Emma is just a delightfully flawed character who embodies everything about the upper class society of the time.

Mr. Knightley

Sigh. Mr. Knightley will always be the Jane Austen hero who has my heart. There can be only him. That said, I must admit I'm not entirely sure I could handle him. I fear my lack of vanity and self-esteem, which Emma of course has in spades, would make me ill-suited for him. Mr. Knightley himself says he couldn't be happy with Jane because she lacks an open temper. I'm closer to Jane in how she tries very hard to be guarded, proper, correct, etc. I fear that having Mr. Knightley scold me would only depress my spirits. I have come to the conclusion that I would probably be better off with Colonel Brandon or Frederick Wentworth - or some lovely in between of the two. But my heart will always belong to Mr. Knightley just the same. He is my fantastic idea of prince charming: the man who I could never attain or match well with, but the one I dream about all the same. 

source: Solitary Elegance

And of course, half the reason I adore the book belongs entirely to the subject of Emma and Mr. Knightley together. I know there are some people who can't stomach it because they're so rich, he's so much older, etc. but I adore the way their relationship unfolds with every fiber of my being. I smile like an idiot from nearly start to finish as Austen cleverly leaves us all the hints of why these two are destined for happiness together until at last they both realize it. And oh the snark. Their wit back and forth leaves my heart in a flutter. I cannot but love them. Only Anne and Wentworth come even close to the amount of fangirl stomach butterflies these two incite in me. (Edmund is too busy being blind for me to get that effect with him and Fanny and likewise Marianne is being too blind for me to get that effect with her and Colonel Brandon, although those are my two other most favorite Austen pairings.) As for the age disparity, it just doesn't bother me. In fact, I'd even say I have a bit of a problematic romanticism of 15-20 year age gaps (or at least an extreme amount of tolerance) likely stemming from being raised on Classic Hollywood films, but that's a story for another day. 

Jane Fairfax

I cannot begin to explain my love for Emma without spending a good chunk of time following in Mrs. Elton's footsteps and raving about Jane Fairfax. Without Miss Fairfax, I wonder if any of my love for the book would be diminished. Austen presents her so well through the lens of Emma because we see how wonderful and sweet she is and how unreasonable Emma is being due to her jealousy. It's such a great satire on real life and shows you how you can root for both women, regardless of their contrast, rather than taking sides - at least that's how I interpret it. Thus, I root for Jane heartily. I root for her to be healthy, to find love, to find security in life, and to become just a tad less cautious for the sake of pleasing others. 

That she finds all of this in Frank makes me cheer. Frank is certainly a cad, but he's a goodnatured cad who simply has a bit to learn. He's actually a lot like Emma in that he is often blind to things because of his own desires and imagination. If Emma were a man, it's almost safe to say she'd be a good deal like Frank. However, Frank is such an amazing romantic foil for Jane because he's in a position to dote on her in the way she deserves, enliven her spirits, and draw her out of herself. Likewise, she's in a position to love him with the excess his personality requires while also being grounded enough to admonish him without being nagging about it. I agree with Mr. Knightley that the merit is mostly on her side, but I believe they work as a pairing and I love their backstory. I also love the added touch that Frank seems to genuinely cherish Miss and Mrs. Bates on Jane's behalf.

source: Cap That

However, there's another relationship I root for beyond Frank and Jane's romantic one and that is for the friendship of Emma and Jane to materialize. Again, it goes back to how Austen writes it so well. Every time I read the book, I want so much for Emma and Jane to become the best of friends as they should have been from the start. I realize it was not the way society worked, but I wish for them to become so dearly acquainted that they become correspondents, that they spend holidays together as they can, and that maybe even a match comes of it in the future when they have children (yes, I am a matchmaker like Emma). Also, I love the part of the book where Austen has Emma muse about how different things would have been had she and Jane been friends from the beginning or else better acquainted. That bit always causes me to desperately wish for that alternate version of the story. I would more

source: Cap That

than happily read The Many Misadventures of Emma and Jane if it were a thing!

All in all, I just really love this book. I could go on for ages about it and probably never even scratch the surface of an adequate expression of my love for it. It is a book that gives me endless pleasure, which I am always sad when it ends, and which I am always wanting to discuss in great detail so as to dissect every single line. This book is one of the greats, in my opinion, and I think I would class it as one even if I weren't one hundred and one percent biased. 

But seriously, The Many Misadventures of Emma and Jane. Who wants to create a kickstart for me so I can write it myself? Because, honestly, I'm writing it myself.