![]() ![]() Well, that’s a different world from this one: And she cries silently in the carriage all the way home. At this (the final blow of a disappointing, frustrating day) Emma is ashamed, indeed humiliated, grieved beyond words. Miss Bates, deceived by the mock ceremony of her manner, did not immediately catch her meaning but when it burst on her, it could not anger, though a slight blush showed that it could pain her.Įmma is not ashamed of this until Mr Knightley tells her, with controlled but passionate anger, that her words were cruel, that “it was badly done”. Pardon me – but you will be limited as to number – only three at once.” ![]() “Ah! ma’am, but there may be a difficulty. “I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan’t I?” – (looking round with the most good-humoured dependence on every body’s assent) – “Do not you all think I shall?” ![]() The turning point of Emma and its most shocking moment is Emma’s slight but stinging gibe at poor, talky, tiresome Miss Bates. Of these good-mannered, good-natured women, Emma Woodhouse is the most self-confident, even to the point of self-congratulation, and thereby runs a risk, for her author sees presumptuousness as a fault to which even diffidence is preferable. M ost of her readers would agree, I think, that Jane Austen’s heroines, even the witty Elizabeth Bennet, do not indulge in hateful or spiteful talk. ![]()
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