Emma by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

Publisher: Starbooks Classics Publishing (2013)

657 pages, eBook (Purchased Myself for $1.99)

Book Rating: 5 Stars

Content Ratings:

Violence: Mild-Moderate-Brutal

Swearing: Clean-Light-Filthy

Sexual Content: White-Pink-Red

Summary:

Emma, is a rich young woman who finds it entertaining to try and play matchmaker with the unmarried people of her acquaintance, but her efforts don’t turn out quite as she imagined they would.

My Thoughts:

Emma isn’t a very likable character for much of this story, she is self-important, arrogant, meddlesome and judgmental. But, apparently Jane Austen meant her to be this way, wanting the challenge of taking just such an unlikable character and turning her around by the end of the story into someone the reader could care about. Mr. Knightley is the brotherly voice of wisdom throughout, trying to get Emma to see the error of her ways before it comes to a worse end. As with most of Jane Austen’s stories, we are quite in the dark as to the hero’s thoughts and feelings on many of the events, and only at the end are we finally admitted to Mr. Knightley’s confidence. I’m not sure why Emma was so fortunate as to have Mr. Knightley’s focus, but she was a lucky woman indeed to have the devotion and attention of so patient and tolerant a man. It was clear by the end of the story that Emma had very little ability to read people correctly and had no business whatsoever messing with others affairs, which they could have much rather dealt with on their own without her interference. A nice story of a young woman learning from her mistakes and growing into a mature lady who was more deserving of her social position.

Edition Notes:

This Starbooks Special Illustrated Edition with Literary History and Criticism is the best ebook version of Emma that I’ve found. It is organized for optimum maneuverability, is prettily arranged, very readable, includes illustrations by the Brock brothers combining the illustrations from their various editions, and includes the literary history and criticism section from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. For a standalone copy at a very reasonable low price, this is it, but if you are looking for an ebook collection of Jane Austen’s novels, I’d recommend The Complete Illustrated Novels of Jane Austen by MobileReference.

Cover Art Favorites:

Quotes:

“The real evils, indeed of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself—” -Jane Austen, Emma

“—she had then only to sit and think of what she had lost.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“At any rate, it must be better to have only one to please than two.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“Success supposes endeavor. Your time has been properly and delicately spent, if you have been endeavoring for the last four years to bring about this marriage.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“—depend upon it a lucky guess is never merely luck. There is always some talent in it.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“Mr. Woodhouse hoped to influence every visitor of the newly married pair; but still the cake was eaten; and there was no rest for his benevolent nerves till it was all gone.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“She was a great talker upon little matters, which exactly suited Mr. Woodhouse, full of trivial communications and harmless gossip.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“—a real, honest, old-fashioned Boarding-school, where a reasonable quantity of accomplishments were sold at a reasonable price, and where girls might be sent to be out of the way, and scramble themselves into a little education, without any danger of coming back prodigies.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“—they must be coarse and unpolished, and very unfit to be the intimates of a girl who wanted only a little more knowledge and elegance to be quite perfect.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“I think they will neither of them do the other any good.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“In her mother she lost the only person able to cope with her.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“Hartfield will only put her out of conceit with all the other places she belongs to. She will grow just refined enough to be uncomfortable with those among whom birth and circumstances have placed her home.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“I wish Jane Fairfax very well; but she tires me to death.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“It was a delightful visit;—perfect, in being much too short.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“There is one thing—which a man can always do, if he chuses, and that is, his duty; not by maneuvering and finessing, but by vigor and resolution.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“I do not know whether it ought to be so, but certainly silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“Why not seize the pleasure at once?—How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!” -Jane Austen, Emma

“—in being in the same room at once with the woman he had just married, the woman he had wanted to marry, and the woman whom he had been expected to marry, she must allow him to have the right to look as little wise, and to be as much affectedly, and as little really easy as could be.” -Jane Austen, Emma

“Emma made as slight a reply as she could; but it was fully sufficient for Mrs. Elton, who only wanted to be talking herself.” -Jane Austen, Emma

Movie Adaptations:

Emma (TV Movie 1996)

Kate Beckinsale, Mark Strong, Samantha Morton

TV Rating: G

My Rating: 5 Stars

Adaption: Verbatim-Tweaked-Veiled

Eye Candy: Plain-Pretty-Sultry

My favorite adaptation and will always be for me the classic adaptation.

Emma (TV Mini-Series 2009)

Romola Garai, Jonny Lee Miller, Michael Gambon

Movie Rating: NR

My Rating: 4 Stars

Adaption: Verbatim-Tweaked-Veiled

Eye Candy: Plain-Pretty-Sultry

Wonderful mini-series! Certainly the most faithful and complete adaptation of any of them, along with a great cast.

Emma (1996)

Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Alan Cumming

Movie Rating: PG

My Rating: 3 Stars

Adaption: Verbatim-Tweaked-Veiled

Eye Candy: Plain-Pretty-Sultry

This is my least favorite adaptation, though Sophie Thompson did make a perfect Miss Bates.

Clueless (1995)

Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy

Movie Rating: PG-13

My Rating: 4 Stars

Adaption: Verbatim-Tweaked-Veiled

Eye Candy: Plain-Pretty-Sultry

This is a modern adaptation, in which Emma is a rich valley girl; very humorous and clever.