S04E02 Emma, Chapters 6 to 10

In this episode, we read chapters 6 to 10 of Emma. We talk about the hints Jane Austen gives us about Emma’s blunders, Emma’s manipulation of Harriet after Mr Martin’s proposal, the argument between Emma and Mr Knightley, Harriet’s riddle book, Emma’s and Mr Elton’s respective views of his place in the social hierarchy, and Emma’s lack of need to get married. (There was also a lengthy discussion of ‘Kitty, a fair but frozen maid’, which we ended up editing out, and just pointing to Lona Manning’s article and blog posts on the subject.) We discuss the Martin family (specifically, Mr Martin and his mother), and in the historical section Ellen talks about vicars and parish business. Harriet talks about the 1996 Miramax film adaptation of Emma. For a list of references, see this episode on our website.