Elizabeth’s blush when she says that distance isn’t a problem if money is no object. Even her feigned coolness when she tells Col Fitzwilliam that she’s surprised Darcy doesn’t marry for the convenience of a built-in travel buddy, all take on new shape.
Tag: Jane Fairfax
Emma: “she sends back the arrowroot” (audio with rough transcript)
“If Emma doesn’t know, then her flirting with Frank isn’t something to get that mad about, even with what she said to Miss Bates. Because by the time Emma starts, like, trying to be nice to her and invite her along in the carriage and just– I mean, she sends back the arrowroot. She sends it back. She’s sending a message. She could have just– she could have just been like, even– I mean, sending it back? It’s arrowroot.”
Explaining what I’ve uncovered in Jane Austen’s “Emma”
❧ Between Chapter 1 and Chapter 32 there are a total of 4 exceptions to the Miss Bates Rule.
❧ How “Miss Bates”—the device—commonly works.
❧ Finding Frank on those walks with Mr. Dixon, Miss Campbell, and Jane.
❧ The piano scene is romantic?
If Frank Churchill believed Emma knew the truth…
He’d almost confessed, and suddenly Emma asks Jane to dinner. And then after talking about Jane’s walk to the post office Emma says how nice Frank’s handwriting is, and then she takes Jane’s arm to escort her into the dining room? That’s it, Emma must know.
What did the Campbells know when they hoped a few months of Highbury air would ‘entirely cure’ Jane?
Wait, did Mr. Dixon and Miss Campbell fall in love at Weymouth, too? And was Frank on those walks with Jane, Miss Campbell and Mr. Dixon? Of course he was!
The Piano Scene: through Jane’s eyes
Which, no Frank did not just tell a beautiful woman that he would have “given worlds —all the worlds one ever has to give—” for anything, let alone another half hour to dance, because he wanted to get away from Miss Bates!
And Jane responds with maybe the most magical sentence of the novel, because it’s all right there.
“She played.”
How I got here and those “Reading Jane Austen podcast” references
The question of why I was forgetting Jane was forming somewhere in the recesses of my mind, but before the question had time to become fully formed I had tripped over the springs and mirrors operating Miss Bates.
The Miss Bates Traveling, Talking Circus: Chapter by chapter
It wasn’t until later—once the unmistakable pattern was clear—that I went, “OH MY GOD, THE LETTER! Of course! That little minx has been toying with us all along!”
Miss Bates is a circus. Miss Bates is a blind.
Like, I know Jane Austen didn’t literally say, “I will write a circus, and I will call her Miss Bates,” but I am going to pretend that she did, and you can’t stop me.
Jane, Jane! What’s in a name? Mrs. Elton’s most unpardonable sin.
What Mr. Knightley cannot fathom is that anyone—even Mrs. Elton—could address someone with the dignity and pride of Jane Fairfax like an inferior to her face. And by calling Miss Fairfax “Jane,” Mrs. Elton is indeed “continually insulting” her.
Exact Words 