Study Questions
1. Why was Emma ashamed at the sight of the court plaister?

2. Why does Emma think Harriet shouldn’t throw out both mementos?

3. Why is the name of the someone Emma and Harriet speak of never mentioned?

4. Why does Frank say he dreamed about Mr. Perry’s new carriage?

5. What does Miss Bates reveal in her monologue?

6. What was the first word that Frank scrambled?

7. How does Jane stop the game?

8. Why is Emma eager to go to Box Hill before the party takes place there?

9. Why does Emma say Frank will never go to Switzerland?

10. How does Emma reply to Frank’s complaint that he is sick of England?

Answers
1. Harriet has kept the court plaister (medicinal putty) as a memento of Mr. Elton. On the day she asked Harriet to give him some for his cut finger, Emma was carrying some herself. She pretended not to so Harriet could nurse his finger and receive his gratitude. Emma now regrets the deception.

2. Ever the pragmatist, Emma allows Harriet to purge herself of past feelings for Mr. Elton by throwing away the broken pencil. She stops short of allowing her to throw the court plaister in the fire, calling her attention to its general usefulness. Emma’s practicality can’t keep Harriet from performing her ritual.

3. Though Emma is certain Harriet is referring to Frank Churchill here, she doesn’t want to push the match by speaking his name. She hopes that Frank and Harriet will naturally pull together because he saved her life. His gallantry and her gratitude should mesh well.

4. Frank assures everyone that Highbury is so much in his thoughts, he even dreams of it, though why he would dream of Mr. Perry and his carriage is a mystery to his father because he barely knows them.

5. Though Miss Bates tends to prattle on about nonsense, there are pearls of truth hidden in the mush. She lets drop how Mrs. Perry confided the news to them, but only to them, and that they haven’t told anyone else.

6. Frank is communicating to Jane Fairfax in secret. He shows her the scrambled letters that spell “blunder.” Mr. Knightley connects this word to Frank’s dream, but isn’t sure how the two are related. He suspects Frank of duplicity.

7. Once Jane has deciphered the word “Dixon,” she suspects Frank and Emma are toying with her. She deflects their teasing when she says she didn’t know “proper” names were allowed.

8. Though a fixture in her social circle, Emma has led a life of seclusion. From Mrs. Elton’s description, Box Hill is only a few miles away, but Emma has never been there. Apparently she has heeded her father’s warning that the outside world is unhealthy and dangerous, and that she should not go far beyond their shrubbery.

9. Emma believes that Mrs. Churchill dominates everyone at Enscombe. She accuses Frank of wishful thinking when he expresses a desire to travel abroad. Emma is quite certain the Churchills will never let him go to Switzerland or anywhere outside England.

10. Emma is beginning to see some of Frank’s character defects. When he tells her he’s sick of England and his family’s hold on him, she accuses him of being sick of prosperity and indulgence. Emma thinks he is whining about a situation he is too weak to change.