Study Questions

1. Why is Emma beginning to suspect that Frank’s flirtations are fake?

2. Why does Mr. Knightley question Emma about the game Frank proposes?

3. How does Emma receive Frank’s request that she choose a wife for him?

4. How does Emma first respond when Mr. Knightley accuses her of having hurt Miss Bates’s feelings?

5. Why is Emma so glad to be playing backgammon with her father?

6. What is the atmosphere in the Bates’ house when Emma arrives?

7. How does Emma contrast Mrs. Churchill and Jane Fairfax?

8. Why does Emma blush when her father brings up her visit to the Bates’ house?

9. Why is Emma offended that Jane won’t see her?

10. How does Emma feel knowing that Jane Fairfax seems resolved not to accept any kindness from her?

Answers

1. Frank is perpetually showering Emma with flattery. She is beginning to wonder how much he really cares for her since he showed up so late to the strawberry party. She can’t reconcile his display of adoration today with his being so cross with her yesterday. If he cares so much, why did he have to be talked into coming to Box Hill to be with her?

2. Mr. Knightley suspects Frank is a phony who is making moves on two women at once. In an attempt to inject a little truth, he asks Emma if she is “sure that she would like to hear what we are all thinking of?” Evidently, he knows Emma very well because she responds that she would rather “hear anything rather than what you are all thinking of.”

3. Emma rewrites Frank’s specifications to suit her own purposes. Frank gives her license to matchmake for him, and she accepts with gusto. She thinks this gives her the perfect chance to groom Harriet for Frank, despite Frank having requested someone with hazel eyes. Harriet’s eyes are blue.

4. Because they often quarrel, Emma tries to counter him when he scolds her. She tells him her comment can be excused because Miss Bates didn’t get it. He tells her that she certainly did, and that she was deeply wounded. Mr. Knightley feels he must defend her because she is not Emma’s equal in class or cleverness.

5. Emma senses the relief of spending some quiet time with her father. At least he finds no fault with her. She is safe from severe reproach at Hartfield.

6. Confusion arises in the house when Emma drops in. She overhears the commotion, but fails to read it correctly. She thinks Jane doesn’t want to see her because she has been unfriendly in the past. She can’t guess that Jane is thoroughly occupied with things that do not concern Emma.

7. Emma ponders the destiny of women. She reflects that Mrs. Churchill, being a woman of power, calls the shots. Jane Fairfax, on the other hand, is of low origins and must be at the effect of those more powerful than she. Emma is so convinced of her rightness, she doesn’t suspect that Jane Fairfax has the power to change things.

8. Mr. Woodhouse brags on Emma by saying she is attentive to the Bates’ women. Emma blushes because this has never been true, and Mr. Knightley knows better. Emma even kept her apology to herself.

9. Emma is indignant that her attempts at friendliness are not returned and not much acknowledged. She hears Miss Bates tell her that Jane hasn’t the strength to see anybody except the Eltons, the Coles, and Mr. Perry. This galls Emma as she does not wish to be classed with these people.

10. Emma rails at the inappropriateness of Jane’s behavior. Jane Fairfax is well below Emma on the ladder of social class, but here she takes the lead by refusing Emma’s offers.