Emma

In his memoir of Jane Austen, James Edward Austen-Leigh reveals: “Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, ‘ am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.’”

Emma Woodhouse believes herself to be in perfect command of the field, that she understands all the players, all the possible permutations and motivations of action. She calls out others for their lack of understanding. She points out to her father that “one half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.” Men misunderstand women, she says to Mr. Knightley. “It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for anybody who ask her.” Whether young and old, men and women, rich and poor, these categories and status distinctions create a distance — a cluelessness — about the other.

Delightfully, Emma Woodhouse is aware of these errors even as she participates in them. All the while she dispenses advice, she is blinded by her own self-reference, her social and economic rank and experience. Her privileged position on the field actually limits her scope of understanding and she points out the faults of others, all the while acting with supreme cluelessness herself.

For me, the irony is irresistible. And, ultimately, Jane Austen saves us all from an unlikeable heroine. The scales of self-deception begin to fall from her eyes and Emma sees that being the star player on the field is not the same as being a valuable player. Emma develops a self-awareness which allows her, finally, insight and empathy for others.

Emma is not just a comedy of manners about this little English community in the 1810s. It is about all communities. Social and economic hierarchies, differences in place and position between men and women, between those with privilege and those without…these are all the distinctions humans have used through the ages to deceive ourselves into thinking we understand what’s really going on. For as long as we continue to be seduced by the cleverness of our own ideas, Emma will continue to appeal. Her charm lies in the hope that, like Emma, it is possible to realize our own cluelessness and open up the field of our imagination.