Notes on Module B – Emma w/ Themes, Concepts & Quotes

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MANNERS, MOBILITY, AND CLASS CONNECTION
Friendship: In Regency England and in Emma, the term friendship describes a power relationship where one higher party can do favours for the lower party while the term “claim intimacy” is a relationship of equals.
“Her ignorance is hourly flattery.” Emma is not a necessary or helpful influence on Harriet as neither gain what she truly needs – Emma; a mediator of her ego, and Harriet; a sage, selfless guidance
Nouveau Riche: Mrs. Elton is only a first-generation gentry, as her father bought the land that she grew up on with money he had raised in trade. Her snobbery is that of a nouveau riche, desperately insecure of her status.
Association of manners with the upper class
False manners hold no merit in society – seen through characterisation of Mr. Elton
Anomalies: Mr Martin (lower class + kind) v. Mr. Knightley (upper class + kind)
“interested in every body’s happiness” The Bates represent the downfall of old money: title with no cashflow, charity case within the upper class. Miss Bates’ fixation with the upper class and everyone’s affairs demonstrates her psychological desperation to be absorbed in the upper-class.
“the child was given up to the care and wealth of the Churchills, and he had only his own comfort to seek and his own situation to improve as he could.” Mr. Weston’s first marriage was unable to support a child despite the average age of marriage in Regency England being in the mid-to-late 20s for the need to support a family. As a child was an accessory to marriage, following his wife’s death, Mr. Weston chooses to leave his child to another marriage in order to better his circumstances.
“A degree or two lower and a creditable appearance might interest me; I might hope to be useful to their families in some way or other”. Emma’s practice of performative activism [activism done to increase one’s social capital rather than because of one’s devotion to a cause] is done only below a certain degree of poverty as those very low benefit her image while communing with the Martins diminish her upper-class image
“Poverty certainly has not contracted her mind.” Even if it were true that the poor have a mental capability lower than that of the upper-class, it would be because the poor are barred from the educational opportunities reserved for the upper-class