Questions for Volume 1 (first 18 chapters of Emma). Due on March 15th on KungFu writing

Emma questions: Volume 1, chapters 1-9

1.     In chapter one the narrator states, “The Woodhouses were first in consequence there. All looked up to them”. Is this statement completely true? Are there indications that not everyone in the community shares this point of view? Examples

2.     What is the source of Emma’s sense of superiority? Is it merited?

3.     How does Mr. Knightley rate Emma’s abilities? What is the danger of “imagination”?

4.     What are Emma’s professed reasons for remaining single? Are there subconscious motives? What is her relationship with Mr. Knightlly?

5.     Why does Emma take on the education of Harriet Smith? What is the basis of their friendship? What is the danger to Emma in such a relationship, and what is the danger to Harriet?

Emma Vol. I, chapters 9-18: I just added some clarifications in red.

1.     What does Emma learn from her miscalculation of Elton’s affections for Harriet? Does she express publicly her error? How do you judge her behaviour after this incident?











2.     What is Emma’s relationship with her father? Is there an explanation for why Emma has so much patience with her father and so little with Miss Bates? REMEMBER MISS BATES IS NOT HER RELATIVE. How do you judge her behaviour to each?











3.     Emma includes more gradations in social/economic class than previous novels YOU PROBABLY DON*T KNOW THE OTHER NOVELS BUT JUST DISCUSS CLASS IN RELATION TO SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. WHO IS IN THE HIGHEST CLASS? Go from top to bottom. What are some examples? What role does class play in this novel?










i.e. What does Emma think about class? What is the dilemma about Harriet?

4.     Analyze Emma’s relationship with Miss Bates. How much of her impatience with her is warranted? What motives might underlie Emma’s intolerance? Contrast Miss Bates with Emma Woodhouse. Consider their ages and appearance and their social and economic rank in the community. How do you account for Miss Bates’s popularity?










5.     How is Emma unprepared for matrimony (HER OWN MARRIAGE: What about her makes her not ready to be married at that point) at the novel’s opening?