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Unit 10: Emma Characterization and all Major and Minor Themes

Augusta Elton Notes

Augusta Elton is formerly Miss Hawkins, is Mr. Elton’s wife. She is moneyed but lacks breeding
and possesses moderately good manners, at best. She is a boasting, domineering, pretentious
woman who likes to be the centre of attention and is generally disliked by Emma and her
circle. She patronizes Jane, which earns Jane the sympathy of others.

Mrs. Anne Weston

Mrs. Anne Weston formerly Miss Taylor, was Emma’s governess for sixteen years and remains
her closest friend and confidante after she marries Mr. Weston in the opening chapter. She is
a sensible woman who adores and idolizes Emma. Mrs. Weston acts as a surrogate mother to
her former charge and, occasionally, as a voice of moderation and reason, although she is the
one to yield in arguments more often than not.

Mr. Weston

Mr. Weston is a recently wealthy man living in the vicinity of Hartfield, marries Emma’s
former governess, Miss Taylor, and by his first marriage is father to Frank Churchill, who was
adopted and raised by his late wife’s brother and sister-in-law. Mr. Weston is a sanguine,
optimistic man, who enjoys socializing.

Miss Bates

Miss Bates is a friendly, garrulous spinster whose mother, Mrs. Bates, is a friend of
Mr. Woodhouse. Her accomplished niece, Jane Fairfax, is the light of her life. One day, Emma
humiliates her on a day out in the country, when she pointedly alludes to her tiresome prolixity.
Afterward, Mr. Knightley sternly rebukes Emma. Shamed, Emma tries to make amends.

Mr. Henry Woodhouse
Emma’s father, is always concerned for his own health and comfort, and to the extent that it
does not interfere with his owns, the health and comfort of his friends. He is a valetudinarian
(i.e., similar to a hypochondriac but more likely to be genuinely ill). He assumes a great many
things are hazardous to one’s health, and is generally a difficult person to handle because he
is always fussing about the trifling things which bother him and which he assumes must
bother everyone else just the same, to the point of trying to convince his visitors to deny foods
he considers too rich. He laments that “poor Isabella” and especially “poor Miss Taylor” have
married and been taken away from him, because since he is unhappy about their being gone,
he assumes they must be miserable as well; moreover, he dislikes change in general, and
marriage is a form of change.

Self Assessment

State the following sentences are True or False:

1. Emma Woodhouse is a beautiful young lady of the age of twenty-two.
2. Jane Austen began writing Emma in 1812.
3. Jane Fairfax is an orphan.
4. Harriet Smith is Mr. Weston’s son by his previous marriage.

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