Jane Austen’s “Emma”: Quotes Explained

Down below are five quotes explained from Jane Austen‘s famous novel “Emma” which was published on December 23rd, 1815.

“Men of sense, whatever you may choose to say, do not want silly wives.”

These lines were uttered by Mr. Knightley when he was in conversation with Emma, the female protagonist. What he meant was that men tend to find like-mindedness in their partners. An intelligent man would never want a dumb, imbecile woman as his wife. In order for people to connect and feel like they are being understood, they need someone as their partner who is on the same page as they are on. Moreover, researchers from the University of Kansas found that couples and friends who are like-minded tend to stay together for longer. So “opposites attract” is clearly an archaic phenomenon.

“Indeed, I am very sorry to be right in this instance. I would much rather have been merry than wise.”

These lines are funnily ironic in nature. Emma, thinking too much about how messed up the world is, always seems to be very dissatisfied with the norms and practices in it. She nudges on the idea that she would have rather been blissfully unaware of the happenings around her, than actually feeling the need to be intelligent and point them out. These lines exude Emma’s sarcasm and wit on how she would have preferred to make a vain display of not knowing or noticing anything, of being foolish and lacking sense or judgment but called out on people for their wrong-doings.

“I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him.”

These lines are a suggestion from Emma to her naïve friend, Harriet. Emma enlightens her that if you are unsure of whether a man is right for you or not, he most certainly isn’t. This is for the reason that if there is a suitable match, you always know. You are never pushed into second-guessing on him, doubting on whether he is right for you, for you always know.

“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”

These lines were uttered by Mr. Knightley, the male protagonist of the novel. Here the emphasis is how your actions and how you treat others are more important than their words. In this context, however, Mr. Knightly nudges on the fact that he is so fond of Emma and loves her so deeply that he would not care what Emma would think about him whenever he called out on her for her misdoings. He would always set her in the straight path if she went astray and never expressed to her that he was infatuated by her, in words. He showed it in his actions, the way he treated her, not caring about whether Emma will think ill of him or not. He always said what was right for her to listen to in that instance, and that is all that matters at the end of the day.

“I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”

This is such a powerful dialogue said, Emma. She meant, that sometimes people treat you the way you allow them to treat you. Being the strong woman that she was, she says that she always got the best treatment because she wouldn’t accept anything lesser than that. This may make Emma seem very self-important or pompous, but the truth is that people get what they want and accept, by their own will and conduct. The only way that we can expect to be treated right is to let people know what we expect from them.

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