Mr. Knightley's Clear Vision
A Year of Jane (Emma)
If you’re new to this Substack, one of the things I’m offering subscribers in 2023 is A Year with Jane. We’re reading through Austen’s six novels this year and Emma is our read for March and April.
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Last week we read chapters 28-36 of Jane Austen’s Emma which completes Volume II of the novel.
George Knightley’s Good Judgment
When I was writing Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life, one of the virtues I wanted to explore was prudence. In the book I follow the journey of Catherine Morland, the protagonist of Northanger Abbey, in acquiring this virtue. But in Emma, there’s a character who possesses prudence from the beginning: Mr. Knightley. In fact, I would say that it is his defining virtue.
Prudence is not a virtue we talk about much in the 21st century, but, like humility, it is essential to living a good life. To be prudent is being capable of careful discernment as to the right course of action and then acting. It is the wise judgement that allows one to see what the right thing is and then do that right thing.
Ideally, social conventions would assist us in knowing what is right and acting rightly, but adhering to social convention is not enough. Without prudence, we can be blind to the right course of action if we are merely following convention. Emma has not yet learned this and her lack of prudence blinds her. Instead, she puts too much stock in convention and it makes her a bit of a snob.
Her snobbishness motivates her misjudgement of poor Robert Martin, Harriet Smith’s admirer, simply because he is from a lower class. But Mr. Knightley, with his good judgement, sees Mr. Martin’s virtues. “I never hear better sense from any one than Robert Martin,” he notes. “He always speaks to the purpose; open, straight forward, and very well judging…Robert Martin's manners have sense, sincerity, and good-humour to recommend them; and his mind has more true gentility than Harriet Smith could understand.”
Mr Knightley is not blinded by prejudice of the lower classes to dismiss the virtues of Mr. Martin as Emma is. He is prudent. He sees clearly. He’s also not blinded by the fortune of other men to assume their virtue merely because of their status. While Emma has endless excuses for Frank Churchill’s behavior, Mr. Knightley sees the foolishness of his actions for what they are.
Emma is still drawn in by the veneer of things (and of people). She is insistent that she could never be friends with a farmer’s wife, no matter how respectable the farmer. As a member of one of the foremost families in town, she holds local tradesmen, the Coles, in contempt—until no one else seems to be held back from an invitation to their party by same degree of snobbishness and she relents and discovers their merits. She is insistent that as a gentleman (and inheritor of Donwell Abbey), Mr. Knightley simply must always arrive in a carriage! Her judgements are, as he claims, nonsensical.
But Mr. Knightley’s actions are motivated by his prudence. He does take his carriage to the party, but not to satisfy Emma’s snobbery. He thoughtfully wanted to transport the Bateses and Jane Fairfax, knowing their walk was long and they had no carriage themselves. But he felt no need to publicize his reasons, he just recognized the right thing to do and then did it.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes prudence as a charioteer—it steers the other virtues in the right direction. With prudence, Mr. Knightley’s generosity to the Bateses and Jane Fairfax is ordered to a clear and wise action. Without this good judgement, good intentions don’t result in the right actions.
For our discussion questions this week: Austen often explores varying degrees (or distortions) of a certain virtue in her characters. Which characters in Emma clearly show prudence and which ones lack this virtue? How might Mr. Woodhouse be an example of good intention without prudence? Is Mrs. Elton merely lacking in prudence or does she lack other virtues as well? Is Mrs. Weston prudent? How does someone gain this virtue?
If a Janeite friend just urged you to join our Emma book club, welcome! I’m an author of books for both children and grown-ups, a Florida native who spent 13 years in Texas, mom of four kids ages 4-14, and wife to a whisky distiller. I’m the Editor of Word on Fire Spark so I like to think of my work as literary midwifery—helping bring new beautiful creations into the world. And for the purposes of this post about Austen, it might be good to know that I wrote a book called Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be.
Reading schedule:
Week of March 5th:
Gather your books. There are many editions out there, so just grab what’s on your shelf or at the local library. And if you enjoy audiobooks, this is an excellent novel to enjoy with a great narrator. My favorite for this novel is Juliet Stevenson’s audiobook version. Grab Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life from Ave Maria Press (use STEWART20 for 20% off) or from Amazon.
If you didn’t start reading with us in January, you may want to catch up by reading the Introduction and Chapters 1-2 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life to set the stage.
Week of March 12th:
Chapters 1-9 of Emma
Week of March 19th:
Chapters 10-18 of Emma
Week of March 26th:
Chapters 19-27 of Emma
Week of April 2nd:
Chapters 28-36 of Emma
Week of April 9th:
Chapters 37-45 of Emma
Week of April 16th:
Chapters 46-54 of Emma
Week of April 23rd:
Chapter 3 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life
TBA: Zoom Discussion with special guests, Marcia Lane-McGee and Shannon Wimp Schmidt.
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Looking forward to discussing more of Emma with you!
Haley
(Editor of Word on Fire Spark, Author, Former Podcaster)
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I think many of the characters in Emma have, as you phrased it, distortions of prudence. Mr. Woodhouse is “prudence” unchecked by fortitude (courage to take risks that are worthwhile) or, arguably, temperance (he doesn’t temper his desires for health/safety but makes a sort of idol of them). Mrs. Weston is prudent, but allows her prudence to be clouded by affection for others, namely Emma and to some extent Frank. She fails to see the dangers in the Emma/Harriet friendship and indeed marshals arguments for the friendship that sound prudent but are ultimately biased by her affection for Emma. Mrs. Elton is such a brilliant character because she is Emma’s exaggerated doppelgänger; Emma in disliking her is subconsciously condemning her own faults (snobbishness, interfering in others lives without regard to their feelings, thinking she knows what’s best for others). So I would say Mrs. Elton is not really prudent at all, because she is a more extreme version of Emma herself!