Austen's Emma - Chapters 9 to 11

Chapters 9 to 11

Jane Austen's Emma

This lesson is designed to quiz you on your knowledge of Chapters 9-11 of Emma and to help you revise key information. Do not forget to take notes in your Literature workbook as you go.

​You are responsibile for your own notes

Multiple Choice

At the beginning of Chapter 9, readers learn that Emma and Harriet have not had success in ? but instead prefer to ?.

• learning how to cook; buying sweets from the local store

• reading together; recording riddles in Harriet's notebook

• winning over Mr Elton; focus on winning over Mr Knightley's affections

• embroidery; read together

Through this brief reference to their failure to read together, we are reminded of Mr Knightley and Mrs Weston's conversation in Chapter 5. Mr Knightly had concerns that the two girls would not improve one another and Mrs Weston had reassured him that perhaps the girls would read together. So far, Mr Knightley's prediction appears more accurate.

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Harriet and Emma's friendship

The key event in Chapter 9 is the decoding of Mr Elton's riddle. Emma demonstrates her quick intellect by easily solving it, yet this heightens the irony of her misunderstanding of Mr Elton's intentions towards her.

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Chapter 9

Multiple Choice

Emma solves the riddle quickly. The answer is...

• Marriage

• Friendship

• Courtship

• Proposal

When reflecting upon Harriet and Mr Elton as a match, Emma declares: "The course of true love never did run smooth— A Hartfield edition of Shakespeare would have a long note on that passage." This is a quote from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lysander says this to Hermia in the opening of the play.
Why is Emma's allusion to this play ironic?

Chapter 9

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is about love triangles and the misadventures that arise as a result of them. There is a group of four young adults who first form one love triangle and then, after being exposed to a love potion by fairies, a second love triangle.

The play is a romantic comedy and, at one point, the Queen of the fairies (Titania) is also under a spell and falls in love with a lowly tradesman known as Bottom. From the comedy that arises from this mismatch (and the Queen's later restored love for the King), there is a sense of class, heirarchy and what constitutes a 'proper' match in Shakespeare's play.

Consider how this allusion foreshadows the plot of Emma. Record your ideas in your Literature workbook.

Multiple Choice

At the beginning of Chapter 10, Emma and Harriet...

• visit a poor, sick family

• visit Mr Elton's house

• make plans for a Christmas celebration

• go shopping for ribbons

Chapter 10

​At the beginning of this chapter, Emma and Harriet make a charitable visit to a poor, sick family and, in doing so, they pass Mr Elton's residence. While Emma can think of no proper reason to call upon the house (and satisfy Harriet's curiosity about what it is like, Emma does behave improperly by explicitly stating to Harriet that Harriet will one day live there.

In Emma, we see the blunders and contradictions of young adulthood. While Emma is charitable to neighbouring families (as was considered important in her time), she is uncharitable to Jane Fairfax, an orphan her own age and deserving of her attention. In Chapter 10, Emma speaks about her with scorn and jealousy. Furthermore, while Emma knows the proper social etiquette for when to and not to visit another unexpectedly, her match-making efforts are prompting her to speak out of turn here.

Multiple Choice

This discussion prompts Harriet to question Emma about ? and cause Harriet to fret that Emma will ?

• their friendship; not be friends with her if Harriet does not marry Mr Elton

• an upcoming ball; not have anyone to dance with

• Mr Knightley; keep Mr Knightley for herself

• marriage; become an 'old maid' like Miss Bates

Emma's response

Emma tells Harriet that she “the usual inducements of women to marry” because of her high position in society and fortune. Implied is the reality of gender inequality in Austen’s era, in which women must marry to gain financial security.

Harriet responds with, "Dear me!—it is so odd to hear a woman talk so!"—

Emma’s strong will and independence are unusual for a woman in her era, and in this sense she is a remarkable heroine for gender equality. Yet her self-assurance stems from her financial security, which reveals the social inequality: Emma’s ability to avoid marriage is dependent on her wealth.

After this conversation, the pair visit a poor and sick family, and the narration states in a manner that reads as fair and neutral that Emma is compassionate and attentive. To the right you can read a conversation between Emma and Harriet in which Emma asserts that such scenes remind them of what truly matters.
That said, with comical timing, Emma returns to her match-making schemes immediately after this conversation.

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Chapter 10

​"These are the sights, Harriet, to do one good. How trifling they make every thing else appear!—I feel now as if I could think of nothing but these poor creatures all the rest of the day; and yet, who can say how soon it may all vanish from my mind?"
"Very true," said Harriet. "Poor creatures! one can think of nothing else."
"And really, I do not think the impression will soon be over," said Emma, as she crossed the low hedge, and tottering footstep which ended the narrow, slippery path through the cottage garden, and brought them into the lane again.
"I do not think it will," stopping to look once more at all the outward wretchedness of the place, and recall the still greater within.

Chapter 11

In Chapter 11, Isabella (Emma's sister), Isabella's husband (Mr John Knightley) and their children visit Hartfield. Isabella adores her husband and spoils him. While it is clear that Emma is somewhat unimpressed with her brother-in-law, readers are reminded that Emma herself is often spoiled. In Emma's defense, Isabella appears to take after her father, and so readers are also reminded of Mr Knightley's assertion that Emma is the cleverest of her family.

Where is Frank Churchill?

Mr. John Knightley asks after Frank Churchill, and Emma replies that the expectation of his visit has ended in nothing. Frank’s letter is praised again, and Mr. John Knightley and Isabella speculate about the relationship between Mr. Weston and his son. Not that rumor plays a great role in reputation, as we are first introduced to characters like Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill by others’ perceptions—and misperceptions—of them.

You have finished this revision lesson.

Well done.