So does anyone actually need me to recap the plot ofEmma, a nearly two hundred year old classic which has been adapted any number of times, currently as a successful YouTube webseries in Emma Approved? To be fair, I’m not sure even half of my actual real life friends have read this book, so I’ll be nice to you.
Emma Woodhouse is twenty-one, the youngest daughter of a prosperous country gentleman and her governess, Miss Taylor, who more or less raised her from she was very little, has just married Mr. Weston. Emma, happily full of herself and far too prone to take credit for anything fortuitous that happens near her, claims that she made the match between the two, and wants to continue her occupation as the neighbourhood matchmaker by finding a wife for Mr. Elton, the local parson. Mr. George Knightley, the Woodhouses’ closest neighbour, whose brother John is married to Emma’s sister Isabella, believes this to be a terrible idea and is the only one who’s not afraid to tell her so.
Emma also needs a new companion, as her erstwhile friend is off sorting out a household of her own. She takes the young Harriet Smith, one of the boarders of the local girls’ school under her wing, and intends to improve her social standing enough that she will make a suitable spouse for Mr. Elton. She certainly doesn’t want Harriet to marry the well-to-do farmer, Mr. Martin, who seems very smitten with her. Emma herself doesn’t intend to ever marry, although most of her friends and acquaintances seem to believe she and Frank Churchill, Mr. Weston’s son from his previous marriage, would make a very handsome and suitable couple.
Full review.
I hated Emma for years, but somehow this read, I liked her so much better. I need to watch Emma Approved (and catch up on Lizzie Bennet Diaries). Thanks for the shout-out, by the way! :)