Emma alludes to works by Shakespeare multiple times over the course of the novel. For example, in Chapter 9, when divulging to Harriet her theories about Mr. Elton being in love with Harriet, Emma makes a reference to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
“The course of true love never did run smooth—A Hartfield edition of Shakespeare would have a long note on that passage.”
This particular Shakespearean allusion adds to the irony of the situation: the course of true love will not run smooth for Harriet and Elton, but not for the reasons Emma thinks. Instead of being a tale of romance across social class, Mr. Elton will break Harriet’s heart.
Emma later references Romeo and Juliet in Chapter 46, when discussing Jane Fairfax’s behavior during her secret engagement to Frank:
“Much, indeed!” cried Emma, feelingly. “If a woman can ever be excused for thinking only of herself, it is in a situation like Jane Fairfax’s.—Of such, one may almost say, that ‘the world is not their’s, nor the world’s law.’”
This quote gives more emotional weight to Emma’s maturation through the novel—where she used to judge and misperceive Jane, she now understands her.
In addition to shedding light on particular relationship dynamics in the novel, these Shakespeare quotes also show that Emma is well-read, hinting at her social class and also making her as a character seem like more than a misguided matchmaker.
Though Austen steers clear of discussing politics in the novel, she includes an allusion to the Napoleonic Wars taking place at the time. While offering some backstory on Jane’s family, the narrator mentions how her father—a lieutenant—died while “in action abroad”:
The marriage of Lieut. Fairfax, of the——regiment of infantry, and Miss Jane Bates, had had its day of fame and pleasure, hope and interest; but nothing now remained of it, save the melancholy remembrance of him dying in action abroad—of his widow sinking under consumption and grief soon afterwards—and this girl.
During the Napoleonic Wars (which lasted from 1803-1815), the French Empire—led by Napoleon—sought to dominate and invade much of Europe, and England responded by sending troops to defend against the attacks. Jane’s father likely died performing such a duty. Austen makes use of a long dash to conceal the name of the division in which the men served, a technique that was common at the time.
Because Jane’s father died abroad, Jane’s mother (also named Jane) ends up with no money, forcing Jane to start working at a young age. This outcome exemplifies the limited financial options women had at the time.
Austen spends little time in the novel explaining to readers the social and political context of England outside the fictional town of Highbury. Yet at one point Mrs. Elton alludes to the slave trade while in conversation with Jane:
“There are places in town, offices, where inquiry would soon produce something—Offices for the sale—not quite of human flesh—but of human intellect.”
“Oh! my dear, human flesh! You quite shock me; if you mean a fling at the slave-trade, I assure you Mr. Suckling was always rather a friend to the abolition.”
“I did not mean, I was not thinking of the slave-trade,” replied Jane; “governess-trade, I assure you, was all that I had in view; widely different certainly as to the guilt of those who carry it on; but as to the greater misery of the victims, I do not know where it lies.”
Here, Jane describes offices that exist “for the sale […] of human intellect”—referring to businesses that help young women get placed in homes as governesses (or live-in tutors for children). Mrs. Elton, misinterpreting her, believes she’s talking about the actual trade of enslaved people.
It is important to note that Emma takes place between 1807—when England abolished the slave trade—and 1833, when the nation made the ownership of enslaved people illegal. So, though the slave trade had recently ended, many people were still enslaved in England at the time. When Mrs. Elton says that her brother-in-law Mr. Suckling “was always rather a friend to the abolition,” she is referencing the Abolitionist movement that was a multi-racial movement to end slavery for good.
Though the comparison between being enslaved and being employed as a governess may be offensive to readers, it was Austen’s way of showing how limited women’s financial freedom was at this time and how easily exploited lower-class women like Jane were.
In the final volume of the novel, Harriet is attacked by “gipsies” (or “gypsies”), a derogatory term alluding to Romani people, a nomadic European ethnic group. In Chapter 39, the narrator describes the attack like this:
How the trampers might have behaved, had the young ladies been more courageous, must be doubtful; but such an invitation for attack could not be resisted; and Harriet was soon assailed by half a dozen children, headed by a stout woman and a great boy, all clamorous, and impertinent in look, though not absolutely in word.—More and more frightened, she immediately promised them money, and taking out her purse, gave them a shilling, and begged them not to want more, or to use her ill.—She was then able to walk, though but slowly, and was moving away—but her terror and her purse were too tempting, and she was followed, or rather surrounded, by the whole gang, demanding more.
The Romani people have historically been discriminated against in Europe for their unusual nomadic lifestyle, and stereotypical depictions of Romani people as “clamorous” violent “gangs” show up here in Emma as well.
In addition to posing a threat to the characters (such as in Harriet’s case), the Romani people also exist in the world of the novel as sources of cultural appropriation. For example, in Chapter 42, Mrs. Elton announces that she wants to throw a “gipsy party,” named such because it will take place outdoors:
There is to be no form or parade—a sort of gipsy party.—We are to walk about your gardens, and gather the strawberries ourselves, and sit under trees;—and whatever else you may like to provide, it is to be all out of doors.
Both allusions to Romani people highlight how social class (which is tied to ethnicity) informs how different people are treated. Romani people are seen as beneath even the least well-off characters in the novel and therefore do not even fully register as people, but merely as threats and inspirations for events.
In the final volume of the novel, Harriet is attacked by “gipsies” (or “gypsies”), a derogatory term alluding to Romani people, a nomadic European ethnic group. In Chapter 39, the narrator describes the attack like this:
How the trampers might have behaved, had the young ladies been more courageous, must be doubtful; but such an invitation for attack could not be resisted; and Harriet was soon assailed by half a dozen children, headed by a stout woman and a great boy, all clamorous, and impertinent in look, though not absolutely in word.—More and more frightened, she immediately promised them money, and taking out her purse, gave them a shilling, and begged them not to want more, or to use her ill.—She was then able to walk, though but slowly, and was moving away—but her terror and her purse were too tempting, and she was followed, or rather surrounded, by the whole gang, demanding more.
The Romani people have historically been discriminated against in Europe for their unusual nomadic lifestyle, and stereotypical depictions of Romani people as “clamorous” violent “gangs” show up here in Emma as well.
In addition to posing a threat to the characters (such as in Harriet’s case), the Romani people also exist in the world of the novel as sources of cultural appropriation. For example, in Chapter 42, Mrs. Elton announces that she wants to throw a “gipsy party,” named such because it will take place outdoors:
There is to be no form or parade—a sort of gipsy party.—We are to walk about your gardens, and gather the strawberries ourselves, and sit under trees;—and whatever else you may like to provide, it is to be all out of doors.
Both allusions to Romani people highlight how social class (which is tied to ethnicity) informs how different people are treated. Romani people are seen as beneath even the least well-off characters in the novel and therefore do not even fully register as people, but merely as threats and inspirations for events.
Emma alludes to works by Shakespeare multiple times over the course of the novel. For example, in Chapter 9, when divulging to Harriet her theories about Mr. Elton being in love with Harriet, Emma makes a reference to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
“The course of true love never did run smooth—A Hartfield edition of Shakespeare would have a long note on that passage.”
This particular Shakespearean allusion adds to the irony of the situation: the course of true love will not run smooth for Harriet and Elton, but not for the reasons Emma thinks. Instead of being a tale of romance across social class, Mr. Elton will break Harriet’s heart.
Emma later references Romeo and Juliet in Chapter 46, when discussing Jane Fairfax’s behavior during her secret engagement to Frank:
“Much, indeed!” cried Emma, feelingly. “If a woman can ever be excused for thinking only of herself, it is in a situation like Jane Fairfax’s.—Of such, one may almost say, that ‘the world is not their’s, nor the world’s law.’”
This quote gives more emotional weight to Emma’s maturation through the novel—where she used to judge and misperceive Jane, she now understands her.
In addition to shedding light on particular relationship dynamics in the novel, these Shakespeare quotes also show that Emma is well-read, hinting at her social class and also making her as a character seem like more than a misguided matchmaker.
