(This conversation will contain spoilers for the current chapters.)

S: Chapter 41 is so very amusing! Emma thinks that Mr. Churchill and Harriet like each other and Jane Fairfax loves Mr. Dixon; Mr. Knightley thinks that Emma likes Mr. Churchill, but Mr. Churchill and Jane really like each other; we’re not sure who Harriet actually likes, although I’m pretty sure we know who Mr. Knightley likes. I would hazard a guess that Mr. Knightley’s, well I suppose both the Messers. Knightley, powers of observance are by far the best.

R: Well, I was surprised! I feel bad for Jane. Both Frank and Emma were rude to her. I’m glad Mr. Knightley sort of called Emma out on her behaviour. I’m still not sure exactly which of the things brought forth in this chapter are true. 

S: It’s chapters like these that are making me like this book so much because they just make me laugh at the absurdity of it all.

I am so happy the Westons are expecting! 

I cannot stand Mrs. Elton’s arrogance when talking with Mr. Knightley, but he manages the conversation so well: ‘…there is but one married woman in the world whom I can ever allow to invite what guests she pleases to Donwell, and that one is…Mrs. Knightley; and till she is in being, I will manage such matters myself.’ This is absolutely hilarious and I think I read that exchange two or three times because I enjoyed his answer so much. 

Again, I feel for Jane; I hate it when people won’t hear what I’m trying to tell them. It makes you feel very powerless. And, like Jane, sometimes you just want to have some time to yourself where no one is pushing you. 

Also, I think that Harriet is falling for Mr. Knightley. 

R: Happy news for the Westons! I, too, enjoyed Knightley’s responses to Mrs. Elton. Very much putting her in her place, though she certainly didn’t see it for what it was. I’m curious about why Jane ran off early. So much happened in this chapter!

S: Chapter 43 was very difficult to read. I was so embarrassed by Emma’s and Mr. Churchill’s displays of pride and wit at the expense of others. Poor Miss Bates. Emma is caught in the middle, I fear, as she has been, unwittingly, since Frank came into the picture. And Jane! If Mr. Knightley’s observations prove true, I think she might have been speaking of herself and Frank, which may explain why he’s so annoyed. 

R: I agree that this chapter was difficult! It was uncomfortable right from the start, and Emma and Frank Churchill’s antics were horrible. That Emma took Mr. Knightley’s castigation so well, though she didn’t work up the courage to respond quickly enough, shows that her character is perhaps not so bad, or may be improving. She seems too easily influenced by those around her. She may act badly in the moment, but she can see where she was wrong when it’s pointed out.

S: Agreed! 

Jane is once again being bullied into going to teach, but will she actually go? Perhaps Frank can’t make up his mind about her so she is choosing to do something about it to spite him or get him to react. Emma’s growth as a character is really rather beautiful – she is trying to be very friendly toward the Bateses and Miss Fairfax.

R: This was an interesting interlude. It made me wonder if the reason Jane rushed off from the party was because Mrs. Elton told her that she’d found Jane a position. I appreciated Emma’s attempt to rectify her previous bad behaviour toward Miss Bates. 

S: It is very difficult when you try your best to befriend someone and the advances are spurned, but yet what could Emma have expected with how she had behaved previously? How important it is to be kind to others so that when they need help they can accept it. I wonder what the death of Mrs. Churchill will mean. 

Jane Austen offers us an interesting quote: ‘Goldsmith tells us, that when lovely woman stoops to folly, she has nothing to do but to die; and when she stoops to be disagreeable, it is equally to be recommended as a clearer of ill-fame’.

There has got to be more to Jane’s sickness than the sadness of leaving her family to become a governess. I’m still sticking by my idea that she and Churchill are in love!

R: I was pleased that Emma seemed to be able to reconcile with Mr. Knightley. I’m concerned that Emma might be reading too much into Mr. Knightley’s glances. I hope that he truly has forgiven her, just as I hope that Emma truly has repented of her misbehaviour. I really don’t know what to think about Jane’s supposed illness and spurning Emma’s attempts to help. It seems more like she’s overwrought about something. 

S: It certainly will be interesting to see what transpires in the following chapters!