|
Allegra : Where's the heat
between Emma and Mr. Knightley? There's no animal
passion. Look at Frank Churchill and Miss Fairfax. You can tell
they're really in love because they behave so badly.
Sylvia : And that's good?
Allegra : Emma and Mr.
Knightley, you just never feel the sex.
Bernadette : Still, I
think Mr. Knightley's very yummy. Don't
you? He may be my favorite of all the Austen men.
Prudie : Sans
passion I'amour n'est rien. That's not Jane's theme, is it?
Jocelyn : Jane?
Bernadette : That's cozy.
Prudie : What
we're meant to see is not the lack of passion so much as the control of it, and
the not giving in.
Bernadette : Apres moi, le deluge. But
Prudie's right, it is in all the novels. Sense and Sensibility, obviously. Oh,
and then there's Maria's infidelity in Mansfield Park.
Sylvia : I forgot there's infidelity in Mansfield Park.
Jocelyn : Austen's all about keeping it zipped.
Grigg : Yeah, but isn't
physical attraction one of the ungovernable forces? You know, like gravity.
That's what we like about it. You know, downhill, release the brakes, loosen
your grip, and...
Allegra : Yeah. Love makes people crazy.
Sylvia : It does not excuse bad behavior.
Bernadette : I agree. And
Mr. Knightley is violently in love. "Violently!" His word. And yet, he's never
anything but a gentleman.
Allegra : Yeah, a gentleman who scolds people.
Grigg : Not everyone. You
know, just Emma, just the woman that he loves.
Prudie : C'est vrai. C'est typique. A
man can do whatever he likes to the woman he loves.
Jocelyn : I don't think
that's what Austen's saying. Actually, Emma stops being crazy when she falls for
Mr. Knightley. It's the event of the book. Love is an act of sanity.
Grigg : One thing that I
noticed about Emma is the sense of menace. The Gypsies, Jane Fairfax's boating
accident, Mr. Woodhouse's worries.
Prudie : Austen's entire
thesis is that none of these things are real, Grigg. I mean, Emma, she acts on
the basis of her fantasies.
Allegra : Yes, Grigg, I'm
afraid you've just entirely missed the point.
Jocelyn : You know, I've
read that the Emma plot, the humbling of the pretty, know-it-all girl is the
most popular plot of all time.
Bernadette : Yes, universally satisfying.
Allegra : Okay. Well, what
bothered me was how Emma kept forcing
her friend Harriet on Mr.
Elton. And then she finds out who Harriet's father is, and suddenly, "Ew!" She's
lucky to get the farmer.
Prudie : I think Jane was
being ironic there. I think some readers might miss that.
Allegra : Emma's a snob.
Jocelyn : Please. People are
instinctively drawn to partners who are their near equal in looks. The pretty
marry the pretty, the ugly the ugly. To the detriment of the breed, in my
opinion.
Bernadette : God, you're
such an Emma. Isn't she? You'd love to pair
up the whole world,
from dogs to people.
Sylvia : Put me together with Daniel.
Jocelyn : And you had beautiful children. |
