Emma Page #3

MR ELTON:

Might I be entrusted with such an admission? I would be gratified more than

words can express.

SCENE 9-TOWN OF HIGHBURY

HARRIET:

He wants to marry me! Would you mind reading it?

EMMA:

Certainly not! I cannot believe Mr Elton proposed! Surely, he is-

HARRIET:

No, not Mr Elton, Mr Martin, my friend! Is it a good letter, or

too...short?

EMMA:

It is a good letter. One of his sisters must have helped him, yet it is not

in the style of a woman. Well, it is a good letter. You must answer it

immediately. He must have his disappointment, and move on.

HARRIET:

Then you think I should refuse him?

EMMA:

You did not plan to return an answer favorable to this claim?

HARRIET:

No, I did not! That is...I mean...Um...Well, I was not sure, that is why I

came to you!

EMMA:

Oh, it's not my place to intrude!

HARRIET:

But I depend so on what you think!

EMMA:

I would not advise you for the world! If you prefer Mr Martin to every

other person you know or may ever know, if you think him the most agreeable

man you have ever been or ever will be in company with, then why should you

hesitate?

HARRIET:

If you will not influence me, then I must do as well as I can by myself. I

am determined to, and I really have almost made up my mind to...refuse...Mr

Martin...? Oh, do you think that's right? Or wrong? Is it wrong?

EMMA:

Now that you have decided, I shall share the feelings which I kept you in

suspense of. I think you are perfectly right.

HARRIET:

Yes. But-Oh, dear! It will make his mother and sisters most unhappy!

EMMA:

Let us think of other mothers and sisters who may be more cheerfully

employed at this moment. I believe Mr Elton is showing your picture to his

mother and sisters, telling them that the subject is more beautiful than

the portrait.

HARRIET:

Well, if he shows it, then I'm sure it is only to praise your artistry.

EMMA:

If you are sure, then you are surely wrong! By showing it to them, he is

revealing his deeper intentions, which may produce a letter of his own.

SCENE 10-DONWELL ABBEY

MR KNIGHTLEY:

Very well, I admit it. You have improved Harriet Smith.

EMMA:

I hope you're not the only man to have noticed.

MR KNIGHLTY:

I'm not. I believe your friend will soon hear something serious. Something

to her advantage.

EMMA:

Who makes you his confidant?

MR KNIGHTLEY:

I have reason to believe Harriet Smith will receive an offer of marriage to

a man desperately in love with her. Robert Martin. He came here two

evenings ago to consult about it. He's a tenant, you know, and a good

friend. He asked whether it would be imprudent of him to settle too early,

whether she was too young, or whether he was beneath her.

EMMA:

Better question to Mr Martin, I could not have chosen myself.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

I never hear better sense from anyone than from Robert Martin. He proved he

can afford to marry, and I say he could not do better.

EMMA:

No indeed, he could not. Come, I will tell you something in return. He

wrote to Harriet yesterday.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

Oh, yes?

EMMA:

Yes. He was refused.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

I'm not sure I understand.

EMMA:

He asked, and she refused.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

Then she is a greater simpleton than I believed.

EMMA:

The most incomprehensible thing in the world to a man is a woman who

rejects his offer of marriage.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

I do not comprehend it because it is madness. I hope you are wrong.

EMMA:

I could not be. I saw her answer.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

You saw her answer. Emma, you wrote her answer, didn't you?

EMMA:

If I did, then I would have done no wrong. He is not Harriet's equal.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

I agree, he is not her equal.

EMMA:

Good.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

He is her superior in sense and situation. What are Harriet Smith's claims

of birth or education which make her higher than Robert Martin? She is the

natural daughter of nobody-knows-who. The advantage of the match was

entirely on her side.

EMMA:

What! A farmer? Even with all his merit and match for my dear friend, it

would be a degradation for her to marry a person whom I could not even

admit as my own acquaintance!

MR KNIGHTLEY:

A degradation for illegitimacy and ignorance to marry to a respected,

intelligent farmer?

EMMA:

She is a gentleman's daughter.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

Whoever her parents, they made no plans to introduce her into good society.

She was left with Mrs Goddard for an indifferent education. Her friends

evidently thought this was good enough for her, and it was, and she thought

so too until you began to puff her up! Vanity working on a weak mind

produces every kind of mischief.

EMMA:

Hmm, you dismiss her beauty and good nature, yet I would be very much

mistaken if your sex in general did not think those claims the highest a

woman could possess.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

Men of sense, whatever you may say, do not want silly wives! Mark my word,

Emma. Better be without sense than misapply it as you do. Try not to kill

my dogs.

EMMA:

We see so differently on this point there can be no use canvassing it, we

shall only make each other angry. Ah! I see the tea is ready. Let's stop

and have some.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

Clearly, Emma, you have someone have someone else in mind for your friend,

but if the gentleman you dream of is Mr Elton, your labor is in vain. As

vigor, Elton is unlikely to make an imprudent match, especially to a girl

of obscurity and will bring him disgrace. In unreserved moments, when only

men are present, I have heard him speak of a large family of young ladies

from Bath, who all have twenty thousand pounds apiece. Believe me when I

say he may talk sentimentally, but he will act rationally.

EMMA:

If I had my heart set on Mr Elton, then your 'opening my eyes' would have

been a kind service, but I care only to watch her grow, and-

MR KNIGHTLEY:

No more, please. No more.

SCENE 11-HARTFIELD

MR ELTON:

Bravo

(later)

EMMA:

Thank you, Charles. Mr Elton. Harriet is collecting riddles for a book, and

we knew you would come up with something cunning.

MR ELTON:

Oh, no, no, no. I'm not nearly clever enough.

MR KNIGHTLEY:

Emma, you didn't ask me to contribute a riddle.

EMMA:

Your entire personality is a riddle, Mr Knightley. I thought you were

overqualified.

SCENE 12-HIGHBURY

EMMA:

Woah, stand. Morning, Peter! This just came from Mr Elton. He claims it is

a riddle for your collection, but I think it is much better!

HARRIET:

Is it about sharks?

EMMA:

For heaven's sake, why would he write a riddle about sharks?

HARRIET:

Please, I'm in a tremor, tell me what it means!

EMMA:

We may read it aloud so that we may decipher it. "For Miss" I think we can

safely put in 'Smith'. "Line 1: My first displays the wealth and pomp of

kings, lords of the earth, their luxury and ease." That can be displayed

as...pomp in (prompting Harriet)...court.

HARRIET:

Court, yes.

EMMA:

"Next Line:
Another view of man, my second brings, behold him there, the

monarch of the seas." That is...?

HARRIET:

A mermaid! A trident? Oh, do you think we shall ever know?

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