Pride and Prejudice 189Emma by calling them by familiar names, proposing
social gatherings with them, and otherwise ignoring
the distinctions of class by failing to show the proper
respect and humility to those above her on the social
ladder. Making herself odious with her egotistical
pretensions and her determination to insult lower-
class Harriet, Mrs. Elton shows her lack of refine-
ment and manners, illustrating that true upper-class
gentility cannot be acquired simply by having
enough money. Mr. Elton’s attempt to rise socially
himself by wedding Augusta is properly punished by
his ending up married to a woman whose attitudes
and behavior will always display ignorance of all but
the material trappings of class.
In contrast to the Eltons are the Bateses, who
were born into upper-class gentility but who have
since lost all their wealth. Truly high-class neighbors
such as Mr. Knightley and the Woodhouses still asso-
ciate with the Bateses, while trying to relieve their
poverty with frequent gifts of goods and services.
Mr. Knightley, the model of gentlemanly behavior,
urges Emma to become friends with the Bateses’
niece, Jane Fairfax, rather than with Harriet, because
Jane, while equally needy, still belongs to a higher
class because of her birth, accomplishments, and
refinement. Mr. Knightley also castigates Emma for
insulting Miss Bates at the Box Hill picnic, because
as one who was born and bred into the upper class
but has lives in poverty, Miss Bates deserves Emma’s
sympathy and kindness. Mr. Knightley also points
out that as the highest-ranking young woman in the
neighborhood, Emma has the obligation to set an
example of courtesy and good manners, which she
has lamentably failed to do.
In Frank Churchill we see a young man who was
adopted into wealth and educated with upper-class
manners. Yet the family who adopted him, while
rich and proud, has “no fair pretense of family or
blood” but is an “upstart.” Therefore, while Frank
can act like convincingly like a gentleman, he still
has some character flaws that betray his inferiority
to someone like Mr. Knightley. Although he has the
good taste to fall in love with the refined Jane Fair-
fax, his willingness to form a secret engagement and
deceive those around him show that Frank lacks the
honesty and integrity of an ideal gentleman.
Throughout the novel, Emma learns, through her
mistakes and through the tutelage of Mr. Knightley,
the obligations of her class. Initially, she looks down
upon everyone in a lower economic sphere than
herself and respects those who pretend to gentil-
ity. She denigrates Robert Martin, for example, as
a degrading inferior whose wife she could never
visit, but then she finds him to be a respectable man
worthy of being Harriet’s husband. She considers
Mr. Elton “quite the gentleman” and credits him
with elegance of mind, but later she learns he is
petty, self-serving, and shallow. At first, Emma feels
she should not accept the Coles’ invitation to dinner
because “they ought to be taught that it was not for
them to arrange the terms on which the superior
families would visit them.” But then, as they afford
her all the courtesy and consequence she could wish,
she finds that she enjoys the occasion and their com-
pany. She ridicules Miss Bates and Jane Fairfax but
at last realizes they are kind and discerning friends.
She criticizes Mr. Knightley for not sufficiently dis-
playing his rank by riding around in his carriage and
by associating with farmers like Robert Martin, but
she finally learns that he has such true gentility of
mind and heart that he does not need to flaunt his
superiority with surface pretensions.
What Austen is telling us in Emma about social
class is that gradations in rank are necessary for the
orderly workings of society, and that happiness and
peace result from recognizing and accepting class
boundaries. However, she also shows that there is
more to gentility than simply money, birth, and
connections. True gentility of mind includes respect
and kindness for others no matter what their station,
personal moral integrity, and wise judgment. At the
novel’s close, readers rejoice that Emma has learned
this lesson well enough to be the proper companion
of the estimable Mr. Knightley, and that she is well
on her way to developing the superior character
necessary to her high position on the social ladder.
Sally PalmerAUSTEN, JANE Pride and Prejudice
(1813)
Pride and Prejudice, originally entitled First Impres-
sions, tells the story of the five Bennet sisters—Jane,