Box Hill

            The trip to Box Hill seems like a moment when the ground starts to shift for some of the characters in Emma. Not only the trip to Box Hill, but also the previous day’s trip to Donwell Abbey – these outings seem to bring about some changes in dynamics between characters, showcase some personality traits we might not have been fully exposed to before, and give us a few hints as to what might be to come. Emma and Frank Churchill upset a few people, Jane Fairfax reaches some personal limit, Harriet and Mr. Knightley seem to develop some sort of new relationship, Miss Bates is hurt by Emma, and Emma falls out badly with Mr. Knightley. By the time Emma’s carriage comes to take her home, a number of small things have happened that have changed her outlook on certain people, some little insights have been gained, and some relationships seem to have become a little bit more complicated.  

Emma’s opinion of Frank Churchill undergoes a slight shift when he arrives at Donwell Abbey. This is the first time she’s ever seen him in bad form, and she tells her father then that she’s glad not to be in love with him, as she believes he’s cranky because he’s too hot and that seems ridiculous to her (251).  She hadn’t been thinking about him much before he arrived anyway, except to wonder how his absence was affecting Harriet. The following day at Box Hill, she enjoys Frank’s wit and they scandalously flirt with each other in front of everyone, but she doesn’t take any of it seriously. Her own hurtful remark to Miss Bates comes out of this heedlessness. Later, when Mr. Knightley challenges her, she can’t bring herself to admit how mean it was, and by the time he’s made his feelings known to her, she is too ashamed to say anything at all (259). She’s made some bad judgment calls, and now on top of everything else, Mr. Knightley thinks very badly of her, so suffering guilt and shame, she relives and regrets her actions all the way home in the carriage.

Emma is not the only one who goes through a bit of emotional turmoil during these two days, either. She feels terrible because she has belittled Miss Bates in front of everyone, made a display of herself by flirting shamelessly with Frank Churchill in front of everyone, and fallen out with Mr. Knightley. And she has noticed Harriet Smith walking and talking with Mr. Knightley. Their conversation is not revealed to Emma (or to us), but it seems likely that Harriet’s quiet mood in the carriage on the way home has something to do with that. If Mr. Knightley has become the object of Harriet’s affections then she may be dwelling on his words and actions towards herself, or if he’s been talking about Robert Martin then she may be thinking of him. Either way, Harriet has obviously got some of her own private thoughts going on, too.

And then there’s Jane Fairfax. The Donwell Abbey party is the first time Emma begins to see Jane in a different light. When she finds her leaving the party by herself, and sees how desperately she wants to be alone, she begins to imagine Jane’s life, and feels sorry for her.  For the first time we see Jane Fairfax showing some bad humor and desperation. At Box Hill she has been watching Frank’s behavior and listening to his banter all day - finally she can’t take it anymore, and she snaps at him. His reaction is very telling – “ “you were speaking”, said he, gravely” – and after she has said her piece, basically saying only a weak person would stay in an unhappy engagement  “he made no answer, merely looked, and bowed in submission” (257). Considering how much Emma thinks she knows about relationships and attachments, this goes to show how little she actually sees. At Box Hill, Emma wants “to see what everyone else thought so well worth seeing”(243), and she does come away with some new level of understanding about herself, and her own feelings, but there’s plenty more that’s happening right in front of her, and she really doesn’t see most of it.