Emma by Jane Austen

                The novel Emma, by Jane Austen tells the tale of a young woman, Emma Woodhouse, as she finds her way through maidenhood in the early eighteen hundreds.  Much of this book centers around assumptions, and most of them are quick jump to conclusion moments. All of these showing that while Emma may think she knows everything, she isn’t always right, and her first intuition on the subject may not always be the correct one.

                One of the best examples of this is towards the beginning of the book. Emma befriends a young lady named Harriet. Her parents were never known to her, and she was raised in a boarding school where she was taught to be ladylike. Emma decides to take Harriet under her wing and teach her to be the very example of a proper young woman. Emma wants to first, heighten Harriet’s ways of life, by raising them to the standards of Emma’s. And secondly, the more important part of the plot, find Harriet a suitable husband. Emma settles for Mr. Elton, a man of high standing, though Emma thinks he is not high enough quality to turn down Harriet. Emma invites him over to her abode many days, making sure Harriet spends as much time with Mr. Elton as she can. She pushes Harriet on him so hard, that she does not realize that Mr. Elton does not find Harriet at all an interesting suitor, and instead Mr. Elton tried to pursue Emma.  When Emma realized her mistake she did not blame it on herself, but Mr. Elton for not realizing, “Encouragement! I give you encouragement! Sir, you have been entirely mistaken in supposing it. I have seen you only as the admirer of my friend. In no other light could you have been more to me than a common acquaintance.”

                Emma never seems to really grasp how bad her assumptions hurt not just herself but others as well. When pushing Harriet on Mr. Elton, she pushes Harriet away from another suitor. A kind young man who seems to be very taken with Harriet, and whom Harriet seems to be very fond of herself. But Emma pushes these thoughts away from Harriet, and makes Harriet fixate on a man who will never love her.

                Emma’s quick assumptions not only harm herself, but her friends as well. She hurt Mr. Elton in her rejections, Harriet in Harriet’s rejection as well as the fact that Harriet lost a man that she wanted to marry. Emma’s thoughts of trying to help others blindsides her from people’s true wants. Sometimes seeing things for what you want, and convincing others of it isn’t the right thing to do because it can hurt people in the end. Emma’s selfish wants prevailed in this situation, and instead of helping people as she intended, she ended up hurting them.