Emma Misperception Quotes

“Time, my dearest Emma, time will heal the wound. – Your own excellent sense – your exertions for your father’s sake – I know you will not allow yourself – .” Her arm was pressed again, as he added, in a more broken and subdued accent, “The feelings of the warmest friendship – Indignation – Abominable scoundrel!” – And in a louder, steadier tone, he concluded with, “He will soon be gone. They will soon be in Yorkshire. I am sorry for her. She deserves a better fate.”

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 49. Almost all the conversation between Mr. Knightley and Emma in this chapter involves them misreading and misinterpreting one another. In this speech he consoles Emma over the news of Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax’s secret engagement. Mistakenly believing Emma to be romantically attached to Frank, he thinks the news is painful for her. What he doesn’t realize is that he is the one she loves.

“You will not ask me what is the point of envy. – You are determined, I see, to have no curiosity. – You are wise – but I cannot be wise. Emma, I must tell you what you will not ask, though I may wish it unsaid the next moment.”
“Oh! then, don’t speak it, don’t speak it,” she eagerly cried.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 49. Nearly everything that Emma and Mr. Knightley say to one another in this chapter is misinterpreted. Here she wrongly thinks that he is about to confide his affection for Harriet and tries to silence him. And he starts out believing Emma to be pained at the loss of Frank Churchill until she says she was never attached to him. The reality is that Mr. Knightley is about to change both of their lives by proposing to Emma.

“As a friend!” – repeated Mr. Knightley. – “Emma, that I fear is a word – No, I have no wish – Stay, yes, why should I hesitate? – I have gone too far already for concealment. – Emma, I accept your offer – Extraordinary as it may seem, I accept it, and refer myself to you as a friend. – Tell me, then, have I no chance of ever succeeding?” He stopped in his earnestness to look the question, and the expression of his eyes overpowered her.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 49. When Emma invites Mr. Knightley to speak to her openly as a friend, wrongly thinking he has affections for Harriet, it brings this emotional response from him. It is the beginning of Mr. Knightley’s declaration of love and proposal to Emma. He pleads with her on whether he has no chance of succeeding with her. Overwhelmed by the intensity of his words and gaze, she is rendered speechless, having completely misread him. Mr. Knightley struggling with words, the dashes, the unfinished sentences indicate a nervousness on his part. But they also convey the depth of his passion and sincerity of his affections for Emma.

“My dearest Emma,” said he, “for dearest you will always be, whatever the event of this hour’s conversation, my dearest, most beloved Emma – tell me at once. Say ‘No,’ if it is to be said.” – She could really say nothing. – “You are silent,” he cried, with great animation; “absolutely silent! at present I ask no more.” Emma was almost ready to sink under the agitation of this moment. The dread of being awakened from the happiest dream, was perhaps the most prominent feeling.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 49. Mr. Knightley overcomes his hesitation about sharing his feelings with Emma to declare his love for her. While hoping that she returns his feelings, he is met with a shocked Emma, who is stunned into silence by a mixture of joy and fear. As her “happiest dream” is realized, she is fearful that she might wake up and find that dream destroyed by reality. Mr. Knightley, not realizing Emma is in love with him, is expecting a negative response from her.

While he spoke, Emma’s mind was most busy, and, with all the wonderful velocity of thought, had been able – and yet without losing a word – to catch and comprehend the exact truth of the whole; to see that Harriet’s hopes had been entirely groundless, a mistake, a delusion, as complete a delusion as any of her own – that Harriet was nothing; that she was every thing herself.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 49. Emma’s misperceptions about a love attachment between Mr. Knightley and Harriet are brought to a joyful conclusion, when she learns it is she and not Harriet he loves. Using hyperbolic language, she declares that Harriet is “nothing” and she is “every thing,” emphasizing that she is the one who has Knightley’s heart. The phrase “the wonderful velocity of thought,” has more hyperbole and personification, as Emma’s mind and thoughts acquire the quality of moving with great speed.

Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken; but where, as in this case, though the conduct is mistaken, the feelings are not, it may not be very material. – Mr. Knightley could not impute to Emma a more relenting heart than she possessed, or a heart more disposed to accept of his.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 49. Austen’s remarkable statement, made through the narrator, suggests that misreading and deception are a perfectly normal and natural part of human behavior. What really matters is what’s in the heart, it suggests. The quote follows the novel’s romantic climax when Mr. Knightley declares his love for Emma and she returns his love. It reflects how amid all the imperfect human communication, misperception, misinterpretation and disguises, it is the heart that discloses the complete truth. The chapter ends with Emma and Mr. Knightley betrothed after listened to the language of their hearts.

The joy, the gratitude, the exquisite delight of her sensations may be imagined. The sole grievance and alloy thus removed in the prospect of Harriet’s welfare, she was really in danger of becoming too happy for security. – What had she to wish for? Nothing, but to grow more worthy of him, whose intentions and judgment had been ever so superior to her own. Nothing, but that the lessons of her past folly might teach her humility and circumspection in future.

– Jane Austen

Emma, Chapter 54. After Mr. Knightley delivers the news that Harriet has accepted a second marriage proposal from Robert Martin, Emma is elated. Acknowledging her past foolishness, she promises to be more humble and circumspect in the future. And she hopes to grow more worthy of Mr. Knightley, whom she credits with superior judgment to hers. She uses the word “alloy” as a metaphor for her past matchmaking misperceptions that could have ruined Harriet’s well-being and happiness. This shows how much Emma has matured and seen the error of her ways.
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