In this episode, we read chapters 32 to 36 of Emma. We talk about the civil society of Highbury, why Jane puts up with Mrs Elton, and Emma’s dinner party.

The character we discuss is Mrs Elton, and Ellen talks about governesses. In the popular culture section, Harriet talks about the 2013 YouTube series Emma Approved .

Things we mention:

Character discussion:

• Diana Birchall, In Defense of Mrs Elton (1999)
•  John Mullan [Editor], The Oxford World’s Classics Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Emma (2022) 
• Mary Deforest, ‘Mrs. Elton and the Slave Trade‘ Persuasions 9, 1987
• Lona Manning, ‘What is Austen saying with Mrs. Elton?‘, 9 February 2023
• John Sutherland, Can Jane Eyre be happy? (2000)
• Thomas Gray, ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard‘ (1751)

Historical discussion:

• Elizabeth Eastlake, ‘Vanity Fair and Jane Eyre‘, Quarterly Review 84, 1848
• Anna Jameson, The Diary of an Ennuyée (1826)
• William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1847)
• Maria Edgeworth, The Good French Governess (1801)
• Ellen Jordan, The Women’s Movement and Women’s Employment in Nineteenth Century Britain (1999)
• Graph showing percentages of governesses, female milliners and domestic servants in various age groups as shown in the census of 1851.

Popular culture discussion:

• Main version considered:
  • YouTube, Pemberley Digital, Emma Approved (2013) – starring Joanna Sotomura and Brent Bailey
• Other references
  • YouTube, Pemberley Digital, Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012) – starring Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent Gordh
  • Paramount Pictures, Clueless (1995) – starring Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd

 For a list of music used, see this episode on our website.