Regency Films at Christmas: Emma

Emma was the first Jane Austen book I ever read. Although it's not my favorite Jane Austen novel, it maintains a special place in my heart because it introduced me to the Regency world and Mr. Knightley.

(By Chris Hammond (illustrator) - Houghton Library at Harvard University, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34960748)

For those who don't know the story (and if you don't know it, then don't walk but run to the nearest bookstore, or computer with Internet, to procure a copy), Emma Woodhouse is a spoiled, proud, and beautiful young woman who has lived all of her life quite comfortably with her father in Highbury. She is overly confident in all of her abilities, most notably those which have to do with matchmaking and meddling in the lives of others. Although Emma has no desire to marry, she takes great pleasure in finding potential mates for all of her friends and acquaintances.

Mr. Knightley, a lifelong friend of the family whose brother is married to Emma's sister, is seventeen years older than Emma. He is a kind, compassionate, and highly principled man, and he enjoys correcting Emma in some of her erroneous assumptions and deeds. Emma sees him in the light of an older brother or cousin, and from the outset it looks as though he sees her as a younger sister, but when she is pursued by a couple of young men, Mr. Knightley is jealous. It takes longer for Emma to see Mr. Knightley in a romantic light, but the charm of the story stems from seeing her character's development and maturity. An eventual comeuppance turns Emma's heart toward Mr. Knightley's quiet benevolence and turns her eyes inward toward her own entitled and selfish motivations. The result is Emma's growth, change, and understanding.

There are several movie versions of this novel, but my favorite is the 2009 BBC mini-series starring Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller. I especially love to watch it around this time of year (even though Emma spans through all seasons), for the wonderful scene at the Weston's Christmas party when Mr. Elton makes his feelings known to Emma, and all of the guests are aflutter at the prospect of being "snowed in" by the lightly falling flakes.

You can watch the whole episode below (from YouTube), but the scene I've mentioned begins around minute seventeen. I could watch this mini-series over and over again and never tire of it.

What movies or shows compel you to watch them over and over again?

Poldark and the Dark Side of the Regency Era

Poldark, the series based on Winston Graham’s wonderful novels, returns to Masterpiece Theatre this Sunday for its second season. Poldark follows the saga of Ross Poldark, soldier turned crusader-for-the-poor and the prince of principles. Although the series begins a little earlier than the Regency era (the first scene takes place during the Revolutionary War), the epic novels chronicle a hero’s quest spanning many years and into the Regency period. Even so, the Poldark novels and their Cornish setting bear little resemblance to Jane Austen’s England. They depict a darker, grittier side to this era, which is usually shown with such genteel elegance.

Poldark reveals the plight of the poor, the downtrodden, and the oppressed. Although part of the upper class, Ross has fallen upon hard times. Whatever his father once had is now lost, and it is only by sheer determination and hard work that Ross gets on his feet again. Along the way, he serves the poor in whatever way he can—offering them shelter, employment, and legal aid. And he never backs down in the face of injustice (even if his own life is at stake).

In many ways, the Regency era (1811-1820) belonged to the upper classes—royalty, the nobility, and the landed gentry. Many of these people lived comfortable lives often characterized by frivolity and excess (following in the footsteps of the Prince Regent himself), but just below that glossy surface, there was a darker culture.

In London and other cities, the poor lived in squalid conditions—crowded, unsanitary, and miserable. Prostitution and thievery were rampant. England was in the midst of industrialization, and in some parts of the country, men were being replaced by machinery. Forced into unemployment and starvation, the workers rioted and vandalized.

Even among the wealthy, gambling, womanizing, and excessive drunkenness was common and acceptable. Men of stature sometimes kept courtesans and often competed with one another for the best looking, most popular, and more talented ones. Wives turned a blind eye, accepted it, or perhaps (in some cases) had their own dalliances.

When watching a BBC adaptation of a Jane Austen novel (and I do love watching those), one might think that the Regency Era folks hadn’t a care in the world. But dig a little deeper into the history, and the fallacy of that assumption becomes clear.

As much as we might want to believe it, no time in history was perfect or free from darkness. I’m glad we have a series like Poldark to balance the view. Even Ross, heroic and principled as he is, has a dark side. It makes him believable. It makes him human … like the rest of us. 


Are you a Poldark fan?

Favorite Things Friday: Relatable Characters in Jane Austen

There are two reasons for which I read novels. 1) I like to be wholly engrossed in another person’s life bearing no resemblance to me whatsoever; or 2) I like to read about a character or characters whose emotions or actions are relatable and warrant empathy. I’ve spent the last year reading books in the former category. But just last week, I started reading Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.

 

I’m a huge fan of Jane Austen, but I’ve never read S&S and thought it was about time to do so. While reading in Chapter 16 last night, I realized something. I've been both Marianne and Elinor at different points in my life. Throughout my twenties I most closely reflected Marianne's impulsive, reckless, and passionate search for the sort of love that wrecks one’s world.

“She played over every favourite song that she had been used to play to Willoughby, every air in which their voices had been oftenest joined, and sat at the instrument gazing on every line of music that he had written out for her, till her heart was so heavy that no farther sadness could be gained; and this nourishment of grief was every day applied. She spent whole hours at the pianoforte alternately singing and crying; her voice often totally suspended by her tears. In books too, as well as in music, she courted the misery which a contrast between the past and present was certain of giving.”

How often I have listened to songs over and over again that reminded me of a long lost love-interest, or recounted times, places, movies we experienced together. Marianne’s “violence of affliction” as Austen calls it, is proportionally related to the degree of expectation she poured into the relationship. Most of us have had our expectations dashed to the ground in love. Some things never change no matter the era.

In contrast, as I grew older, my view of love and relationships became much tamer and more practical—like Elinor. Unlike Marianne who throws 150% of her affection after Mr. Willoughby upon first meeting him, Elinor reserves her opinion and her judgment of his character, managing it deep within her own heart, regardless of what her fluttering emotions tell her. Elinor’s guardedness can be summed up in one short quote from Chapter 4: “I am by no means assured of his regard for me.” Elinor is much more inclined to use her head first, suppressing her emotions. In the end, of course, as they usually do one way or another, her true heart is revealed.

As my years of singleness stretched into my thirties, and after far too many heartbreaks, I realized that this was a much more sensible approach to take to relationships. I will say, however, that after waiting so many years for the right man to come along (and much like Elinor at the end of S&S), the emotion, relief, and gratitude was that much sweeter when I finally married my husband.

Here are a couple of clips from the 1996 movie starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. The scene regarding Marianne’s wild love for Willoughby is especially heart-rending.

 

 

What about you? What books/characters do you find most relatable?