The original chick-lit novel. A modern reader really has to slow down and get into the right mood to read Austen. I don't think that Emma and her "lover" ever touched before they were engaged. When they finally make their hearts know to each other he holds her hand. She agrees finally to call him by his first name once and once only - on their wedding day.
Poor Emma, so misunderstood, so hopelessly inept at deciphering the intentions of the men around her. Hidden here, just below the surface but obvious to the modern reader, is the fact that the women of the period were really just the property of the men. Worshiped, provided for, protected, but still merely property.
just testing comments
ReplyDelete