Austenprose – A Jane Austen Blog

“And, in return for your acknowledging so much, I will do you the justice to say, that you would have chosen for him better than he has chosen for himself. Harriet Smith has some first-rate qualities, which Mrs. Elton is totally without. An unpretending, single-minded, artless girl — infinitely to be preferred by any man of sense and taste to such a woman as Mrs. Elton. I found Harriet more conversable than I expected.” Mr. Knightley, Emma, Chapter 38

This praise by Jane Austen’s hero Mr. Knightley is very gratifying to me, but unfortunately Harriet Smith is often the butt of disparaging remarks and erroneous descriptions of her personality by unenlightened critics. Dense, dim-witted, ignorant, unsophisticated, pretty but dreary, naïve, simple, and shudder the thought, a dull cow; – the list goes on and on. Slander! Unqualified slander!

In the parade of animated personalities displayed in Jane Austen’s novel Emma, Harriet stands alone as an example of innocence, beauty and unpretension. Even Mr. Knightley the voice of reason and authority, who at first thought Harriet a bad influence on Emma, comes to understand and appreciate her charms. This acquiescence flatters Emma’s vanity who chooses to take credit for her new refinements, but this acknowledgement by Mr. Knightley is only for the simple accomplishments that Jane Austen originally bestowed on Harriet, not on Emma’s so-called improvements.

Three actresses have attempted to transfer Harriet Smith’s gentle and obliging nature to the screen; Debbie Bowen (1972), Toni Collette (1996), and Samantha Morton (1996). Of the three talented actresses, I prefer Samantha Morton’s attempt. She far succeeds the others in physical description, temperament, and integrity.

The first Harriet Smith, Debbie Bowen, is close in physical appearance revealed by Austen in chapter three, “short, plump and fair, with a fine bloom, blue eyes, light hair, regular features, and a look of great sweetness“, but falls short by making Harriet very empty headed. Her blank looks, lack of confidence and over played awe of Miss Woodhouse, makes her Harriet a wasteland of intellect and interest. Unfortunately, she may very well qualify as the dull cow that one critic accused Harriet of being.

Harriet number two, Toni Collette, is an acclaimed actress, so her silly portrayal of Harriet Smith may well be attributed to the director Douglas McGrath’s vision of Emma’s young protégée, and not her wish of how to portray her. Of the three Harriet’s, she is the farthest from Austen’s physical and intellectual description. Her red hair may be attributed to the fact that she could not be a blonde as described in the novel, because Emma played by Gwyneth Paltrow was blonde. This is a small change which could have been overlooked, but Collette’s Harriet is just plain, not pretty, lacked natural graces, and the good sense that Austen endowed her. I will never forgive her for perpetuating the literary myth that Harriet was unsophisticated and stupid.

Thank goodness there is Samantha Morton’s interpretation of Harriet Smith to restore our good opinion of one of Jane Austen’s most misunderstood characters. Physically, her only shortcoming is the fact that she is not plump. Minor detail. What really matters is that Morton’s Harriet has not been dumbed down to the point of abhorrence.

Happily, Morton and director Diarmuid Lawrence allow Harriet to be an artless and amiable young woman, not afraid of Miss Woodhouse’s position as the leading lady in Highbury, but respectful. She is honored by Emma’s attentions, and values her opinions, accepting them only after polite and logical discussion. When she is told that Mr. Elton, the man that Emma has groomed her to love does not return her affections, she cries, but with some dignity and restraint. Again when she is told by Emma that another romantic prospect Frank Churchill is engaged to Jane Fairfax, she is composed, and a bit put-off that Emma had assumed that she cared about him.

By the last part of the film, she has evolved into a her own woman, showing great presence when she tells Emma that she has defied her earlier advice and accepted Robert Martin’s second proposal of marriage. No overt cowering and excessive apologies here. Harriet was claimed her love and chosen her path away from her mentor and to happiness.

At the conclusion of the film, I for one was relieved that for once, they got it right!

• Read Jessica Emerson’s views on the 1996 Emma adaptation on the PBS blog, Remotley Connected
• Read Erica Perl’s views on the 1996 Emma adaptation on the PBS blog, Remotely Connected
• Read further here about my defense of dear Harriet and why I think that she is a valuable woman

Be sure to catch the Masterpiece Classic presentation of Emma, on Sunday, March 23rd, at 9:00 pm on PBS and see for yourself that Samantha Morton is the true Harriet Smith!

*Images of Emma (1996) from the Emma Adaptations web site