Incomprehensible imaginist

IMAGINIST

“Oh! to be sure,” cried Emma, “it is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for anybody who asks her.” Emma Woodhouse, Emma, Chapter 8

Emma has just told Mr. Knightly that her friend Harriet Smith has declined a marriage proposal from Robert Martin, that he thought was very suitable, but Emma did not. He suspects that Emma’s influence upon Harriet has motivated her decision, and is angered by her interference.

Jane Austen has endowed Emma with an active imagination that fuels the novel along like dry brush to a forest fire. She imagines Harriet is a gentleman’s daughter, (not because she has evidence to support it), and as such, deserves a better match than Robert Martin the tennat farmer. It suits her fancy to influence Harriet, and defends her decision to Mr. Knightly by blaming his objections on the jaded male perspective!

Many Austen scholars have written about Emma the imaginist, crediting Jane Austen for coining the word. You can read further how Emma imagines up all sorts of misapplyments in the novel deemed by many critics to be Austen’s masterpiece, on-line at Mollands circulating library.