#emma the book not the character

[bethanydelleman]

Mrs. Churchill: The Most Unfairly Maligned Woman in Jane Austen

We never meet Mrs. Churchill in Jane Austen’s Emma, everything we know about her is second- (Frank) or third- (Mr. Weston) hand. But once you read the book a second or tenth time, it becomes clear that Mrs. Churchill was getting progressively worse, ending in her death and Frank knew this. 

Mrs. Churchill is far more sick than Frank ever admits. He often uses her as an excuse to neglect visiting his father.  Everyone in Highbury thinks Mrs. Churchill is faking because it's so convenient that she's sick when Frank is supposed to visit. But we know the truth, he doesn't visit until Jane comes to Highbury, he is staying away on purpose.

But she does decline during the course of the novel

Evidence of her decline: 

We know that the Churchills go to London yearly with Frank, “He saw his son every year in London” and yet, Frank says to Emma, “and if my uncle and aunt go to town this spring—but I am afraid—they did not stir last spring—I am afraid it is a custom gone for ever.” This custom has happened every year of Frank’s life and now is suddenly ended. Sounds like Mrs. Churchill was too sick to go the year prior and Frank does not expect her to get better.

According to Mr. Weston, Frank can come if the Churchills do not visit a family called the Braithwaites, “But I know they will, because it is a family that a certain lady, of some consequence, at Enscombe, has a particular dislike to: and though it is thought necessary to invite them once in two or three years, they always are put off when it comes to the point.” But the Churchills do actually go for the visit. As if they are saying goodbye and seeing people for the last time.

Mrs. Churchill does allow Frank to stay in Highbury for the ball, and then suddenly withdraws consent, “A letter arrived from Mr. Churchill to urge his nephew’s instant return. Mrs. Churchill was unwell—far too unwell to do without him; she had been in a very suffering state (so said her husband) when writing to her nephew two days before, though from her usual unwillingness to give pain, and constant habit of never thinking of herself, she had not mentioned it; but now she was too ill to trifle, and must entreat him to set off for Enscombe without delay.” This seems like a petty power play until we remember that she does actually die at the end of the book. Several close calls are normal for a person experiencing hospice care or a sudden decline in health.

Then Mrs. Churchill suddenly decides to go to London, which makes sense if she’s been getting much worse and wants to consult the London physicians:

“The evil of the distance from Enscombe,” said Mr. Weston, “is, that Mrs. Churchill, as we understand (in italics in the text), has not been able to leave the sofa for a week together. In Frank’s last letter she complained, he said, of being too weak to get into her conservatory without having both his arm and his uncle’s! This, you know, speaks a great degree of weakness—but now she is so impatient to be in town, that she means to sleep only two nights on the road.—So Frank writes word. Certainly, delicate ladies have very extraordinary constitutions, Mrs. Elton. You must grant me that.”

Frank actually stays away from Jane against his inclination when Mrs. Churchill is in Richmond. Mrs. Churchill is actually getting worse and he's not a complete dick, he stays with her:

This was the only visit from Frank Churchill in the course of ten days. He was often hoping, intending to come—but was always prevented. His aunt could not bear to have him leave her. Such was his own account at Randall’s. If he were quite sincere, if he really tried to come, it was to be inferred that Mrs. Churchill’s removal to London had been of no service to the wilful or nervous part of her disorder. That she was really ill was very certain; he had declared himself convinced of it, at Randalls. Though much might be fancy, he could not doubt, when he looked back, that she was in a weaker state of health than she had been half a year ago. He did not believe it to proceed from any thing that care and medicine might not remove, or at least that she might not have many years of existence before her; but he could not be prevailed on, by all his father’s doubts, to say that her complaints were merely imaginary, or that she was as strong as ever.

and later: The black mare was blameless; they were right who had named Mrs. Churchill as the cause. He had been detained by a temporary increase of illness in her; a nervous seizure, which had lasted some hours—and he had quite given up every thought of coming,

Also, let us consider how much hatred is directed at Mrs. Churchill for wanting her adopted nephew to stay by her while she is dying, whilst Mr. Woodhouse, who basically imprisons his daughter with all his fancies of ill health, is widely loved. Mrs. Churchill is the alleged hypochondriac who is actually sick, while Mr. Woodhouse worries about his health, but has no recorded illness through the entire book.

To sum up, Mrs. Churchill was getting progressively worse over the course of the novel. She very reasonably wanted her adopted child to be near her. Frank does actually do his duty to his aunt, indicating that he is well aware of how sick she has become. Mrs. Churchill’s death was not sudden, it happens at the end of a decline lasting about a year, or a bit longer.

[laurenillustrated]

handsome, clever, and rich.

Emma Woodhouse poster design for fun! Based on the 2020 film.

[derpy-thebdayclown]

becoming obsessed with a book series was NOT on my 2024 bingo card!! i didnt even know i could read!!

anyways here is my miss peregrine lineup for the children! ,,,i somehow forgot about the title character and only noticed once i was done lining LMAO— i’ll draw my design for her another time and maybe some other characters. i am sorry miss P i knew something was wrong 💔

kind of iffy on emma, enoch, & jacob but i can tweak them later on if i draw em more BAHAH

anyways my favorite character in the books is horace 🩷🩷 my little fancy prophetic boy . although my favorite designs i did are hugh & fionas :)

i took some inspo from the graphic novels by cassandra jean bc i did really love them!!

anyways i love these books so much if you also like them LET ME KNOW I NEED FRIENDS

extra

[emilynightshade89]

Poor Things (2023) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

[automaticheartcrusade]

As a number 1 Fiddleford Mcgucket lover, I honestly love the fact that journal 3 revealed that he had secretly created the Society of the Blind eye behind Ford’s back and was USING the gun on him multiple times, because it added a new complexity to the character. What he was doing wasn’t morally correct, but he probably felt like he was doing what was best for Stanford since he cared about him so much. Is it a little fucked up? Very much so and that’s what makes Fiddleford’s character even more interesting. You feel SO bad for him, he didn’t deserve anything that happened to him, but more people need to acknowledge his flaws too, specifically his family.

When it was revealed that he had gotten into an argument with his wife because she was upset he forgot to get her a Christmas gift in the Book of Bill, I felt bad for her. We don’t know much about Emma May Mcgucket but I don’t think she’s supposed to be painted in a negative light. Some people hate the mere idea that Fiddleford may have been neglectful to her and his son Tate some point down the line, but I genuinely think that’s what happened, and people shouldn’t villainize his wife or Tate honestly. It was unintentional of course, we know that Fiddleford cared about his family deeply and had a portrait of them when he was working with Ford, but him choosing to pack up and go with Ford for long periods of time probably caused a rift in the family. And yes, there is a tragedy to it, because him forgetting to get his wife a present was probably due to the brain damage the gun had on him. However, both concepts that Fiddleford loved his family but went crazy due to what he witnessed, AND him partly being to blame for his own self destruction with creating the memory gun and getting addicted to it, are statements that can and should coexist. Him getting traumatized wasn’t his fault, but using the memory gun repeatedly and putting the society/work before his family was. Ford definitely had influence, but the point still stands.

And for me that’s part of the appeal for Mcgucket, he didn’t deserve anything that happened to him, he would have been a completely different person had he not taken Ford’s call, he’s pathetic and tragic, made his own mistakes but also got screwed over at life in the process. But he deserved the happy ending he got and I just love this sad old man.

[rhaenicentric]

rhaenyra and alicent being central to the dance of the dragons is truly proof that all of history is just a doomed love story. everything they did was out of love — even the hateful wretched things, which they could only bear to do because they thought they were doing them out of love. for their parents, for their children, for the love that they once had for each other. and so it goes. and so it was.

[agentrouka-blog]

Hotd 2x02... Great scene. Who are these people, though.

I would have enjoyed the scene between Rhaenyra and Daemon a lot more if I hadn't watched her demand that her brother should be sharply questioned in Season one. It's superbly acted, it is unusually direct in spelling out the abusive dynamic between them, her moral outrage seems so sincere. I wish I could say it was earned by the writers.

But gods, she has shown zero compassion for anyone but herself before, has spent her adulthood lying for her personal benefit (usurping the Velaryons and blithely accepting murder in defense of her lies) and suddenly she is utterly aghast that anyone could believe she could harm a child? What happened to the squealing boar?

Why are they asking me to pretend that Daemon is the sole source of her problems?

[daeneryseastar]

steve and harry trying to make actual ‘legal’ arguments as to why the blacks are in the right, eve calling the greens annoying, “they’re all just a bunch of knobs and they need their heads being knocked together.” harry, phoebe, and bethany reaffirming how much they all love each other as a family, bethany and matt proclaiming their thirst for violence towards the greens, emma’s “we all have madness on our side, AND a powerful naval presence ofc.” team black is such a fun team when you don’t have an annoying bitch in your ear yelling about how bOrInG they are.

[clockworkbee]

Vengeful characters, my beloved.

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Eadaz uq Nara- The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Georgia Warr- Loveless by Alice Oseman

Relius- The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Raff Barden- One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny

[lueurichor]

And here it is! I'm really glad that I actually got it done today, like I kind of promised/teased. 🧡🧡

This has actually been sitting in my drafts for a rather long time, mostly because I could not find the pictures I wanted (perfectionism, yay).

While I'm at it, I'd like to dedicate this post to @emmalovesfitzloved whose messages motivated me to post & pick up this project again, thank you so much!

[juniorfor2]

How much do you want to bet the writers gave Rhaenyra gender envy because Emma is non-binary, and they thought it would be an easy connection to make without thinking at all of how much they are deviating from the character - and how disingenuous it is to Emma.

(If I’m right and that’s what they were thinking of, then such a connection would have been better set up in s1, where the framing of having Joffrey as a choice could have been used by Alicent and other bigoted Greens to say that it was “a shame that Rhaenyra was choosing to ruin her body with so many unnecessary pregnancies” only for everyone else/Daemon to think that Rhaenyra actually looks amazing. This also could have been used to explain the change in looks from Milly to Emma)

[zelcii]

some wight: once I tried killing this preppy british kid on his way to school but before I could even get a threat out he said ‘please don’t hesitate’ and I was caught so off guard that this eleven year old basically just asked me to kill him that i just stood there as he walked away.

horace:

horace: oh, you mean me.

[nevermeyers]

Epilogue - CB4

Mikey

At 27, I'm a racer and my buddy is Kenchin! I dreamed of riding a motorcycle all the time. But my biggest dream was for Emma to have a good husband. Emma and Kenchin will soon have a child. And I asked them to put “万(man)” in the name, but they objected saying it’s lame. Does that mean they have thought my name was lame?

Hakkai

Taka-chan and my brother often go out together. They seem to get along very well. I don't like that they don't let me join. I like both of brothers but it pisses me off that neither of them are interested in me.

On the day of my birthday I came home and there was a strange smell like things had rotted and there were my brother, Yuzuha and Taka-chan. Apparently my brother and Yuzuha, who have never cooked before, asked him how to make a birthday cake and they made it for me. It tasted so bad but I was so happy and I cried because I could feel everyone's love.

Baji

Mansaku asks me to train children at the dojo sometimes. Mikey is not good at teaching others because he is a genius, so he prefers me to teach them. Teaching karate to kids is a nice change of pace from all the studying I usually do. Becoming a veterinarian is a difficult dream for me because I'm not very smart.

Sometimes when I feel like falling apart, sweating here helps me get my mind in order and I feel like I can try again. It’s my second home.

Takemichi

Now, at the age of 26, I'm an assistant director, working towards my dream of becoming a film director. Every day I do chores. Hina makes me box lunch every day. Every morning she sends me off with a "good luck" message. When I come home depressed, she joins me for evening drink and listens to me complain. I'm a lucky man.

Chifuyu

Baji and kazutora who don’t have much money always come to my house for dinner after work. It's almost like a freeloader behavior. But I can't ignore them because one of the reasons is that I don't give them much pay.

When I cooked for the first time, I was so frustrated they said it didn’t have much taste and it burnt, so I bought a lot of recipe books. Now my cooking skills are at a professional level. These days I look forward to when they come to my house.

Mitsuya

As a fashion designer, I launched the brand 'Mitsuya Takashi.' Among my assistants is Yasuda, who was vice president of the handicraft club in junior high school. Surprisingly Yasuda married Peh-yan, with whom she had been dogging him, last year. I often listen to her complaints after work. He still clings to Pah-chin even though they are married.

Draken

Mr. and Mrs. Hanagaki live downstairs from where Emma and I live. Takemichi cries to me, "Emma is at our house every day, and even though we are newlyweds, we can't be alone with Hina." Today, the four of us ate nabe together again.

source

[flowerbloom-arts]

A lineup of all the "The Fillyjonk"s throughout the books (plus Mrs. Fillyjonk herself from the comics)

For the love of Booble stop mixing them up and thinking they're the same character it drives me insane.

[auroraaaaaaaaaasstuff]

Drew this awhile ago but this is my baby, Iderna!