Emma is a snob who sometimes finds it difficult to suppress her honesty. Her vanity shines through during the box hill chapter. Blind to Emma and the readers knowledge is that Frank Churchill's strange behavior is linked directly to his rocky secret relationship with Jane Fairfax. Jane is the orphaned daughter of Miss Jane Bates and has no dowry so Emma does not expect her to marry. Frank's behavior drew even stranger when he began to taunt Emma and the rest of the company. Frank commanded the party to play a game of wits. He directed them to say "one thing very clever... or two things moderately clever; or three things very dull indeed."
Emma's true vain and condescending personality burst through after Jane Fairfax stated she wouldn't have much trouble fulfilling the third requirement. Emma shot back, "Ah! ma'am, but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me, but you will be limited as to number - only three at once." This is an example of the childish self indulgence that Emma suffers from. It is easy to draw parallels to the relationship she enjoyed with Miss Taylor's as a child. During Emma's childhood she felt comfortable speaking every thought that crossed her mind without Miss Taylor passing judgement. Franks game of cleverness exposed Emma's narcissism. However Frank and his father continue to reinforce Emma's egotism by constantly linking her to perfection. Frank later asks Emma to find and form a match for him. Emma quickly added "And make her like myself,"
Mr. Knightly immediately ridicules Emma and begins chiding her for the rude behavior she displayed at Box Hill. He then turns his argument to Emma's social status and the responsibilities that come along with it. Jane Fairfax is hardly Emma's equal. Jane is a poor woman and was not able to maintain the comforts she was born into. The two had known each other their whole lives and now Emma had insulted Jane in front of several people who might be guided by the poor treatment of Jane. Mr. Knightly then had to remind Emma of the connection between her responsibility and dependence. By assuming responsibility is to voluntarily limit ones childlike desires. Emma seems mortified by the criticism she received from Mr. Knightly and becomes momentarily speechless. Emma then confessed that Mr. Knightly was correct in identifying her joke as a form of vanity.
By accepting responsibility for someone else's dependence she undoubtedly was able to put her egotism to the side. With her egotism out of the way she is finally able to accept dependence on another man. It was at this very moment that Emma began to feel a rush of emotions for Mr. Knightly. "It darted through her, with the speed of an arrow, that Mr. Knightly must marry no one but herself!" Jane Austen rewards Emma with romantic love, something that makes the dependence on another man tolerable. Jane Austen's style and language use is exquisite and her brilliance cannot be contained in any genres of literature.
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