Emma on Old-Maidhood


*Return to notes on Education, Marriage, Status of Women, etc.
*Return to Jane Austen's life

The interest of this passage arises partly from the fact that Jane Austen was about 39 years old, and never-married, when she wrote it.

Emma, Chapter 10:

Harriet Smith:
"But still, you will be an old maid! -- and that's so dreadful!"
Emma Woodhouse:
"Never mind, Harriet, I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! -- the proper sport of boys and girls -- but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else. [...]"
Harriet Smith:
"Dear me! but what shall you do? how shall you employ yourself when you grow old?"
Emma Woodhouse:
"If I know myself, Harriet, mine is an active, busy mind, with a great many independent resources; and I do not perceive why I should be more in want of employment at forty or fifty than one-and-twenty. Woman's usual occupations of eye and hand and mind will be as open to me then as they are now; or with no important variation. If I draw less, I shall read more; if I give up music, I shall take to carpet-work. And as for objects of interest, objects for the affections, which is in truth the great point of inferiority, the want of which is really the great evil to be avoided in not marrying, I shall be very well off, with all the children of a sister I love so much, to care about. There will be enough of them, in all probability, to supply every sort of sensation that declining life can need. There will be enough for every hope and every fear; and though my attachment to none can equal that of a parent, it suits my ideas of comfort better than what is warmer and blinder. My nephews and nieces! -- I shall often have a niece with me."

*Go on to rest of chapter

*Return to notes on Education, Marriage, Status of Women, etc.
*Return to Jane Austen's life


Group Read Board Pride & Prejudice Board Emma Board Sense & Sensibility Board Persuasion Board Mansfield Park Board Northanber Abbey Board Austenuations Board Jane Austen's Life & Times Board Lady Catherine & Co. Board Library Board Virtual Views Board Ramble Board Meetings Board Newcomers' Board Milestones Board Help Board Pemberleans Board




- Jane Austen | Republic of Pemberley -

Quick Index Home Site Map JAInfo

© 2004 - 2011 The Republic of Pemberley

Get copyright permissions