Posted by Laraine on July 31, 1997 at 15:14:10:
In reply to The brothers Knightley posted by Sylvia on July 31, 1997 at 13:47:03
] During the Christmas eve party at Randalls, I was struck by the contrasting personality and behavior of the two Knightley brothers. John certainly displayed his mischievous streak when he stirred up the pot so to speak with his pronouncements on the state of the weather. He manages quite nicely to break up a very agreeable party. I suppose the mischief making is standard behavior in a younger brother. But did'nt George exert any influence on his brother or was he too busy supervising Emma all her life?
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I think you get at a very interesting point, Sylvia.
Mr. Knightley is always called things like direct and plainspoken, but there's a big difference in the brother's behaviour. Mr. John Knightley seems to be unable to keep himself from doing something that he would have to know (if he thought about it) will upset Mr. Woodhouse and his own wife. Why doesn't he manage to contain himself.
Perhaps the fact that Mr. Knightley has tried to influence Emma's behaviour (apparently more than his own brothers is that John is closer in age to him, and he didn't have the ability or feel so great a responsibility...
On a related note, it's interesting that John Knightley's character brings out the "situation fixer" in both Mr. Knightley and Emma. In both this situation and the conversation earlier about whether the family should or should not have gone to the seaside, the two of them (E and Mr. K) are trying to divert disaster and fix things so that the situation doesn't get out of hand. They're people of action surrounded by people who sometimes don't seem capable of acting...
Or does someone have a different take on these scenes?
Laraine