Posted by Cassandra on May 02, 1997 at 15:16:41:
In reply to Re: Edmund--Clueless? posted by Jane on May 02, 1997 at 14:07:47
but she's more like a sister to Edmund. So it's a bit like Emma, Knightley, and Frank.
I agree with you. Edmund does see Fanny as a sister. And their marriage, at least for me, will be of the brother/sister kind. They make Elinor and Edward Ferras seem passionate. At least Edward, when he was free, goes to Elinor, to ask for her hand. Edmund seeks out Fanny to cry on her shoulder.
But-I don't see, not in the slightest, a connection between Edmund/Fanny/Mary and Emma/Mr. Knightley/Frank. Emma's "feelings" for Frank Churchill are more the product of self-delusion, vanity. She is more taken with the idea that he is in love with her, and comes to the conclusion long before Mr. Knightley's proposal that she cares nothing for him. And Emma and Mr. Knightley-"brother and sister-no indeed!" Emma is so much in love with Mr. Knightley, she doesn't even know it. Big wake-up call in the form of Harriet Smith.
Unlike deluded, "ignorant of her own heat" Emma, Edmund, was truly in love with Mary-her wit, spirit, vivacity. And he goes on loving her, uncomfortable with her views on the clergy-but still madly in love with her(even acting in the play with her)...Until-the final blow: Mary's reaction to Maria and Henry's scandale. Then-he dumps Mary, only to be so pleasantly, completely surprised that Fanny loved him all that time. And so-he proposes. Poor Edmund-how he suffered! Yes-Edmund is clueless.
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