Jane Austen always attends to her details.
Art is in the details, and Miss Austen pays diligent attention to every word.
How does she name her characters?
Let’s look at the characters in Emma.
1. Emma Woodhouse
“Ah! You will never guess. M. and A.—Em-ma.—Do you understand?” [Chapter 43]
“Do you understand?” is addressed to two people, the person in the story on the other side of the dialogue, and the reader. For readers, it’s a metafictional question.
And a reader who is watching the details, answers, “Yes, I understand!”
Emma Woodhouse is “a ma who would house.” And indeed, she will be a mother who stays at home. She doesn’t like traveling, a trait she got from her father. (In Jane Austen’s novels, the children always share some traits with parents—another detail that Jane Austen always attends to.)
2. Mr. Knightly
The knight in shining armor, of course. This is a fairy tale.
3. Frank Churchill
An example of Austen’s famous irony. Frank isn’t frank. He is insincere to all. But in the end, he is frank to Jane and goes up the hill to church with her.
4. Jane Fairfax
Another ironic name. Chapter fifty-four tells us she isn’t fair. Instead, she’s a fairly ordinary Jane. And those are the fax.
5. Miss Taylor
Like Emma, she’s a would-be matchmaker, always trying to sew people together, just as a good tailor should.
6. Mr. Elton
An “ell” is an English unit of length. And a “ton” is an English unit of weight. This is a man who takes the measure of everything, especially the weight of his wife-to-be’s money.
7. Harriet Smith
She’s a mere smith, not nobility. But Harriet is a near anagram for heart. “Such a heart—such a Harriet.” (Chapter 54)
* Orlando Bartro is the author of Toward Two Words, a comical & surreal novel about a man who loves yet another woman he never knew. Find your copy at Amazon. Hardcover, paperback, and e-book editions available.
https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Two-Words-Orlando-Bartro-ebook/dp/B072MNB4F9