Here is an explanation of the secret engagements in S&S and Emma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marriage at a time when divorce was almost impossible was a very serious\nbusiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For women it was the only respectable ‘career”, for as Charlotte Lucas\nmuses in P+P: So entering into a secret engagement was not a prank, or particularly\nromantic thing to do, as it may be seen today: it could have had serious legal\nconsequences, as Edward Ferrars discovered when he became secretly engaged to\nLucy Steel at a very tender age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He could not back out of that “contract to marry\u201d with Lucy without her\nconsent, and so was stuck with her (until she decided to latch onto his\nbrother, thus freeing him to marry Elinor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Frank Churchill persuading Jane Fairfax to accept a secret engagement\nwas also a risky business. Displeasing his “adoptive\u201d mother could have\nmeant disinheritance (for his mother, Miss Churchill ,was lucky in that she was\nin possession of her own fortune and when he family cast her off she still\nretained some financial independence). If Frank were disinherited as a result\nof the wrath of Mrs. Churchill he would have had to rely upon his father for\nhis financial future (and that would most certainly be not as spectacular as\nthe riches the Churchill’s could bestow on him. I strongly suspect him to be\nlike his mother:<\/p>\n\n\n\n She had resolution enough to pursue her own will in spite of her brother,\nbut not enough to refrain from unreasonable regrets at that brother’s\nunreasonable anger, nor from missing the luxuries of her former home. They\nlived beyond their income, but still it was nothing in comparison of Enscombe;\nshe did not cease to love her husband, but she wanted at once to be the wife of\nCaptain Weston, and Miss Churchill of Enscombe. I think Frank very much wanted to be the heir to that great estate in\nYorkshire AND he also wanted Jane Fairfax. He wanted his cake and to be able to\neat it. Of course when he became secretly engaged to Jane, he had no idea that\nas a child of fortune, his path to matrimony would be made clear with the\ntimely death of Mrs. Churchill, which removed all possible objections. He knew\nconsent for his engagement would not be immediately forthcoming while his aunt\nlived, and so he was very wrong to enter into an engagement with Miss Fairfax,\nbeing unable to secure her an honest and financially secure future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to all these legal and financial facts to consider, there was\nalso the problem of being deceitful and having to lie to all and sundry. In\nboth Edward Ferrars and Frank Churchill’s cases, this leads to heartbreak for\nmany of the parties concerned. As Emma comments in Chapter 46:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Well,” said Emma, “I suppose we shall gradually grow\nreconciled to the idea, and I wish them very happy. But I shall always think it\na very abominable sort of proceeding. What has it been but a system of\nhypocrisy and deceit, espionage, and treachery? To come among us with\nprofessions of openness and simplicity; and such a league in secret to judge us\nall! Here have we been, the whole winter and spring, completely duped, fancying\nourselves all on an equal footing of truth and honour, with two people in the\nmidst of us who may have been carrying round, comparing and sitting in judgment\non sentiments and words that were never meant for both to hear. They must take\nthe consequence, if they have heard each other spoken of in a way not perfectly\nagreeable!”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Frank Churchill compounds his culpability, IMVHO, by showing attentions to\nEmma, while secretly engaged to Jane Fairfax: he is lucky in that she does not\nfall in love with him, but he had no certainly that that would not be the case\nwhen he used Emma as a foil to distract Highbury’s attentions from him and\nJane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jane Fairfax, an honest girl was also shamed by their joint conduct:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “On the misery of what she had suffered, during the concealment of\nso many months,” continued Mrs. Weston, “she was energetic. This was\none of her expressions. ‘I will not say, that since I entered into the\nengagement I have not had some happy moments; but I can say, that I have never\nknown the blessing of one tranquil hour:’ — and the quivering lip, Emma, which\nuttered it, was an attestation that I felt at my heart.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Poor girl!” said Emma. “She thinks herself wrong, then,\nfor having consented to a private engagement?” Here is an explanation of the secret engagements in S&S and Emma. Marriage at a time when divorce was almost impossible was a very serious business. For women it was the only respectable ‘career”, for as Charlotte Lucas muses in P+P: … Continue reading
\n…marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision\nfor well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving\nhappiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.
\nEngagements were also very serious things to enter into, not to be done\nlightly, for there were serious consequences to face, including possible court\naction, if one party wished to break that contract without the agreement of the\nother party, and be set free to marry someone else.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nChapter 2, Emma<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“Wrong! No one, I believe, can blame her more than she is disposed to\nblame herself. ‘The consequence,’ said she, ‘has been a state of perpetual\nsuffering to me; and so it ought. But after all the punishment that misconduct\ncan bring, it is still not less misconduct. Pain is no expiation. I never can\nbe blameless. I have been acting contrary to all my sense of right; and the\nfortunate turn that everything has taken, and the kindness I am now receiving,\nis what my conscience tells me ought not to be. Do not imagine, madam,’ she\ncontinued, ‘that I was taught wrong. Do not let any reflection fall on the\nprinciples or the care of the friends who brought me up. The error has been all\nmy own; and I do assure you that, with all the excuse that present\ncircumstances may appear to give, I shall yet dread making the story known to\nColonel Campbell.”<\/em>
\nChapter 48<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"