Viewpoint is affected by:
Gender: ‘The ladies here probably exchanged looks which meant, “Men never know when things are dirty or not;” and the gentlemen perhaps thought . . . “Women will have their little nonsenses and needless cares.”’
Fatigue: When feeling fresh, strawberries are (according to Mrs Elton) “the best fruit in England—everybody's favourite—always wholesome—delightful to gather for one’s self—the only way of really enjoying them.—Morning decidedly the best time—never tired—[but when fatigue does sets in] only too rich to be eaten much of—inferior to cherries—currants more refreshing—only objection to gathering strawberries the stooping—glaring sun—tired to death—could bear it no longer.”
Death: Dying is ‘to be recommended as a clearer of ill-fame. Mrs. Churchill, after being disliked at least twenty-five years, was now spoken of with compassionate allowances.’
Pain: “Poor Mrs. Churchill! no doubt she had been suffering a great deal: more than anybody had ever supposed—and continual pain would try the temper.”
Money: “A very narrow income has a tendency to contract the mind, and sour the temper. Those who can barely live, and who live perforce in a very small, and generally very inferior, society, may well be illiberal and cross.”
‘With their wealth, their views increased.’
Love (which colours everything): Jane Fairfax plays the song Robin Adair:
What’s this dull town to me
Robin’s not near
What was’t I wish’d to see
What wish’d to hear
Where all the joy and mirth
Made this town heaven on earth
Oh, they’re all fled with thee
Robin Adair
What made th’ assembly shine
Robin Adair
What made the ball so fine
Robin was there
What when the play was o’er
What made my heart so sore
Oh, it was parting with
Weather: ‘The weather added what it could of gloom . . .’
‘The weather [cold, wet and stormy] continued much the same . . . and the same loneliness, and the same melancholy, seemed to reign [rain] at Hartfield—but in the afternoon it cleared . . . Never had the exquisite sight, smell, sensation of nature, tranquil, warm, and brilliant after a storm, been more attractive to [Emma]. She longed for the serenity they might gradually introduce.’
Time: “I thought him very plain at first, but I do not think him so plain now. One does not, you know, after a time.”
The birth of a new day: ‘To youth and natural cheerfulness like Emma’s, though under temporary gloom at night, the return of day will hardly fail to bring return of spirits.’
Heat and food: ‘Some people were always cross when they were hot. Such might be [Frank Churchill’s] constitution; and as she knew that eating and drinking were often the cure of such incidental complaints, she recommended his taking some refreshment.’
Flattery: ‘Perhaps [Emma] might have passed over more had his manners been flattering to [herself]’. Both Emma’s initial opinion and Mr Knightley’s later opinion of Harriet Smith is coloured by Harriet’s (flattering) admiration of them.
Demonstrative behaviour: It’s hard to empathise with a stoic and it’s only when Jane displays agitation (when she wants to leave Donwell Abbey alone) and briefly opens her heart, that Emma is able to enter ‘into her feelings’ and genuinely compassionate her. “The more sensibility you betray . . . the more I shall like you.”
Novelty: ‘Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of.’
Look for other instances next time you read the book . . .
