Is the reader
to believe that Miss Woodhouse has discovered anything in the least? After all, does she not begin to think about William Cox or later on, Frank Churchill as
possibly suitors for
Harriet? The second possible awakening takes place after the infamous Box Hill incident. Because she lacks empathy, she at least with her own eyes, cannot
witness how rude she is to
Miss Bates. It takes an outside
source, in this case George,
to chase her out of her dark, forested mind and into a clearing of understanding. Upon reaching this point, she is emotionally shaken up. However, are her streams of tears rolling down her face because she hurt Miss Bates or,
more likely, is it
because George scolded her like no one had ever done before this night? The latter is the one which follows Emma the most consistently. One of the last thoughts she has in Chapter Seven is, “And how suffer him to leave her
without saying one
word of gratitude, of concurrence, of common kindness!”
(325).
