The Characters of 'Emma' Trivia Quiz

Answer:

'Emma' was Jane Austen's fourth novel and the last to be published during her lifetime. It came out in either 1815 or 1816, depending on which source you find most reliable. The main character is Ema Woodhouse, who prides herself on being a matchmaker. She attempts to match her friend, Harriet Smith, with the local vicar, Mr Elton but her plan misfires when Mr Elton mistakenly believes Emma herself is attracted to him. He rejects Harriet as being of inferior status to his position.

Harriet herself has rejected a marriage proposal, thanks to Emma's interference. The suitor is a local farmer named Robert Martin, who Harriet cares about until Emma persuades her to set her sights higher. Mr Elton is unkind to Harriet in public, and George Knightly gallantly rescues the situation. George and Emma are friendly as his brother is married to Emma's sister.

Two new characters make their appearance - Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill. Jane is the niece of a local woman, Miss Bates, who is kind-hearted but talkative. Frank is related to Mr Weston, the husband of Emma's former governess. Emma imagines herself in love with Frank, but the feeling doesn't last and it turns out that Frank and Jane are secretly engaged to be married.

Emma somewhat disgraces herself by displaying intolerance to Miss Bates and is further shocked when Harriet confesses her love for George Knightly, thanks to his gallantry in rescuing her from public humiliation. This forces Emma to face her own feelings and realise that she herself is in love with him. All ends well - Knightly and Emma marry and Harriet accepts Robert's second marriage proposal.

The remaining characters are Emma's father, Mr Woodhouse, and Mrs Dixon, a friend of Jane Fairfax.

This summary only gives a superficial overview of the novel, which paints the characters in much more detail. The story has been turned into films with those of 1996 and 2020 using the same title. The film 'Clueless', which came out in 1995, took its inspiration from the story and placed the events in modern times. There have been numerous television adaptations too.

The wrong answers were mostly chosen as they bore similar names to real Austen characters. Fanny Robin is a character from 'Far From the Madding Crowd', by Thomas Hardy, picked as Fanny Price is an Austen character from 'Mansfield Park'. Frank Troy, better known as Francis, is from the same Hardy book. There are two Dickens characters - George Gordon from 'Barnaby Rudge' and Robert Cratchit, usually called Bob, from 'A Christmas Carol'. Jane Bennett is, of course, an Austen creation but from 'Pride and Prejudice'.