Charades

Mr. Elton downplays his ability to write charades, and then the very next day brings a rather clever one to the the Woodhouse's home for Emma to figure out. Once she has figured it out, she decides the charade Elton is asking to court Harriet. Here again, Emma is gravely mistaken and sees only what she wishes to see. While he was dropping it off, Elton spoke directly to her and didn't even pretend to be interested in Harriet. Emma incorrectly assumes this is shyness because of his supposed ardent affection for the girl. However, if Miss Woodhouse had spent more time looking at the little verse he had left behind, she might have realized he left it not for Harriet but for herself. Lines three and four state: "Another view of man, my second brings, / Behold him there, the monarch of the seas" (47). While she correctly identifies the answer to the riddle as 'ship', she does not realize that a ship is a house of wood. And her last name is Woodhouse. Elton is, in no uncertain terms, directing his attentions at Emma. The last line of the charade also has a reference to wood in it: "approval beam in that soft eye!" (Emphasis added.) Still another hint that Elton is referring to Emma is in line eight of the little riddle: "And woman, lovely woman, reigns alone" (47). Emma was essentially the head of her home. Her sister had moved out long ago and her mother had died when she was young. Even when Mrs. Weston had lived there Emma had done whatever she had wanted. Also, in the society Emma moves in, she is the woman at the very top of the social ladder. While she is definitely more clever than many of the people around her, Emma is clearly not as smart as she believes herself to be.