Emma Lesson Plan

What does Harriet’s “most precious treasures” box say about her personality and Emma’s reliability as a narrator?

Harriet has a very dramatic personality, and weaves big notions from small hints. She also infers unstated emotions from glances, actions, and gestures. Austen shows Emma to be an unreliable narrator when it comes to Harriet. She did not know anything about this box, and did not realize just how intense and dramatic Harriet’s feelings were. Harriet seems less like someone in love and more like an obsessed stalker. For Emma, it has all been a game that she had little actual stake in, but for Harriet, Emma's orchestrated game of matchmaking has been...