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Title
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A little upstart vulgar being
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Description
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Here we see Mrs. Elton. Following Emma’s rejection of Mr. Elton, he went away, and he came back married to a woman named Augusta whom he met while on vacation. She was a tiresome woman, and Emma described her as vulgar and insufferable. In this image, Mrs. Elton sits in a chair, wearing her bonnet and holding a parasol, an umbrella used to provide shade from the sun. The scene in which Emma first meets and describes Mrs. Elton occurs in chapter 32 as noted underneath the title of this image. The characters are shown in the traditional regency style, with Mrs. Elton wears the regency style dress with an empire waist. Her hair is worn tied up, as was tradition for women after their coming out before the queen, signaling her entrance into society. Mrs. Elton wears a bonnet, a popular fashion of the day that was used to shade her face from the sun while outside on a walk – a common pastime of the era. The regency period dated to the early nineteenth century (1811-1820) when George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (r. 1820-1830), reigned as regent for his mentally ill father, King George III (r. 1760-1820). The Prince of Wales was a fan of Austen’s work, and she dedicates the novel to him. The regency period is associated with the rise of neoclassicism in art and fashion. The same image appears as between pages 30 and 31 for the Dent 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1897 editions of Emma.
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Image Creator
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William Cubit Cooke (engraver)
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Identifier
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mta:25545
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Source Name
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Emma
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Image
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