Harriet's riddle book

Harriet Smith's riddle book is a thin quarto of hot-pressed paper, ornamented with ciphers and trophies, in which Harriet collects and transcribes riddles of every sort. It becomes a vehicle for Emma Woodhouse's matchmaking schemes, as she uses it to encourage Mr. Elton's supposed courtship of Harriet, and later a site of embarrassment and self-reproach when her plans unravel.

Origin and Purpose

The riddle book originates in a fashion for such collections that Emma finds slightly absurd. Miss Nash, the head-teacher at Mrs. Goddard's School, has written out at least three hundred riddles, and Harriet, taking the first hint from her, hopes with Emma's help to get a great many more. Emma assists with her invention, memory, and taste, and since Harriet writes a very pretty hand, the book is likely to be an arrangement of the first order in form as well as quantity. Mr. Woodhouse becomes almost as much interested in the business as the girls, trying often to recollect something worth their putting in, though he can never get beyond the first stanza of "Kitty, a fair but frozen maid." He even speaks to Mr. Perry about it, asking him to be on the watch for any riddle he might encounter in his rounds.

The Charade and Its Misinterpretation

The riddle book becomes central to Emma's matchmaking when Mr. Elton contributes a charade. He calls for a few moments, just to leave a piece of paper on the table containing, as he says, a charade which a friend of his has addressed to a young lady, the object of his admiration. Emma is immediately convinced it must be his own. The charade's solution is "courtship," and its concluding lines address a "soft eye" and a "ready wit." Emma, believing Mr. Elton intends the charade for Harriet, pushes the paper toward her friend, saying, "It is for you. Take your own." Harriet is in a tremor and cannot touch it, so Emma examines it herself. She reads the charade as a clear declaration: "Very well, Mr. Elton, very well indeed. I have read worse charades. Courtship—a very good hint." She then transcribes the first eight lines into Harriet's riddle book, leaving out the two concluding lines that contain the personal application, so that the charade can be included without revealing its intended recipient. When Mr. Elton returns and sees the book open on the table, he examines it very attentively, and Emma returns the paper to him, saying she has ventured to write it into Miss Smith's collection. Mr. Elton, looking rather confused, says that if his friend could see his little effusion so honored, he would consider it the proudest moment of his life.

A Site of Self-Deception and Regret

After Mr. Elton's shocking proposal to Emma instead of Harriet, the riddle book becomes a painful reminder of Emma's blindness. In her mortified reflections, she recalls the charade and a hundred other circumstances that had seemed to point at Harriet. She realizes the charade, with its "ready wit" and "soft eyes," suited neither Harriet nor herself; it was a jumble without taste or truth. The book, which had been a tool of her matchmaking, now stands as evidence of her folly. Later, when Harriet, cured of her attachment to Mr. Elton, brings out her box of treasures to burn, Emma thinks of the riddle book and the charade it contains, though she does not mention it directly. The book's trajectory mirrors Emma's own journey from confident manipulation to humbled self-knowledge.