Mrs. Goddard

Mrs. Goddard is the mistress of a real, honest, old-fashioned Boarding-school in Highbury, an establishment that stands in deliberate contrast to the fashionable seminaries that profess, in long sentences of refined nonsense, to combine liberal acquirements with elegant morality upon new principles and new systems. Her school offers a reasonable quantity of accomplishments at a reasonable price, where girls may be sent to be out of the way and scramble themselves into a little education without any danger of coming back prodigies. The school is in high repute, and very deservedly, for Highbury is reckoned a particularly healthy spot; Mrs. Goddard has an ample house and garden, gives the children plenty of wholesome food, lets them run about a great deal in the summer, and in winter dresses their chilblains with her own hands. It is no wonder that a train of twenty young couples now walk after her to church.

Character and Social Position

Mrs. Goddard is a plain, motherly kind of woman who has worked hard in her youth and now thinks herself entitled to the occasional holiday of a tea-visit. Having formerly owed much to Mr. Woodhouse's kindness, she feels his particular claim on her to leave her neat parlour, hung round with fancy-work, whenever she can, and win or lose a few sixpences by his fireside. She is one of the three ladies almost always at the service of an invitation from Hartfield, fetched and carried home so often that Mr. Woodhouse thinks it no hardship for either James or the horses. Her school is the home of Harriet Smith, who has been placed there several years back by somebody, and who has lately been raised from the condition of scholar to that of parlour-boarder. It is Mrs. Goddard who, along with the teachers and the girls, forms naturally a great part of Harriet's conversation, and it is to Mrs. Goddard's that Harriet returns after her visits to Hartfield.

Role in the Plot

Mrs. Goddard's school serves as the social and domestic base for Harriet Smith throughout the novel. It is at Mrs. Goddard's that Harriet receives Robert Martin's proposal of marriage, and it is to Mrs. Goddard's that she returns after her cold keeps her from the dinner at Randalls. When Harriet is frightened by the gypsies, Emma engages to give assurance of her safety to Mrs. Goddard. Mrs. Goddard is also a regular participant in the social life of Highbury, attending card-parties and tea-visits at Hartfield, where she is a welcome guest. She is present at the Hartfield dinner party for the Eltons, and Mr. Woodhouse is happy to see her, having a great regard for her. When Emma goes to the Coles' dinner, Mrs. Goddard is secured to bear Mr. Woodhouse company.

Significance

Mrs. Goddard represents the respectable, unpretentious middle class of Highbury, a world of honest industry and modest comfort that stands in contrast to the more refined and ambitious circles of Hartfield and Donwell Abbey. Her school is a place where girls like Harriet Smith can receive a basic education and a safe upbringing, but it is also a place that marks them as belonging to a lower social sphere. Emma's decision to take Harriet up as a friend and introduce her to a higher society is a direct intervention in the social order that Mrs. Goddard's school represents. Mrs. Goddard herself is a figure of maternal kindness and practical good sense, a woman who has worked hard and now enjoys the simple pleasures of tea and cards, and who is universally respected in Highbury for her honesty and good nature.