Jane Austen Quote of the Week - Week 101 by Linda

We have more from Emma in Chapter 5, still between Mr. Knightley and Mrs. Weston:

"Yes," said he, smiling. "You are better placed here; very fit for a wife, but not at all for a governess. But you were preparing yourself to be an excellent wife all the time you were at Hartfield. You might not give Emma such a complete education as your powers would seem to promise; but you were receiving a very good education from her, on the very material matrimonial point of submitting your own will, and doing as you were bid; and if Weston had asked me to recommend him a wife, I should certainly have named Miss Taylor."

It is so strange that this sentence in bold should arise just now, because I have been investigating these last few years the question as to what made me a ‘doormat’. Well, just lately I stumbled across this book titled “The Doormat Syndrome”. I read the blurb HERE and decided that I must read the entire book!

What is most remarkable is that, according to Mr. Knightley, a ‘doormat’ was what made a ‘good wife’ back then! Personally, I think there is more to the matter than that.

Linda the Librarian

Pic: cover to Emma, Wordsworth Classic edition