Original artwork, not a still
Emma ‧ 1815
Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
This is Austen's narrator at her driest, excusing Emma's small contradiction while saying something general about honesty. Readers quote it as a gentle defence of imperfect confessions: nobody tells the whole truth, and what matters is that the feeling behind it is true.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for EmmaShow the scene
It comes in Volume III, Chapter XIII of Jane Austen's Emma, in the narrator's own voice. In the shrubbery, Mr. Knightley has come anxious to see how Emma bears Frank Churchill's engagement. Emma, who had just refused to hear him, now invites him to say more, an inconsistency the narrator admits. The narrator then remarks that no human disclosure is wholly complete or accurate, but that when the feelings are right the mistaken conduct hardly matters. Mr. Knightley's declaration follows.
Sources (1)
- Project Gutenberg: EmmaVolume III, Chapter XIIIReference checked
Context reviewed
