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Miss Bates is a middle-aged spinster who is lacking in beauty, cleverness, and fortune. However, she does possess a universal goodwill and a gentle temperament. Miss Bates is generally well-liked but her repetitive speech and narrow interests frustrate Emma, and Emma’s impatient treatment of Miss Bates reveals the less attractive aspects of her character.
Emma may be compassionate and well-intentioned, but she also possesses a haughty streak, forcing her to mature over the course of the novel as she gradually perceives the dangers that her arrogance and carelessness present. One pivotal example occurs in Chapter 43 when Emma humiliates Miss Bates during the trip to Box Hill. Looking for amusement, Frank Churchill demands a piece of cleverness from each member of the party, asking them to produce either “one thing very clever . . . or two things moderately clever; or three things very dull,” to which Miss Bates good-naturedly comments that she will have no trouble meeting the last requirement. Emma thoughtlessly responds, “Ah! ma’am, but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me, but you will be limited as to number—only three at once,” unkindly mocking Miss Bates’ talkative nature. The casual cruelty of Emma’s quip embarrasses Miss Bates and puts a damper on the outing. Emma thinks nothing of the interaction in the moment but is devastated after Mr. Knightley reprimands her. Austen writes that Emma had never felt “so agitated, so mortified, [so] grieved” in her life, and she cries almost all the way home. This is a pivotal moment for Emma’s development because, as with the realization that Mr. Elton loves her and not Harriet, Emma is forced to recognize that she was wrong. For the first time in the novel, we see Emma become more self-aware as she acknowledges her careless disregard for other people’s feelings. Out of all the crises in the novel, Emma’s guilt over her treatment of Miss Bates is described most directly and at the greatest length, highlighting the importance of this moment for Emma’s path to maturation.
Miss Bates is further significant because she highlights society’s unfair treatment of unmarried women of modest means. Emma spends the majority of the novel claiming that she herself will never marry. However, Austen’s inclusion of Miss Bates shows that Emma’s rejection of marriage comes from a place of privilege. Emma is fabulously wealthy and has been mistress of Hartfield since she was twelve. Miss Bates, as Mr. Knightley reminds Emma, is poor and has “sunk from the comforts she was born to; and if she live[s] to old age must probably sink more.” Miss Bates’ lack of prospects reveals the harsh realities faced by single women in Regency society. Perhaps Austen, an unmarried woman of modest means herself, sought to shine a light on a marginalized group that was so consistently overlooked.
