[SHIP] Twist in Emma by Austen - Will it be Significant to DH?

[honeypi28]

No: HPFGUIDX 168999

> honeypi:
>
>
> The thing about Austen's Frank Churchill/Jane Fairfax plot twist that
> made it so successful is there was just enough in canon, so that when the
> truth was
> revealed it was easy for Emma to connect the dots. Emma was being
> deliberately mislead
> by Churchill, and Jane was cooperating in the deception. I would expect an
> Emma-like
> twist to the HP series would involve a long time deception by people close
> to Harry.
>
> Lynda:
>
> Oh, is that it? See, that was no surprise to me at all. I saw it from the
> beginning of the book (without having been briefed on the book, read in
> synopses, etc.). The way it was written I knew what was going on in the plot
> and was really at a loss as to why Emma couldn't figure it out because it
> was so obvious to me. As I said before, its made Emma my least favorite of
> Austen's works.
>
> Lynda
>

honeypi:
We'll done.  Think of what a huge shipping war you would have sparked if Emma were an
incomplete series, and you had guessed by book 1 that Frank and Jane were to be paired.
I'm not aware of anyone else who saw that twist coming, but considering the number of
readers Austen has, I suppose there are more of you out there.  I believe, however, Austen
intended the relationship between Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax to be a surprise; just as
JKR is intending to surprise us in DH.  The grand volume of HP readers means some few
must have guessed accurately at the twist(s) by now.

Of course, having guessed Emma's twist doesn't mean you've guessed HP's.  Or have you?
*smiles*  I'm not expecting JKR to give so overt a nod to Emma as to have secret
engagements revealed at the end so meaningful to Harry as the F/J ship was to Emma.  It
might be fun, but I'm not expecting it because HP isn't a romance series.  At most I would
look for a Frank Churchill-inspired character who is close to Harry, someone he trusts, but
who has all along been deceiving him.  Ginny would be my prime suspect in such a twist,
but Neville would do very nicely as well.  In truth, I really only thought JKR was giving
kudos to Austen for technique.

Honeypi