Episode 115: The Thing About Harriet as a Natural Daughter

Emma has big plans for Harriet, and these plans require a backstory, which Emma is more than happy to concoct. This episode we unpack the meaning of the expression “natural daughter” and discuss the social context of illegitimacy in Austen’s time.

Selected Sources:

• Bailey, Martha. “The Marriage Law of Jane Austen’s World.” Persuasions On-Line 36, no. 1 (2015).

• Blackstone, William. An Analysis of the Laws of England. 1st ed. Clarendon Press, 1756.

• Bradbury, Malcolm. “Jane Austen’s Emma.” Critical Quarterly 4, no. 4 (1962): 335–46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8705.1962.tb01434.x.

• Emery, Caroline. “Narrative Patterns of Illegitimacy and Infanticide in the Nineteenth-Century Novel.” Doctoral Thesis, Cardiff University, 2007. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1368988138?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses.

• Foreman, Amanda. Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. Random House, 1998.

• Gibson, Kate. “Experiences of Illegitimacy in England, 1660-1834.” Doctoral Thesis, The University of Sheffield, 2018.

• Gibson, Kate. Illegitimacy, Family, and Stigma in England, 1660-1834. Oxford University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192867247.001.0001.

• Lank, Edith. “‘The Word Was Blunder’: Who Was Harriet Smith’s Mother?” Persuasions 7, no. 1 (1985): 14–15.

• Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Regency Britain: A Handbook for Visitors to 1789-1830. Pegasus Books, 2023.

• Selwyn, David. Jane Austen and Children. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.

• Zunshine, Lisa. “Harriet Smith in Brunswick Square: ‘Common Sense’ Bastardy in Jane Austen’s Emma.” In Bastards and Foundlings: Illegitimacy in Eighteenth-Century England. Ohio State University Press, 2005.

  

For anyone who hasn’t listened to the episode yet, we’ll let you guess which Austen character we link to this iconic Mean Girls line.