I Am Sure They Were Talking of Me
While "I Am Sure They Were Talking of Me" might be my most straightforward use of media, being nothing more than gesso and pencil, I really spent a lot of time thinking about the meaning behind my color and media choice as well as figure placement. I started with the blue paper, which one obvious interpretation is I chose it because of the rain that forced this meeting between Harriet Smith and Robert Martin and his sister Elizabeth in Ford's, but the secondary reason is because of the depressed spirits of all involved. Harriet and Robert and Elizabeth are all seeing each other for the first time since Harriet rejected Robert's marriage proposal, so you can imagine their barely concealed feelings. Which brings me to the fact that you can patently see that Harriet isn't even in this piece. I have completely removed her. The reasoning behind this is twofold, one, Elizabeth at first ignores her, but more importantly can you imagine how much Harriet just wanted to disappear? We have all had instances when we dread running into someone after a fight or a split, where we see them for the first time from a distance and just hope and pray fervently that they won't see us. This is the first time I really felt the humanity of Harriet, she is a real person versus Emma's plaything. This moment, more than any other in Emma, shows Harriet's humanity and insecurity. By eliminating her as the object of the two figure's focus I have given her her heartfelt desire to just disappear into the background. I have removed her from the situation entirely while her presence is still so obviously felt. But more than that, by having Robert looking not at a figure but into the distance I can feel hope that he has an inkling of his and Harriet's happily ever after, even if he's currently a little spiky, hence his angular lines.
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