Cruel imagination

JS Lawry says that Emma insults Miss Bates in an effort to liven up a dull party: “Like a virtuoso, she takes care that her art be equal to its occasions – but no more. Later, when a party seems dull, she will be brought to insult Miss Bates precisely because she cannot bear that those around her be silent, stupid, or dispiriting. She would play the social artist, orchestrating life for swift, intelligent, and amusing human activity while conducting the ensemble con brio . By no means idle, she is instead too fancifully busy, although too little industrious.”