Jane Austen, Sanditon (pg. 175)

Can we talk about the hypochondria prevalent in this beginning of a story? It's no wonder these women feel ill, treating themselves with leeches and pulling teeth out of their heads for no reason. I mean, there's that stereotype about bad teeth, but I find it hard to believe there was any real need for this insanity. Darn right it was time to change your measures. I may not support a trip for them to Sanditon quite as fervently as Mr. Parker, but maybe some salty air would do them good. 

Jane Austen, Sanditon (pg. 165).

What I'm getting from this is that Lady Denham was the first gold digger.

Jane Austen, Sanditon (pg. 163).

And this seems to be Mr. Parker's measure - a plot of land by the sea is more interesting to him than his own wife and children.

Jane Austen, Sanditon (pg. 158-159).

Austen has this fascination with second sons, which apparently is now appearing again in Sanditon. I would have liked to have seen whether or not this was going to matter much, but it was Mr. Parker, and we've already pretty much gotten his measure, I think, by the time the beginning-of-a-novel comes to its abrupt end.

"That you do not give another half-second to the subject. To Hartfield, if you please, Mrs. Ford."

"Aye, that will be much best," said Harriet, quite satisfied. "I should not at all like to have it sent to Mrs. Goddard's."

- Jane Austen, Emma (pg. 163).

This whole shopping scene is so... domestic. It puts Emma and Harriet into the stereotypical roles of the indecisive woman, who takes forever to shop, and the uninterested "man" who eventually makes a call that influences both.

Note that Emma's directs Mrs. Ford, which I think has as much to do with her status as it does with her being the person in power specifically in this particular situation. And Harriet defers to Emma - it's not as though she suddenly comes to the conclusion that sending the packages to Hartfield was what she wanted all along, it's like she's trying to pat Emma on the back for having made an executive decision with little deliberation. Of course it would be sent to Hartfield, any other destination would have been ridiculous. 

"Miller argues Emma suffers from a pathological narcissism; incapable of cathecting her ego onto a suitable object, she withdraws her libido from the world and attaches it instead onto her own ego. Consequently, she manipulates others as a means of releasing libido vicariously through her obsession with matchmaking."

I could pick meaningful quotes out of this essay for days. But in short, after much searching, I found some support for the idea that Emma Woodhouse might be a lesbian, outside of the text itself, which really only drops hints that must be interpreted for this reading of the novel/character.