Emma Woodhouse

Emma Woodhouse is a girl who grows up in ease and conviction. She resides in Highbury village together with her nervous, kind father and is comfortable managing their home and their social group. She is wealthy, intelligent, and accustomed to having her own way, and she is convinced that her judgment is good. Emma is kind, but she also takes pleasure in directing others and controlling their lives, occasionally more so than they would desire.

She loves matchmaking best of all. When once, near home, fortune favors once, she concludes that she has the talent for reading hearts. She enjoys the thrill of matching,the speculation of reckonings, and the pushing of events in their supposed directions. But Emma too aptly confounds desire with reality. She is not cruel, but she is occasionally shortsighted in regard to the desires of others, and this occasions awkwardness and tiny injuries.

One even temperament in her life is that of Mr. Knightley, an old friend of the family who speaks directly to her. He observes both her quick mind and her blind spots, and he is not fearful of setting her right when she is acting inconsiderately. Emma resents his advice, but she also feels it, and their conversations gradually educate her to look more closely at herself. Her acquaintance with Harriet Smith, a pretty but uncertain young woman, awakens Emma’s tendency to control—and then reveals to her the peril of toys with another’s hopes.

Through increments, Emma learns to listen first and then to lead. She starts to differentiate between imagination and reality and prizing sincerity more than whimsey. She is still warm, infectious, and intensely loyal to her father and friends, yet softer in the exercise of her power. Ultimately, her beauty is that of perfection, but that of willingness to alter.