The novel is set in a beautiful, British, fiction town, Highbury. Austen’s Emma is beautiful, rich, smart but also meddlesome, deluded, and spoiled. She is not a likable character and you won’t really root for her when you read Emma.
Emma is a self-proclaimed matchmaker after she successfully finds a great match for her governess, Miss Taylor. She befriends a younger Harriet Smith and tries to set him up to be Mr. Elton’s wife. Thus, when Harriet confesses her love for Robert (who loves Harriet too), Emma convinces Harriet that Robert is beneath her – in class, in wealth, in character. Harriet, under the intoxication of Emma, rejects Robert’s proposal to marriage.
Emma is set out on ‘improving’ Harriet, molding her character to the ‘upper class’, ignorant that her youth could use some development too.
Mr. Knightely, a family friend, and Emma’s father, Mr. Woodhouse get furious at the meddlesome matchmaking of Elton and Harriet. Mr. Knightley liked Robert and found him to be suitable for Harriet. Emma doesn’t budge until Mr. Elton confesses being in love with her and not Harriet.
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