A faithful, enchanting adaptation of Austen's nineteenth-century tale of Emma Woodhouse, a clever young woman whose mischievous matchmaking schemes nearly cost her own shot at romance. The tale is a pleasant enough social commentary on life in an upper-class English village two hundred years ago, and written with close observation and the thread of irony that keeps the reader hooked. Of all Jane Austen's heroines, Emma Woodhouse, is the most flawed, the most infuriating, and, in the end, the most endearing. The plot s based on Emma's continual misreading of other people's intentions. Emma is the pinnacle of Jane Austen's novels, where she finally reached her ideal of a truly domestic
novel revolving around a small community with no outsiders involved. A
heroine with faults was perhaps rather a risky undertaking in Jane Austen's day, and it's a tribute to her writing skills that this book is still popular today
Emma is certainly an intriguing character as the main
protagonist. Emma is raised to think well of herself, has such a high opinion of her own worth that it blinds her to the opinions of others. The story revolves around a comedy of errors that take place through Emma’s desire to find her friend Harriet a suitable
match, a upper class husband. Though Emma is mostly good-hearted and cares deeply for those around her, she is not intended to be a nice character. She is basically a snob, spending a great deal of time aware of 'class' and 'quality', and doing her best to match-make amongst those she considers equals.
Though Austen herself described Emma as "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like," she endowed her creation with enough charm to see her through her most egregious behavior, and the saving grace of being able to learn from her mistakes. By the end of the novel Harriet, Frank, and Jane her protagonist in other novels, are all properly accounted for, Emma is wiser, and the reader has had the satisfaction of enjoying Jane Austen at the height of her powers.