Emma is admired by many readers for its vivid, complex characters, its artistry, its sense of play, and also a sense of the limits of play. Although Emma's machinations drive the plot, she is not Machiavellian— there is no apparent self-interest in her, but rather a misdirected desire to fix things.

Her delight in arranging and rearranging other people's lives is checked not just by the external force of Mr. Knightley and her victims' own sense of who they really are, but her own innate sense of right and wrong.

She harms Harriet Smith, but has not meant to, she hurts Miss Bates, but is very contrite.

She stirs up feelings and trouble not just in others but in herself, becoming vulnerable to Frank Churchill and ultimately to her own feelings for Knightley.

Her manipulative nature makes her appear superficial, but she is not. She...