Dec 22, 2009
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...
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