Emma

            Throughout the novel, Emma by Jane Austen, the main character Emma contributes to the theme of the play. The theme of the play centers around Emma’s arrogant and conceited personality. She believes that she is better than everybody else and because of this she thinks she can control other people’s lives. She continuously fools around with other people’s feelings and assumes that she is doing the right thing when in reality she is making things worse. When Harriet receives a letter of proposal from Martin, Emma indirectly persuades Harriet to reject the marriage proposal. Emma knows that Harriet likes Martin, but Emma believes that Harriet is of higher class and deserves someone better than Martin. Emma then goes on and tries to play matchmaker for Harriet. She tries to make Elton and Harriet fall in love, but fails for Elton falls in love with Emma. Ultimately, Elton marries someone else. This devastates Harriet because she believed Elton loved her. If Emma did not persuade Harriet to reject Martin’s proposal, Harriet would have been happily married. Emma makes Harriet feel worse and worse as the novel goes on. I think Emma is very different from me. She is both controlling and bossy. I am usually never controlling and I am always open to other people’s ideas. Emma thinks that her way is the right way and she thinks her assumptions are always right. I hardly ever assume anything, especially when it comes to someone’s feelings. Furthermore, Emma feels that social classes are really important. Contrastingly, I do not judge people based on income or class. Overall, I did not like Emma’s personality because of her arrogant and controlling nature.