Jane Austin begins with a definitive insight into our heroine, Emma Woodhouse.

The real evils indeed of Emma’s situation were the power of having too much of her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself.

Luckily for Emma, she had two friends who had great personal interest in her and her welfare. Perhaps one more so than the other ; )

Mr. Knightley: "Oh! you would rather talk of her person than her mind, would you? Very well; I shall not attempt to deny Emma’s being pretty."

Mrs. Weston: "Pretty! say beautiful rather. Can you imagine any thing nearer perfect beauty than Emma altogether -- face and figure?"

Mr. Knightley: "I do not know what I could imagine, but I confess that I have seldom seen a face or figure more pleasing to me than her’s. But I am a partial old friend."

But let's not leap to conclusions now... Mr. Knightley is simply a partial old friend!

John Knightley, "Isabella and Emma, I think, do write very much alike. I have not always known their writing apart."

"Yes," said his brother hesitatingly, "there is a likeness. I know what you mean -- but Emma’s hand is the strongest."

Ah, the familial rites of passage...

Mr. Knightley, in fact, was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them: and though this was not particularly agreeable to Emma herself, she knew it would be so much less so to her father, that she would not have him really suspect such a circumstance as her not being thought perfect by every body.

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