20-year-old Emma Woodhouse is atypical for a woman of her time because she does not wish to marry. Having been mistress of her widowed father’s house “from a very early period” owing to her mother’s death and her sister’s marriage, Emma stands to gain neither wealth nor status from marriage (). Having an appearance that is “loveliness itself,”, in addition to intelligence and confidence, adds to the blessing of her situation.

However, Emma’s complacency proves to be a danger in itself. Surrounded by flatterers who tell her she is perfection; Emma imagines that she has no more to learn now that her governess is gone. She decides that she therefore ought to put her ample leisure time towards the improvement of others, who are not as fortunate as herself. Austen leaves the reader in no doubt that Emma’s motives are largely selfish. When Emma proposes to form Harriet’s “opinions and her manners” and thereby model Harriet on herself, she considers it an “undertaking […] highly becoming her own situation in life, her leisure, and powers” (17). Beneath the rhetoric that Emma uses to convince herself of the kindness of her scheme, there is the self-knowledge that the undertaking will also benefit herself.