History Characters / Emma

* ItsAllAboutMe: In the funniest and most inoffensive way possible; as said above, he simply assumes that his own opinions are the same as everyone else's, such as his sorrow rather than happiness for Miss Taylor and Isabella Woodhouse in leaving Hartfield to be married. It's born out of affection rather than selfishness.

Miss Emma Woodhouse is the heroine of the story. She's twenty and a lady of the landed gentry who is 'handsome, clever and rich'. She's very independent and empowered. She's the mistress of her house Hartfield and she's the woman of most consequence in Highbury despite not being married.

Mr Knightley is an old family friend of the Woodhouse family and Emma's brother-in-law. He's the owner of Donwell Abbey.

Mrs Weston, formerly Miss Anne Taylor, is a former governess who was hired to take care of Emma and Isabella Woodhouse. She's a close family friend and something between a mother and a sister to Emma, and like another beloved daughter to Mr Woodhouse. She marries Mr Weston at the beginning of the book.

Mr Elton is a young clergyman who lives in the Highbury Vicarage. He's single and means to get married.

* OverprotectiveDad: He's over-anxious about food, sleep, exercise, social gatherings, and pretty much everything else. Emma is quite skillful at masterminding how to arrange things for his comfort while at the same time satisfying her own wants.

* LoveYouAndEverybody: He's extremely friendly with everybody, almost inappropriately so for a gentleman. Emma finds out it's no great compliment to be considered his particular friend and favourite. His intelligence and proper gentlemanlike behaviour save him from being insufferable.

* WidowWoman: She's an old widow of former clergyman of Highbury.

* IllGirl: She has shattered health, which is a family trait. However, she's also depressed and fatigued mentally, which contributes to her physical weakness. In the spirit of the trope, it only makes her more beautiful: she is more on the thin side and has pale skin. (Word of God says she died of tuberculosis. And tuberculosis has been known to influence beauty trends in the past.) Emma and other characters however note that she look her best when she's finally relieved and finally happy.

* BrutalHonesty: He is plain-spoken and though courteous, does not restrain his opinions when something strikes him as wrong. Emma's romantic plotting, for instance; while (at first) he's pretty dismissive about Harriet's qualities he ''is'' right to be worried about Emma giving the young woman an inflated idea of her marriage prospects.

* BrutalHonesty: He is plain-spoken and though courteous, does not restrain his opinions when something strikes him as wrong. Emma's romantic plotting, for instance; and while he's pretty dismissive about Harriet's qualities, he is right to be worried about Emma giving the young woman an inflated idea of herself.

* BrutalHonesty: He is plain-spoken and though courteous, does not restrain his opinions when something strikes him as wrong. Emma's romantic plotting, for instance.

* NouveauRiche: She is the orphaned younger daughter of a Bristol merchant, raised by her uncle who worked in law. (Emma thinks the uncle might be a "drudge" who couldn't rise far in his profession.) Mrs Elton therefore talks ''a lot'' about her sister Selina Suckling, who married an actual land-owning gentleman (though someone whose family only recently bought the estate), making herself come across as even more of a social climber.

* TheAce: She ''could'' have been the perfectly accomplished young lady had she been more diligent with her lessons; she's beautiful, intelligent, and talented. She has great taste in books and literature, but her fantasy keeps her from reading regularly (because reading is an activity that needs some steady hard work and focus). She is very talented in music, but doesn't perform or practise regularly. She draws and paints, but she's not a very committed artist. Still, in Highbury, there is almost no competition for her and everybody is in awe of her and everybody admires her a great deal.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Emma feels this way about Jane Fairfax. Emma is an accomplished young lady, but she could have achieved much more had she been more hard-working in her reading, painting or playing the piano and singing. Jane Fairfax knows she's destined to be a governess and that her living will depend on her skills, so she works harder and accordingly, her performance in music is extraordinary.

* GentlemanSnarker: Lady Snarker. She's very intelligent and some of her comments are quite smart ass, but she's always the lady.

* GreenEyedMonster: Emma very much dislikes the idea that Mr Knightley might marry one day. At first people in Highbury ship him with Miss Fairfax, whom Emma does not particularly like, but she doesn't understand why she doesn't want him to marry. She thinks it is because of their small nephew, who is Mr Knightley's heir. When later Harriet Smith belives Mr Knightley loves her, Emma fully understands her feelings. Nobody marries Mr Knightley but her.

* HypocriticalHumor: When the Coles plan a party, Emma mentally crafts her well-mannered refusal to the inevitable invitation--and then when they don't invite her she's ''outraged.'' (They do send the invite eventually, but hesitated precisely because they didn't want to offend her and because they needed to make accommodation for Mr Woodhouse. The concern for her father's health turns Emma's opinion quite around.)
* IndifferentBeauty: Emma is loveliness itself and "the picture of health". She's easily one of the most handsome heroines in Jane Austen's verse, but she really doesn't care about it. She takes pride in being clever, intelligent and capable.

* OddFriendship: With Harriet. They are neither social nor intellectual equals. Emma wants to educate Harriet, and amuses herself by trying to finding her a proper match. She genuinely likes her, though, and Harriet is more for her than just a project. Meanwhile, Harriet is awed that the highly regarded and very beautiful Miss Woodhouse takes an interest with her. Emma eventually realizes that, despite her affection for Harriet, the friendship has done neither of them any good and only made Harriet's life more complicated and difficult than it needed to be.
* RichBoredom: Despite her belief that she's content with her life as mistress of Hartfield (and to an extent of Highbury itself), Emma clearly suffers from this. Because of her father she can't travel, her household has recently shrunk by two people, and she still has lots of free time when not managing her house or doing good work in the village. Hence her decision to turn mentoring Harriet into her new project.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Her supposed matchmaking skills. She thinks of herself as a superior matchmaker who sees into people's hearts. She believes she can manoeuvre everyone to their future spouse... while she in fact helped to form one successful match (Mr Weston and Miss Taylor). And those two would in all likelihood get married without her goodwill and help as well.
* SpiritedYoungLady: She's very vivacious, very lively and has an open temper. She loves walking, and she's a good musician and a talented painter. She openly talks about not wanting to get married because she's rich and therefore it would be silly to get married without love.
* SpoiledSweet: Emma Woodhouse is an UnbuiltTrope. She is a young woman of landed gentry in the position to behave like a RichBitch; she is spoiled by her doting father and her loving governess, but she also has a happy disposition, loves her family and friends, and treats servants and people of lower social standings really well. She is charitable to the poor, but doesn't have romantic ideas about them. Notably, she lacks the naivety and cheerfulness associated with the archetype. Quite realistically, she cannot be sweet to everyone: she doesn't like Jane Fairfax and really dislikes the insufferable Mrs Elton, but tries to be polite to them. She finds some of her neighbours tiresome, but treats them with compassion and respect. She rarely slips and is rude or unkind, but whenever that happens, she repents deeply.

* BrainlessBeauty: Harriet is extremely pretty and becomes popular in Highbury once Emma takes her under her wing, but she's silly, not at all clever and unable to decide for herself about anything. Emma puts ideas in her head, and one of them is that she has a right to get married well because of her looks. She also fulfills the boy-crazy part of the trope because she falls in love ''very'' easily.

* HappilyMarried: Emma tries to invoke the trope for Harriet by finding her a suitable husband. She ends up marrying her first crush, Robert Martin, and they in all probability do achieve the trope, since the match is based on mutual affection. His family genuinely like Harriet, too.

* KindheartedSimpleton: Harriet is called silly, unassuming, or a simpleton over the course of the novel. She's not a smart girl, but very kind, mild and meek. Emma believes her good heart makes up for the lack of intelligence and that she would make an ideal wife for a gentleman.

* CoolBigSis: Although she was supposedly a mother-figure, she was more like a friend and sister to Emma because they adored each other so much. This in turn resulted in Emma not really having a lot of parental discipline growing up.

Mr Weston is an old native to Highbury and one of the principle inhabitants of the neighbourhood. He served as Captain in the Army and became rich through trade. He buys Randalls House. Widowed from a young age, and later marries Miss Taylor. Father to Frank Churchill who was adopted by his sister-in-law. Very friendly and sociable.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: A male example. At first everyone finds him very agreeable and he comes across as a very friendly, gentlemanly, if rather silly young man. Midway through, he's revealed to being a gold digging {{Jerkass}} and thoroughgoing snob who only affects good manners for people he considers important.

* {{Jerkass}}: After he realizes that he will not have Emma, he starts ignoring her, as far as he can ignore one of the the most important people in the neighbourhood. He openly snubs Harriet at the ball by refusing to dance with her and being triumphant about it.

Mr Weston's son by his first marriage. After his mother's death, he was raised by his rich aunt and uncle, the Churchills, at their family estate Enscombe. He is 23, very handsome and considered an amiable young man, liked by almost everybody.

* HandsomeLech: He's very attractive, playful and charming. But he's also irresponsible and plays double games with everybody.

* SecretRelationship: With Jane Fairfax. They're been secretly engaged for ''months'' before TheReveal.

Miss Jane Fairfax is an orphan and Miss Bates' niece and Mrs Bates' granddaughter. She is beautiful, intelligent, polite, well-mannered and elegant. She is extraordinarily well-educated and talented at music (singing and playing the piano). Jane is the same age as Emma. Colonel Campbell, an army friend of Jane's deceased father, took care of Jane by bringing her up in their comfortable home and paying for her education. She has no independent fortune and is destined to become a governess.

* ProperLady: Almost ''too'' proper if you ask Emma. Jane is a long-suffering beauty brought up by a genteel family, and she's often self-sacrificing and silent. She's beautiful, intelligent, accomplished and gentle, and seems to be admired by everybody. Emma thinks she should be friendlier and livelier.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: She has dark hair and dark eyelashes, and her complexion is fair, smooth and delicate without being pale. Everyone, even Emma, regards her as an elegant and beautiful lady.

Miss Bates is a spinster and a middle-aged daughter of a former vicar of Highbury. She's very friendly and garrulous, grateful, happy and cheerful despite becoming poor, loving towards everyone, and very popular among people of Highbury. She takes care of her ageing mother. Her niece is Jane Fairfax, daughter of her late sister Jane.

* GossipyHens: She always cheerfully talks about people of Highbury and trivial stuff that happens. It's harmless gossip, but it's mostly accurate, and more important than it initially appears to be. Many of the clues to the book's mysteries are concealed and revealed in the flow of her speeches.

* OldMaid: She never married. Her ordeal is quite hard, because she comes from a respectable genteel family, but after her father's death the family lost their chief source of important income and they are poor.
* PennyAmongDiamonds: She used to be rich, but lost her money before the novel begins; it's said that her father was a vicar in Highbury, but since his death she and her mother have had to shift for themselves. Despite being poor, she is generally welcomed into higher social circles because people seem to appreciate her good nature and honesty. People also know that her background is genteel.

* WallsOfText: Most of her dialogue. It is hilarious, jumping from one topic to another without a much as taking a breath. Emma is sometimes amused by it, but annoyed at times.

* CoolBigSis: She's basically a younger, female version of her illness-petrified father; Emma, though eight or so years younger, actually fills the role better as the caretaker in the family and mistress of their father's house. Hotwever, Emma seems to admire her for having married so well and so happily.

* ProperLady: She's a sweet woman, beautiful, elegant, an affectionate mother, wife, sister and daughter, and a perfect hostess. She quite fulfills the role of "angel of the house" as she never disagrees with her husband.

Henry, John, Isabella, George and Emma are children of Mr John Knightley and his wife Isabella, adored by their Aunt Emma, Grandpapa and Uncle Knightly alike. They are fairly close in age and the youngest is a baby.

* CondescendingCompassion: Newly married to a local clergyman, she immediately fancies herself the best, most respectable woman of the neighbourhood, even among the long-settled families of country gentry. She is quite rich and a new bride, so people in Highbury respect her and tolerate her to a certain degree, but she is insufferable. She forces her friendship and tries to mentor especially Jane Fairfax, who is an accomplished young lady, and because she is poor and of less consequence, she can't escape Mrs Elton's condescending good will as well as other characters.

* NouveauRiche: She is the orphaned younger daughter of a Bristol merchant, raised by her uncle who worked in law. (Emma thinks the uncle might be a "drudge" who couldn't rise far in his profession.) Mrs Elton therefore talks ''a lot'' about her sister Selina Suckling, who married an actual land-owning gentleman (though someone whose family only recently bought the estate), making herself come across as even more of a social-climber.

* RichBitch: With her dowry of 10 thousands pounds, she's rich and a real catch. She keeps boasting about her wealthy brother-in-law, his mansion house, his gardens, his carriages, his servants, etc. However, she has almost no social tact as she's condescending to respectable ladies like Mrs Weston or Miss Fairfax. And she behaves appallingly to poor Miss Smith. She means to insult Emma, but she doesn't dare to openly snub Miss Woodhouse so Emma's close friend Harriet is a good proxy.

Robert Martin is a tenant at Abbey Mill Farm. He's a respectable, educated, well-spoken young farmer. He's friendly, diligent and well-to-do, and though not a gentleman, he is well esteemed by Mr Knightley.

* InformedFlaw: Emma exaggerates his manner as ungentlemanly, calling him 'clownish,' 'uncouth,' and 'abrupt' to dissuade Harriet from accepting his proposal. Mr Knightley, who is better acquainted, considers him sensible, sincere and good-natured. Emma comes round by the end of the novel and considers him a superior match for Harriet than Mr Elton or Frank Churchill.
* InterclassFriendship: With Mr Knightley who is the owner of Donwell Abbey. Mr Martin is described as a gentleman farmer and Mr Knightley appreciates having him as his tenant. Mr Martin trusts Mr Knightley and asks for his advice in romantic things. However, their friendship is rather uneven because of their different social status.

* TheGhost: Mr. Perry's opinion is constantly mentioned, and he is constantly recommended for people's complaints, but he never actually appears on the page. (It's implied that his opinions are not so severe as Mr Woodhouse claims, and that Perry is probably expressing mild agreement to be polite.)
* InterclassFriendship: The local apothecary. He's on friendly terms with Mr Woodhouse and he's very good influence on the old gentleman.

* ItsAllAboutMe: In the funniest and most inoffensive way possible; as said above, he simply assumes that his own opinions are the same as everyone else's, such as his sorrow rather than happiness for Miss Taylor and Isabella Woodhouse in leaving Hartfield to be married. It's borne out of affection rather than selfishness.

* InformedFlaw: Emma exaggerates his manner as ungentlemanly, calling him 'clownish,' 'uncouth,' and 'abrupt' to dissuade Harriet from accepting his proposal. Mr Knightley, who is better acquainted, considers him sensible, sincere and good-natured. Emma comes round by the end of the novel and agrees that Harriet couldn't find anyone better to marry.

* AssholeVictim: InUniverse Emma reflects on finding it easier to face the morning after Mr Elton's proposal with the knowledge of his true character.
--> It was a great consolation that Mr. Elton should not be really in love with her, or so particularly amiable as to make it shocking to disappoint him.