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I’m not sure if Harriet is just comfortably sure of herself in a way Emma can’t quite comprehend OR if Harriet has calculated the over/under on whether her situation would improve if her parentage was known and decided her life would most likely be best situated without that knowledge.

Aw, Harriet seems to really like the Martins, and Emma finds it cute (in a patronizing way) that Harriet is so impressed by the way they live.

Emma is a little annoying in this regard.

Oh Emma does not like that Mr Martin is a single man! This would be bad for… Harriet’s prospects? Or something? I don’t totally understand her concern, but okay. I assume there’s some regency more I’m neglecting to consider. Or maybe Emma is just being overbearing. I don’t know.

Okay, so here I find myself disagreeing with Jane Austen—Mr Martin is definitely exceedingly hot. He’s a sweet fellow who goes out of his way to bring Harriet little treats!!! That is not scrub behavior. That is hot guy shit. AND HE TAKES HARRIET’S READING RECOMMENDATIONS!!!

Canonically Sexy Mr Martin.

He’s 24! He’s a baby!!

Oh my god. He’s a sweetie!!! Emma let the girl shack up with the hot farmer who is nice to her. He’s perfect. Hell, I’ll marry him. Harriet, move.

Okay, how is Emma assuming Harriet is a gentleman’s daughter? Like, an imaginary gentleman? An imaginary gentleman is of a higher station than flesh and blood Mr Martin? Did I miss some detail about Harriet’s parentage? Does Emma know something I don’t know? Or is she fancasting her friend as fancy?

Oh my god if Emma were around today, she would one hundred percent be a menace in the comments on AO3, starting fights over competing headcanons.

Wait never mind, I’m on Emma’s team again. bsky.app/profile/mich...

“I like you, which means you’re automatically better than most people in all regards, actually. You’re welcome.” This is my girl. Emma is my girl.

I think I love this specific flavor of naive privilege; it’s so endearing! It suggests to me that Emma can befriend anybody who delights her. Anyone she likes should be allowed in her social strata, and she’s going to forcefully will a social ladder into existence for a girl she likes. It’s sweet!

LOL they meet Mr Martin on a walk one day, and Emma’s like, “Sure he may be ugly, but that’s not what matters! 😊 He’s also 😊 a clown.”

I love her so much.

I will NOT be thinking deeply about how I’m less likely to empathize with a smugly cleverer-than-thou protagonist (Elizabeth Bennet) than I am to root for a straightforwardly snobby protagonist (Emma Woodhouse).

Elizabeth: I am better than you because I am very smart and decent, and I can see you for what you really are, and I don’t think you can keep up with my wit and my verve or live up to my standards. Emma: I am better than you! 😊 Isn’t that neat?

I am. Already over-identifying with Emma. I need to have a discussion with my therapist.

Oh shit I have to get a new therapist. My old therapist, a brilliant woman, moved into another profession!!! Just as I’m having a crisis about a Jane Austen book!!!

Holy crap, Jane Austen is brilliant. There’s a clear little streak of Mr Woodhouse in Emma. “Harriet, now that you’ve hung out with me, you’ve met real gentlemen. Doesn’t Mr Martin strike you as inferior? It sure strikes me. Are you not struck by that? You must be struck by that. Of course you are.”

Emma is going about getting Harriet to blush about Mr Elton by telling Harriet of Mr Elton’s compliments toward her, which she extracted out of him probably in the same way she extracted a lower view of Mr Martin from Harriet a second ago.

I don’t think Emma is elegantly manipulative, not the way an abuser goes about it. She, like her father, thinks everybody mirrors her own feelings. She’ll state something and go, “You agree, don’t you? Don’t you agree? Don’t you?” until the other person acquiesces, albeit even if with reservations.

One of the reasons Clueless worked so well as an adaptation was that Alicia *nailed* this aspect of Emma/Cher's personality in the perfect setting for it.

Emma’s like, “Well, if liked Mr Martin bringing her walnuts, she’s going to lose her mind if handsome Mr Elton, unhappily alone with servants, pays her even a little attention,” and you can already tell she’s gonna go make it happen.

Interesting bc in a cishet patriarchal society, Emma seems to assume the role of a younger master, a masc-sort of social command, that Mr. Woodhouse can't successfully occupy as an elderly "invalid" and becomes a bit of an old hen. But their objects of affection + influence end up being (1/2)