Emma is one of the most delightful but also one of the most domineering of Jane Austen's heroines. Her attempts at manipulating other people's lives start in fun and end in hurt feelings and embarrassment for all concerned. The frothiness of the novel gives way to a deeper moral message, and all ends well - better than Emma could have imagined. Throughout the story Jane Austen loses no opportunity to describe with ironic wittiness the society of Highbury and the conventions of the day. The many characters are clearly and finely drawn to create a tiny world in which interest is sustained to the final matching of couples for wedding vows.