What is a summary of Emma by Jane Austen?

Thecharacter ofis introduced in such a way
that
she might beconsidered a reluctant heroine. The narrator, who possesses
Austen'sironic
voice, says:

EmmaWoodhouse, ... seemed to unite some of
the best blessings of
existence;.... and had, ... been mistress of his house from a very early

period.... Emma doing just what she liked ... . The real evils ... were thepower of
having
rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think alittle too
well of herself;

Therefore, the
conflicts Emma gets into come from "having too
much her own way" and thinking
"a little too well of
herself."

Emmais devoted to her
father and their caring but
straight-talking neighborMr. Knightley. Her
dearest friend is Miss Taylor who has just
becomeMrs. Weston and thus
retreated from center stage to the wings of Emma'slife. To replace
her, Emma
befriends Harriet, a young woman of modestintellect and position in the world
whom
Emma determines to raise inimportance.

Emmadoes
this by discouraging her from
accepting a marriage proposal fromthe man of
hopes, farmer Mr. Martin, and by encouraging her to
focus onthe imagined
affections of a man who deems Harriet too far beneath himfor notice, the

clergyman Mr. Elton. When that scheme backfires, Emma issurprised to find that Harriet
fancies
herself in love with and lovedby Mr. Knightley himself. This
possibility sets Emma's heart
aflame asshe realizes it will break her heart
if Mr. Knightley attaches himselfto
anyone.
/>Meanwhile,Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax provide Emma with other

projects asEmma seeks to avoid Jane's company--helped out by Jane's efforts toavoid
Emma's
company!--and seeks to ascertain just how deeply Frankloves her, as
she must certainly refuse
him, thus breaking his heart, asshe is devoted to
her father and refuses to even contemplate
leavinghim for a marriage and home
elsewhere.

Thingsgo from bad to worse for
Emma after
Mr. Elton's surprise proposal ofmarriage, which she earnestly rejected, sends him
to
Bath to bring back abride in the person of Mrs. Elton who proceeds to brag
and arrangeoutings to
Mr. Knightley's strawberry patch and Box Hill. The
strawberrypatch and Box Hill are disasters
for different reasons, one of
which isthat Emma and Frank offend both Jane and Miss Bates, so
much so
thatMr. Knightley chastises Emma on their behalf.

In the end,
as
things go spiraling from bad to worse, all discover that Jane and Frank
are secretly
engaged,

Butit is even so.
There has been a solemn
engagement between them eversince Octoberformed at
Weymouth, and kept a secret from every
body.

andHarriet accepts Mr. Martin with Mr. Knightley's
blessing and
Emmaaccepts Mr. Knightley's bashful proposal of marriage and Mr. and Mrs.Elton
...
well €¦ remain the same.