ve. As we read, Emma equates being loved with being "important," with being "always first and always right" in the eyes of the lover. To her, only her father could offer such a love. in fact, her father is little more than a child, and his feelings for Emma are habitual at best. She wants the love her dottering father offers because it asks nothing of her. She is in control of such a relationship, and she knows that were she to truly fall in love with a man, she would lose that control. To protect her from such a danger, and the frightening self-discovery such a love would inevitably entail, she tells herself, and the malleable Harriet, that it is not in her "nature" to be in love.
Considering that Emma sees herself as being beyond the reach of love, it is ironic that one of Emma's chief obsessions is meddling in the romantic affairs of others. This constant interference is a way for Emma to be close to love, to be dealing in the stuff of love, but never have to enter the flames personally. It is safe for her this way---until she slowly---and then sudd
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