Emma is successful at everything she tries. Three! (It’s really easy to hate Threes, they’re so competent.) She’s helpful and kind-hearted, very social as Threes are, but she has little patience for idiocy. Threes don’t mind sharing their time and wisdom with us lesser mortals, but only up to a point. Then they become busy running the world and improving the trajectory of humanity, and they must move on.
Threes are likable. Check. They also hate — haaaaate — being incompetent or making mistakes. They will burn you down. This is the only time you stop and think, wait: Threes are kind of a jerk. Emma will blame others for her failure if she can. She’s completely wrong about Harriet but it takes her most of the plot to admit it. And when Mr. Knightley calls her out for being so mean to Miss Bates, Emma is devastated. We all would be; her actions were cruel and Mr. Knightley is in the right. Cheerful Emma is wiped out by this upbraiding.
Here’s what interests me the most, though: Three Women are not lithe, yet every actress cast so far to play Emma is. Paltrow, Taylor-Joy, Beckinsale — these actresses are a very similar physical type, slender-framed and winsome. Three Women have a lower center of gravity and are built more solidly. They carry the weight of the world because of their competence; of course they have a body structure that matches. I probably won’t be satisfied with any version of Emma until she is cast with an actress who looks Three-ish.