In
Emma, Emma's vanity and inflated sense of social status puts her in several awkward positions. She makes incorrect and often harsh judgements about the inhabitants of Highbury, going so far as to call the Martins "illiterate and vulgar" (page 39). The "guidance" that results from her sense of superiority ultimately hurts her friend Harriet Smith. In this way, Emma is similar to the character of Kuzco in
The Emperor's New Groove (2000), a vain emperor whose sense of superiority also causes him trouble. It is interesting to note that this character flaw is often revisited in fiction, demonstrating a continued concern not only with modesty, but also with social hierarchies and the effect that positions within them can have on our judgements.
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