If Emma had no Mr. Knightley

I've been re-reading Emma. It's not my favorite of Austen's books (that would be Persuasion...but choosing your favorite Austen novel is a little like choosing your favorite child: you love them all because they are themselves). I think Austen builds a difficult character beautifully; I think she's also very kind to some of the characters to whom Emma is not (notably Miss Bates, who may be silly, poor, plain, and a gabble-ratchet, but is also sweet-natured, generous, and optimistic). So as I'm reading along it strikes me: if Emma Woodhouse didn't marry at all, or married a man who was less likely to call her on her bullshit (a term Miss Austen might not recognize, but with which I think she would sympathize), she would have become Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Not exactly--Miss Woodhouse has more sweetness of nature than Lady Catherine ever pretended to--but in terms of meddlesomeness and self-certainty...yikes.