If you had to choose one leading man from any Jane Austen book as your absolute all-time favorite, which one would you choose? Me, I would choose Mr. Knightly. Sure, I love Mr. Darcy, or Captain Wentworth, and Henry Tilney even managed to make me smile. But Mr. Knightly… he’s just about perfect, in my humble view.

See, he puts up with Emma, who is — by all accounts — a very silly, vain, misguided girl. And not only does he put up with her, but he gently (mostly) corrects her, helps her become the woman she really should be. And he loves her for and in spite of it all. (Throughout the whole book, too. I think that’s one thing that really hit me on this re-read: the evidence for Mr. Knightly’s love was there from very early on, even if neither one of them knew it.) Perhaps that’s why I love this love story best. Because, while I love Lizzy’s wit and perception and assertiveness and Anne’s goodness and long-sufferingness, I think I find Emma — for all her class snobbery (that’s the other thing that stood out on this re-read; it’s a very class-centric book) — the most imperfect, the most accessible, the most real of all of Austen’s heroines.

Which is also probably why I find this one highly entertaining. I know many people find Emma (both the character and the book) grating, but I am constantly amused by her antics, her desire to try and make people’s lives in her own image. (There’s a lot that I could say about silly, sweet Harriet; or even the grating Mrs. Elton; or Mr. Elton who aspires to be a rich snob and only comes off with the snob part; or Jane Fairfax, who comes off much better in the book than she does in the movie; or Frank Churchill, who should be a scoundrel, but in reality is just an immature guy… but I won’t.) And I think that’s why Mr. Knightly, as the counter-balance to Emma’s flightiness, has found a special place in my heart.

That, and this one line: “Men of sense, whatever you may choose to say, do not want silly wives.”

Sigh.