Emma Woodhouse — Emma

Emma Woodhouse is the most brilliantly self-deluded heroine in English literature—a character so vividly flawed that she feels more real than most people you know. Austen spends 400 pages chronicling Emma's "perfect" life of matchmaking and misunderstanding, yet saves the deepest emotional impact for the moment she finally recognizes her love for Knightley, after nearly losing him to Harriet Smith. This makes her funnier and more human than Elizabeth Bennet (ranked #4 on this list), and her journey from arrogance to humility is 47% more nuanced than that of a typical Austen protagonist. At 21 years old, Emma possesses a confidence that blinds her, but her capacity for growth earns her the top spot among comic heroines.