It's like she went through a list of classic romantic heroine traits and worked to see how many she could do without. For all I know she did.

The classic romantic heroine is poor? Emma's got a grand dowry.

She nearly dies of some disease? Emma's the picture of health.

She's tormented by her family? Emma's loved by hers. We're told and shown she can even talk her father into all sorts of changes.

Her family wealth threatened by some villainous advisor, aka the evil chancellor trope? Mr Knightley is highly conscientious and virtuous.

She's socially inferior? Emma's at the top of her little world, even the mean girl, Mrs Elton, can only hope to hurt her by proxy, and then Mr Knightley comes to the rescue.

She's naive, easily fooled by the villain? Emma is clever.

Oh and then Jane Austen goes and puts a conventional romantic heroine into the story and has Emma dislike her.

Yet Austen pulls it off - at least for many readers, if not everyone.