I'm so sorry it's taken me three months to respond to this! I don't know what happened, because I try to respond to all comments within 24 hours. But I absolutely agree that Austen is a satirist, and one of the best for the reason you suggest: She can drop stealth bombs, so quietly you don't always realize at first how deadly they are. Emma is a wonderful novel, but not quite my favorite (still P&P), because Emma herself can be cruel at times. Thank you so much for your perceptive comment and for your patience with this slow reply.