So far, Emma is certainly at her worst when running down the Martins -- she can be kind and charitable to the poor cottagers (who are certainly much lower than the Martins), but a well to do farmer "need none of my help, and is therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other he is below it." (chap 4)

She is certainly a very good daughter to her father -- she is at her best here -- nobody who is so good to her father can be a villainess.