Consider reading other novels by Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion in particular provide counterpoints to Emma.
There are many modern retellings of Emma including Emma (The Austen Project #3) by Alexander McCall Smith; Emmalee by Jenni James; and Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken.
Jane Austen was not the only English novelist of her time. Consider the novels of Ann Radcliffe, Fanny Burney, or Mary Wollstonecraft.
A fascinating parallel read would be Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, published soon after Austen's death, which deals with the same theme of creating someone else in your own image. The Greek myth of Pygmalion is also a locus classicus for this theme.
The movies Clueless ...
