Sense and Sensibility
| Sense and Sensibility | |
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| Author | Jane Austen |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Thomas Egerton, Military Library (Whitehall, London) |
| Publication date | 1811 |
| ISBN | NA |
Sense and Sensibility is a novel by the English novelist Jane Austen. Published in 1811, it was the first of Austen's novels to be published, under the pseudonym "A Lady". The novel has been adapted for film and television a number of times, the two most recent being the 1995 movie directed by Ang Lee and the 2008 BBC television version adapted by Andrew Davies.
The story revolves around Elinor and Marianne, two daughters of Mr. Dashwood by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John, and the Dashwood women are left in reduced circumstances. The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, a cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters' characters is eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. This leads some to believe that the book's title describes how Elinor and Marianne find a balance between sense and sensibility in life and love.
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Plot summary
When Mr. Dashwood dies, his estate, Norland, passes to his only son, John. This leaves his second wife and three daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, at the mercy of their stepson/half-brother and his selfish wife Fanny. Treated as unwelcome guests, the Dashwood women begin looking for another place to live. Meanwhile, Elinor grows attached to Fanny's brother Edward Ferrars, an unassuming, intelligent, and reserved young man. However, Mrs. Ferrars wants her son to marry a woman of high rank or great estate, if not both. Neither Elinor nor her mother cares about this. Nonetheless, due to Edwards Ferrar's odd, reserved behaviour, Elinor does not allow herself to hope for marriage. Eventually, one of Mrs. Dashwood's cousins, an opulent Sir John Middleton, offers them a cottage on his estate, Barton Park. Also staying there are Mrs. Jennings (Lady Middleton's mother) and Colonel Brandon, an old friend of Sir John. The gossipy Mrs. Jennings decides that Colonel Brandon must be in love with Marianne and teases them about it. Marianne is displeased. She considers Colonel Brandon, at age thirty-five, to be an old bachelor incapable of falling in love or inspiring love in anyone else.
Marianne, out for a stroll, gets caught in the rain, slips, and sprains her ankle. The dashing and handsome Mr. Willoughby rescues Marianne, carries her back home, and wins her admiration. He comes to visit her every day, and Elinor and Mrs. Dashwood begin to suspect that the couple has secretly become engaged. However, Mrs. Dashwood's sentimental nature prevents her from asking Marianne about her relationship with Willoughby. Marianne is devastated when Willoughby announces that he must go to London on business, not to return for perhaps even up to a year.
Edward Ferrars visits the Dashwoods at Barton Cottage, but seems unhappy and is distant towards Elinor. She fears that he no longer has feelings for her. However, unlike Marianne, she does not wallow in her sadness, feeling it her duty to be outwardly calm for the sake of her mother and sisters, who all dote on Edward and have firm faith in his love for Elinor.
Shortly afterward, Anne and Lucy Steele, cousins of Lady Middleton, come to stay at Barton Park. Sir John tells Lucy that Elinor is attached to Edward, prompting Lucy to inform Elinor that she (Lucy) has been secretly engaged to Edward for four years. Although Elinor initially blames Edward for engaging her affections when he was not free to do so, she realizes that he became engaged to Lucy while he was young and naïve. She understands that Edward does not love Lucy, but that he will not hurt or dishonour her by breaking their engagement. Elinor hides her disappointment and works to convince Lucy that she feels nothing for Edward. This is particularly hard as she sees that Lucy is not in love with Edward and that she will only make him unhappy.
Elinor and Marianne spend the winter at Mrs. Jennings' home in London. Marianne's letters to Willoughby go unanswered, and he treats her coldly when he sees her at a party. He later sends Marianne a letter, enclosing their former correspondence and love tokens, including a lock of her hair and informing her that he is engaged to a Miss Grey, a high-born, wealthy woman with fifty thousand pounds (equivalent to about five million pounds today). Marianne admits to Elinor that she and Willoughby were never engaged, but that she loved him and he led her to believe that he loved her.
Colonel Brandon tells Elinor that Willoughby had seduced Brandon's ward, Eliza Williams, and abandoned her when she became pregnant. Brandon was once in love with Miss Williams' mother, a woman who resembled Marianne and whose life was destroyed by an unhappy arranged marriage to the Colonel's brother.
Because Fanny Dashwood does not like her sister-in-laws, she declines her husband's offer to let them stay with her. Instead, she invites the Miss Steeles. Lucy Steele becomes very arrogant and brags to Elinor that the old dowager Mrs. Ferrars favors her. Indeed both Fanny and Mrs. Ferrars were fond of Lucy. Thus, Lucy's sister Anne decides that it woould not be improper to tell the of Lucy's concealed engagement to Edward. When Mrs. Ferrars discovers Edward and Lucy's engagement, she is infuriated, and demands that he end the engagement instantaneously. However, he refuses to end it, so she disinherits him, in immediate favour of his brother Robert. Elinor and Marianne feel sorry for Edward, and think him honourable for remaining engaged to a woman with whom he will probably not be happy. Edward plans to take holy orders to earn his living, and Colonel Brandon, knowing how lives can be ruined when love is denied, offers Edward the living of the parish of Delaford. Elinor meets Edward's boorish brother Robert and is shocked that he has no qualms about claiming his brother's inheritance. Colonel Brandon expresses his commiseration to Edward for the deplorable circumstance and offers Edward a parsonage on Delaford, the Colonel's large estate, with about two hundred pounds a year. The Colonel did not intend the parsonage to be assistance for Edward to marry Lucy as would be insufficient to house a wife but intends that the parsonage will be able to provide Edward some sustenance.
The sisters end their winter stay in London and begin their return trip to Barton via Cleveland, the country estate of Mrs.Jennings' son-in-law, Mr Palmer. There, Marianne, miserable over Willoughby, allows her depression to take complete hold of her and soon becomes very ill with putrid fever. Mr Palmer and his family are advised to leave the house for the sake of their infant son, in case the fever is infectious. As Marianne worsens, Colonel Brandon goes to get Mrs. Dashwood. Willoughby arrives and tells Elinor that he was disinherited when his benefactress discovered his seduction of Miss Williams, so he decided to marry the wealthy Miss Grey. He says that he still loves Marianne and seeks forgiveness, but has poor excuses for his selfish actions. Meanwhile, Colonel Brandon tells Mrs.Dashwood that he loves Marianne.
Marianne recovers and the Dashwoods return to Barton Cottage. Elinor tells Marianne about Willoughby's visit. Marianne admits that, although she loved Willoughby, she could not have been happy with the libertine father of an illegitimate child even if he had stood by her. Marianne also realizes that her illness was brought on by her wallowing in her grief, by her excessive sensibility, and that, had she died, it would have been morally equivalent to suicide. She now resolves to model herself after Elinor's courage and good sense.
The family learns that Lucy has married Mr. Ferrars. When Mrs. Dashwood sees how upset Elinor is, she finally realizes how strong Elinor's feelings for Edward are and is sorry that she did not pay more attention to her unhappiness. However, the very next day Edward arrives and reveals that it was his brother, Robert Ferrars, who married Lucy. He says that he was trapped in his engagement with Lucy, "a woman he had long since ceased to love", and she broke the engagement to marry the now wealthy Robert. Edward asks Elinor to marry him, and she agrees. Edward eventually becomes reconciled with his mother. He also reconciles with his sister Fanny, who gives him ten thousand pounds. Edward and Elinor marry and move into the parsonage at Delaford. Still, Mrs. Ferrars tends to favour Robert and Lucy over Edward and Elinor.
Mr. Willoughby's patroness eventually gives him his inheritance, seeing that his marriage to a woman of good character has redeemed him. Willoughby realizes that marrying Marianne would have produced the same effect; had he behaved honourably, he could have had both love and money and thus "his punishment was complete".
Over the next two years, Mrs. Dashwood, Marianne, and Margaret spend most of their time at Delaford. Marianne matures and, at the age of nineteen, decides to marry the thirty-seven year old Colonel, even though she feels more respect than passion for him. However, after the marriage, she grows to truly love him. The Colonel's house is near the parsonage where Elinor and Edward live, so the sisters and their husbands can visit each other often, and thus concluding a novel of genius by Jane Austen.
Characters in Sense and Sensibility
- Henry Dashwood — a wealthy gentleman who dies at the beginning of the story. The terms of his estate prevent him from leaving anything to his second wife and their children together. He asks John, his son by his first wife, to look after (meaning ensure the financial security of) his second wife and their three daughters.
- Mrs. Dashwood — the second wife of Henry Dashwood, who is left in difficult financial straits by the death of her husband. She is 40 years old at the beginning of the book. Much like her daughter Marianne, she is also very emotive and often makes poor decisions based on emotion rather than reason.
- Elinor Dashwood —
- the sensible and reserved eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is 19 years old at the beginning of the book. She becomes attached to Edward Ferrars, the brother-in-law of her elder half-brother, John. Always feeling a keen sense of responsibility to her family and friends, she places their welfare and interests above her own, and suppresses her own strong emotions in a way that leads others to think she is indifferent or cold-hearted.
- Marianne Dashwood — the romantically inclined and eagerly expressive second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is 16 years old at the beginning of the book. She is the object of the attentions of Colonel Brandon and Mr. Willoughby. She is attracted to young, handsome, romantically spirited Willoughby and does not think much of the older, more reserved Colonel Brandon. Marianne does the most development within the book, learning her sensibilities have been selfish. She decides her conduct should be more like her elder sister's, Elinor.
- Margaret Dashwood — the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is thirteen at the beginning of the book. She is also romantic and well-tempered but not expected to be as clever as her sisters when she grows older.
- John Dashwood — the son of Henry Dashwood by his first wife. He intends to do well by his step-sisters, but he has a keen sense of avarice, and is easily swayed by his wife.
- Fanny Dashwood — the wife of John Dashwood, and sister to Edward and Robert Ferrars. She is vain, selfish, and snobbish. She spoils her son Henry. Very harsh to her husband's half-sisters and stepmother, especially since she fears her brother Edward is attached to Elinor.
- Sir John Middleton — a distant relative of Mrs. Dashwood who, after the death of Henry Dashwood, invites her and her three daughters to live in a cottage on his property. Described as a wealthy, sporting man who served in the army with Colonel Brandon, he is very affable and keen to throw frequent parties, picnics, and other social gatherings to bring together the young people of their village. He and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, make a jolly, teasing, and gossipy pair.
- Lady Middleton — the genteel, but reserved wife of Sir John Middleton, she is quieter than her husband, and is primarily concerned with mothering her four spoiled children.
- Mrs. Jennings — mother to Lady Middleton and Charlotte Palmer. A widow who has married off all of her children, she spends most of her time visiting her two daughters and their families, especially the Middletons. She and her son-in-law, Sir John Middleton, take an active interest in the romantic affairs of the young people around them and seek to encourage suitable matches, often to the particular chagrin of Elinor and Marianne.
- Edward Ferrars — the elder of Fanny Dashwood's two brothers. He forms an attachment to Elinor Dashwood. Years before meeting the Dashwoods, Ferrars proposed to Lucy Steele, the niece of his tutor. The engagement has been kept secret owing to the expectation that Ferrars' family would object to his marrying Miss Steele. He is disowned by his mother on discovery of the engagement after refusing to give up the engagement.
- Robert Ferrars — the younger brother of Edward Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood, he is most concerned about status, fashion, and his new barouche. He subsequently marries Miss Lucy Steele after Edward is disowned.
- Mrs. Ferrars — Fanny Dashwood and Edward and Robert Ferrars' mother. A bad-tempered, unsympathetic woman who embodies all the foibles demonstrated in Fanny and Robert's characteristics. She is determined that her sons should marry well.
- Colonel Brandon — a close friend of Sir John Middleton. In his youth, Brandon had fallen in love with his father's ward, but was prevented by his family from marrying her because his father was determined to marry her to his older brother. He was sent into the military abroad to be away from her, and while gone, the girl suffered numerous misfortunes partly as a consequence of her unhappy marriage, finally dying penniless and disgraced, and with a natural (i.e., illegitimate) daughter, who becomes the ward of the Colonel. He is 35 years old at the beginning of the book. He falls in love with Marianne at first sight as she reminds him of his father's ward. He is very honorable friend to the Dashwoods, particularly Elinor, and offers Edward Ferrars a living after being disowned by his mother.
- John Willoughby — a philandering nephew of a neighbour of the Middletons, a dashing figure who charms Marianne and shares her artistic and cultural sensibilities. It is generally understood that his is engaged to be married to Marianne by many of their mutual acquaintances.
- Charlotte Palmer — the daughter of Mrs. Jennings and the younger sister of Lady Middleton, Mrs. Palmer is jolly but empty-headed and laughs at inappropriate things, such as her husband's continual rudeness to her and to others.
- Thomas Palmer — the husband of Charlotte Palmer who is running for a seat in Parliament, but is idle and often rude.
- Lucy Steele — a young, distant relation of Mrs. Jennings, who has for some time been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars. She assiduously cultivates the friendship with Elinor Dashwood and Mrs. John Dashwood. Limited in formal education and financial means, she is nonetheless attractive, clever, manipulative, cunning and scheming (in modern terms, a "gold digger").
- Anne/Nancy Steele — Lucy Steele's elder, socially inept, and less clever sister.
- Miss Sophia Grey — a wealthy but malicious heiress who Mr. Willoughby marries in order to retain his comfortable lifestyle after he is disinherited by his aunt.
- Lord Morton — the father of Miss Morton.
- Miss Morton — a wealthy woman whom Mrs. Ferrars wants her eldest son, Edward, and later Robert, to marry.
- Mr. Pratt — an uncle of Lucy Steele and Edward's tutor.
- Eliza Williams — the ward of Col. Brandon, she is about 15 years old and bore an illegitimate son to John Willoughby.
- Mrs. Smith — the wealthy aunt of Mr. Willoughby who disowns him for not marrying Eliza Williams.
Critical appraisal
Austen wrote the first draft of Elinor and Marianne (later retitled Sense and Sensibility) c. 1795, when she was about 19 years old. While she had written a great deal of short fiction in her teens, Elinor and Marianne was her first full-length novel. The plot revolves around a contrast between Elinor's sense and Marianne's emotionalism; the two sisters may have been loosely based on the author and her beloved elder sister, Cassandra, with Austen casting Cassandra as the restrained and well-judging sister and herself as the emotional one.
Austen clearly intended to vindicate Elinor's sense and self-restraint, and on the simplest level, the novel may be read as a parody of the full-blown romanticism and sensibility that was fashionable around the 1790s. Yet Austen's treatment of the two sisters is complex and multi-faceted. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin argues that Sense and Sensibility has a "wobble in its approach", which developed because Austen, in the course of writing the novel, gradually became less certain about whether sense or sensibility should triumph.[1] She endows Marianne with every attractive quality: intelligence, musical talent, frankness, and the capacity to love deeply. She also acknowledges that Willoughby, with all his faults, continues to love and, in some measure, appreciate Marianne. For these reasons, some readers find Marianne's ultimate marriage to Colonel Brandon an unsatisfactory ending.[2] The ending does, however, neatly join the themes of sense and sensibility by having the sensible sister marry her true love after long, romantic obstacles to their union, while the emotional sister finds happiness with a man whom she did not initially love, but who was an eminently sensible and satisfying choice of a husband.
The novel displays Austen's subtle irony at its best, with many outstanding comic passages about the Middletons, the Palmers, Mrs. Jennings, and Lucy Steele.
Publication
In 1811, Thomas Egerton of the Military Library publishing house in London accepted the manuscript for publication, in three volumes. Austen paid for the book to be published and paid the publisher a commission on sales. The cost of publication was more than a third of Austen's annual household income of £460 (about US$46,000 in today's money [3]). She made a profit of £140 (US$14,000) on the first edition, which sold all 750 printed copies by July 1813. A second edition was advertised in October 1813.
Editions
Sense & Sensibility, Oneworld Classics 2008 ISBN 978-1-84749-046-9
Sense & Sensibility, Oxford University Press 2004 ISBN 978-0192833426
Sense & Sensibility, Penguin Classics 2003, ISBN 978-0141439662
Sense & Sensibility, Collectors Library 2003, ISBN 978-1-904633-02-0
See also
- Sense and Sensibility (1981 TV serial)
- Sense and Sensibility (film) starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet
- Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000 film) a modern Tamil adaptation starring Tabu, Aishwarya Rai, Ajith and Mammootty.
- Sense and Sensibility (2008 TV serial), BBC serial starring Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield
References
- ↑ Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life (New York: Vintage, 1997), p.155.
- ↑ Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life, pp. 156-157.
- ↑ According to a combined analysis of changing currency values over time and contemporary exchange rates, one 1811 pound is worth roughly one hundred 2007 dollars today. (For example, see http://www.measuringworth.com.)
External links
- Sense and Sensibility at Project Gutenberg
- Sense and Sensibility - Full text with audio and translations.
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - Free eBook in PDF format.
- Sense and Sensibility free downloads in PDF, PDB, and LIT formats
- "Sense and Sensibility the Musical" by Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton
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