Often, two people who have endured similar life experiences and share an unmistakable parallel in lifestyles can be viewed as duplicates of one individual. In Sense and Sensibility, the two main characters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood can be seen as two extensions of the same character. The sisters are relatively close in age, grew up with the same social expectations of the same time period and household, and they evidently experienced similar childhood and family trauma and problems. Although it could be argued that they are the same character, these young women are very different from each other, in respects to their roles and practice of responsibility, their display of emotions, and openness to love. Jane Austen has cleverly titled …show more content…
She feels inclined to do this, as “she [has a] knowledge which her mother had yet to learn, and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught”(Austen, 6). When her father died, both her mother and Marianne went into a state of hysteria and spells of dramatic depression, and Elinor had to be the voice of reason in the household. Even though she too was affected by his passing, she took the responsibility of caring for her mourning family by entertaining guests and handling the legal fundamentals with her brother. By staying calm and collected, Elinor proves that her rationality guides her through a life of responsible actions and care for those that she loves. Elinor also steps up as the responsible family member by covering up for their mistakes, particularly her sister’s. Marianne is oblivious to the offenses and conflict that she is creating through her carelessness, as well as the fact that Elinor is covering them up. While the sisters are living in London, Marianne’s strange love-struck behavior does not go unnoticed by their company, and Elinor incessantly interjected excuses for her sister’s imprudent behavior, claiming her to be ill, anxious or tired. She voluntarily takes the responsibility of keeping her family in line, assuring that their lack of rationality will not cause any troubles for them in the future. Marianne’s display of responsibility is not consistent, and is very different than her sister’s; unlike Elinor, Marianne lives a
Willoughby and Marianne sparks an interesting relationship. Marianne is enthralled with the charming, handsome, and intelligent man who carried her down the hill in the rain. “His manly beauty and more than common gracefulness were instantly the theme of general of admiration.” (Ch. 9 pg. 40) Marianne already the constant romantic, finds him to be everything she could hope for. “His person and air were equal to what her fancy had ever drawn for the hero of her favorite story.” (Ch. 9 pg. 41) It is at this point in the novel when the reader begins to realize the meaning behind the title Sense and Sensibility. The two protagonists, Elinor and Marianne, represent sense and sensibility. Elinor’s personality and relationship with Edward is certainly sensible, while Marianne is more emotional and passionate, as reflected by her budding relationship with Mr. Willoughby. Every once and a while there is a clash between “sense and sensibility” through the two sisters. As the novel progresses perhaps Austen will reveal whether reason can influence emotion, vice versa, or if they both influence each other throughout the sister’s
But Elinor being the strong one, hides her feelings well and acts like she’s not upset with the situation. It is later on in the novel that Elinor discovers from another woman, Lucy Steele,
Generous, willing, and proficient—are all qualities of Elinor Dashwood. Creators regularly utilize attributes of characters to depict them as basic bits of the plot. In Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Elinor is appeared as a vital character through her sympathy towards others and her eagerness to help her family through troublesome circumstances.
Also, another person that shows a perspective or type of love in Sense and Sensibility is Elinor. As Elinor is older and more mature than Marianne, and is patient with finding her true love, she delays her marriage for many years by getting to know the people around her and examining the motives of
With all of Jane Austen’s novels, Sense and Sensibility gives the readers an insight of the personal lives of nineteenth century women, Marianne and Elinor Dashwood are the examples of heroines, sisters with dissimilar personalities. Marriage is a way to alter wealth for women, it is always a central theme within Austen’s novels. In the novel, the Dashwood women are left poor because the fortunes of their father was inherited by their brother. The women leave their home and move to a home in Devonshire which belongs to John Middleton, who is Mrs. Dashwood’s cousin. This is what introduces possible suitors for the two eldest Dashwood sisters, Marianne and Elinor. Edward Ferrars and Elinor fall in love and Marianne falls for John Willoughby. In the film, the Dashwood sisters seen as so poor after their father passed away. For example, in one scene, the Dashwood women cannot
Elinor is able to be mature for her age and able to be consoling to other characters in the book. A major event takes place where another character named Lucy is affiliated with Elinor’s
Edward on the other hand lives happily with Elinor: "... she found in Elinor and her husband.., one of the happiest couple in the world." Marianne's views of the two gentlemen in "Sense and Sensibility" change throughout the novel. At first Willoughby is her perfect knight in shining armour. Eventually Willoughby's character is revealed to the family.
Elinor Dashwood (Shanelle Nichole Leonard) and her sister Marianne Dashwood (Emily Bosco) are two people of very different temperaments. Elinor is characterized as reserved, and she works to restrain her emotions for the sake of decorum and because she believes it is unseemly. “I WILL be mistress of myself,” she exclaims as Edward Ferrars (Rishan Dhamija) appears at the end of the play, in the scene “Edward is Married” (106). Marianne, on the other hand, is a lot more open about her emotions, and is characterized as a more lively and sensitive young woman. Elinor’s personality causes her to bottle up her feelings toward Edward, making her extremely unhappy, while Marianne’s willingness to love Willoughby (Geoffrey Culbertson) results in him taking advantage of her. The sisters’s differences causes conflict between them, as they cannot understand why the other acts as she does. Elinor desperately wishes her sister would be more composed, while Marianne wishes Elinor would be more uninhibited. This often leaves them at odds with one another, as seen in the end of the scene “Brandon’s Letter.” Ultimately, however, both sisters are able to find romance and a happy ending, and can finally begin to learn from their mistakes and accept each other for how they are.
Reinstein’s essay attempts to reshape the commonly known opposition in Sense and Sensibility; being the tension between Elinor and Marianne because Elinor is sensible and Marianne shows no restraint in her sensibilities. Instead she argues that, “Austen skillfully portrays the tensions between sense and sensitivity, selfishness and selflessness through the characters she creates.” Reistein supports this argument by utilizing stylistic analysis to examine the language, repetition, and patterns of various implications to the characters. She also supports this argument by analyzing secondary characters as a means of displaying great extremes of sense and sensibility with varying amounts of selfishness and unselfishness. Although the article is
Like Marianne, Mrs. Dashwood is romantic and whimsical, more prone to act on feelings than reason. Also similar to her youngest daughter, she often misjudges both the characters and situations of individuals. When Elinor tells Marianne of the difficulties Mrs. Ferrars presents in marrying Edward, "Marianne was astonished to find how much the imagination of her mother and herself had outstripped the truth" (18). Furthermore, Mrs. Dashwood's reaction to Willoughby is just as naïve as Marianne's. "In Mrs. Dashwood's opinion, he was as faultless as in Marianne's" (43). It is only Elinor, acting with the maternal caution her mother does not possess, who has reservations about Marianne's suitor.
In the novel Sense and Sensibility, Elinor and Marianne go through many struggles that help shape them to be the women they are at the end of the book. Both of their personalities are drastically different which causes them to make drastically different decisions. At the end of the story, Marianne learns to become more like her older sister, Elinor, who is driven more by sense rather than sensibility. This novel, like many other novels by Jane Austen, immediately hooks the reader and causes the reader to develop sympathy for the characters and interest in their general
Elinor would not contend, and only replied, "Whoever may have been so detestably your enemy, let them be cheated of their malignant triumph, my dear sister, by seeing how nobly the consciousness of your own innocence and good intentions supports your spirits. It is a reasonable and laudable pride which resists such malevolence."’ (Austen 140)
“The obstacles to marriage between reserved, sensible Elinor and Edward are his family’s greed and pride as well as his earlier indescretion in engaging himself.” (MP) Even though Edwards family disapproves of his love, he will not desist from being with her, he believes he is strong enough to move on. “I was renounced by my mother, and stood to all appearance without a friend in the world to assist me,” (Austen 322) declares Edward. Once Edwards' fortune was denounced, upset he may be, however he would not let anyone except himself know that. He shared his feelings with only himself and did not let other people know when he was at his absolute worst. He did what he had to do in order to be with the love of his life. Edward and Elinor’s love for each other is so strong that they can get through the avarice and zealous pride of his family and still remain overjoyed to be together.
It is generally agreed that Jane had begun composing stories, poems, plays, and “novellas” by the age of twelve. However, she had found great interest in portraying her life in a different point of view, with different characters and scenarios, but with entire influence from her real life. Jane had composed portions of the then to be Juvenilia by her childhood and continued to create new pieces of literature. Elinor and Marianne, which would to be eventually called Sense and Sensibility, was her first full length novel that she periodically wrote sections of with the aid of her sister Cassandra. Her second novel, initially titled First Impressions, would become the most read novel by Jane Austen and probably to most important and influential piece of literature from this time era. Pride and Prejudice is agreeably one of the most widely known pieces of English literature, and Jane Austen’s most popular or successful novel. However, after she had initially written the original manuscripts, her father had tried to have it published immediately. But, according to the publisher it lacked what was required for their attention,, and was immediately rejected. Jane’s potentially society changing novel was rejected for publishing for sixteen years. However, as seen with all of her novels, the characters and ideas portrayed and expressed can be easily found in
Throughout sense and sensibility, Elinor is shown to be fair and just in her personal judgements. Elinor is also distinguished for her ability to self govern her feelings. The neo classics disprove of one indulging in feelings and believe one should instead conceal them, suffering silently. An example of this can be seen when Edward breaks Elinor's heart, thus Austin places Elinor and Marianne in parallel situations. Marianne, the romantic, focuses solely on her own feelings and disregards the feelings of others. However, Elinor follows Neo Classic ethics by remaining a pillar of support for those who depend on her. She does not withdraw away and contemplate her life but instead carries on with the duties she undertook since the beginning of the novel. She continually self sacrifices her desire to the needs and benefit of those around her, showing a magnanimous concern to others while silencing her own feelings; dealing with issues with an unbiased outlook: