Sense and Sensibility was written in the late 1790s but much revised before publication in 1811. It is primarily the story of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. The death of their father has left them, with their mother and younger sister, financially pressed. Both women fall in love, each in her own characteristic way --- Marianne is extravagant and public with her emotions, Elinor restrained and decorous.
The object of Elinor's interest is Edward Ferrars, brother to Fanny Dashwood, her odious, stingy sister-in-law. Elinor learns that Edward has been for some time secretly, unhappily, and inextricably engaged to a young woman named Lucy Steele. She learns this from Lucy, who, aware of Elinor's interest though pretending not to be, chooses Elinor as her special confidante.
Marianne hopes to marry John Willoughby, the book's only sexy man. He deserts her for a financially advantageous match. The Surprise and disappointment of this sends Marianne into a dangerous decline.
When Lucy Steele jilts Edward for his brother Robert, Edward is finally free to marry Elinor. Edward seems quite dull but at least her own choice. Marianne marries Colonel Brandon, the dull man Elinor and her mother have picked out for her.
Questions:
1.One of the tenets of Romanticism is that instinct and emotion are better moral guides than reason. At one point in the book, Marianne tells Elinor that if she (Marianne) were doing anything wrong, she (Marianne) would know it.
Do people usually know when they're doing something wrong?
Do you think Austen thinks so?
Does Marianne do anything wrong?
2.Critic William H. Galperin does not like Colonel Brandon. He has characterized Brandon's pursuit of Marianne as "insistent, if sinister."
As one part of his case against Brandon, he refers to two points in Willoughby's final conversation with Elinor in which anonymous informants figure. "Mrs. Smith had somehow or other been informed" Willoughby says, of his affair with Eliza, and later "some vague report" of Marianne reaches
(I found this question on one of my research papers for my Lit class and found it very interesting)
3.Willoughby's final confession to Elinor is one of the books more unsettling and unexpected scenes. It allows us in some part (how much?) to forgive and pity him. It reminds us that he is the only sexy man in the book. It reminds us that Marianne once wanted a marriage in the Romantic tradition and has got a rational one instead. How do you feel about that?
Does Sense and Sensibility have a happy ending?
Why does Lucy get to be happier than Willoughby?
Subject: Sense and Sensibility 
Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:09 am
