Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - Research Paper Example

? of the Outline Thesis ment: The characters in Austen’s work describe life and journeying through the course of life with the help of sense and sensibility. Introduction: Austen draws a line between ‘sense’ and ‘sensibility’. Sense described as rationality, reasoning and responsibility Sensibility described as expressive, emotional, impetuosity and passion. Elinor stands for sense. Marianne stands for sensibility. Body Elinor’s love for Edward and Marianne’s love for Willoughby. Marianne outspoken and unrestrictive while Elinor is otherwise. Austen disapproves sensibility and shows regard for sense. Elinor does counseling and decision making. Elinor’s love is concealed. Marianne makes mistakes. Marianne’s love is expressed. Marianne sees no attraction in Edward and ignores Colonel Brandon. Willoughby appears as a hero to Marianne. She realizes that she herself was responsible for her dilemma. Edward is a principled man. Willoughby’s real personality comes to forefront when he maliciously makes fun of Colonel Brandon. He was a flirt and devious person. Marianne and Willoughby demonstrate the theme of sensibility through their love bondage. The love bondage between Elinor and Edward demonstrates the theme of sense. Conclusion Elinor succeeds because of using sense. Marianne fails and learns to use sense in place of sensibility to be successful. Realizing her fault, she marries her true partner, Colonel Brandon. Sense has an edge over sensibility. Effects of Sense and Sensibility on Major characters Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen portrays a number of characters that shape the story of the novel. The characters in Austen’s work describe life and journeying through the course of life with the help of sense and sensibility. Austen draws a line between ‘sense’ and ‘sensibility’. According to Austen, these terms are different from one another. In the novel, the character of Elinor, who is also the protagonist of the work, shows sense while Marianne’s character shows sensibility. Elinor and Marianne are sisters, but have different personalities. The major characters of the work are Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, Edward Ferrars and John Willoughby. Other characters of the story circulate and help these characters to develop and get to a certain destination. Austen describes sense as rationality, reasoning and responsibility while sensibility as expressive, emotional, impetuosity and passion. Elinor is successful based on her sense while Marianne falls short because of her sensibility. Sense and Sensibility draws a clear distinctive line between sense and sensibility with the support of two major characters of the novel that are Elinor Dashwood and Marianne Dashwood. Elinor is older than Marianne and stands for sense because of her qualities such as reasoning, self-control, accountability towards family and society and consideration of others’ betterment. However, Marianne stands for sensibility because of her qualities such as emotionalism, naturalness, outspokenness, impetuously and unnecessary expressiveness (Armstrong 53). Elinor loves Edward, but keeps her feelings concealed, and makes use of rationality while Marianne outspokenly and unrestrictive makes known about her feelings about Willoughby. The difference between their personalities is portrayed through their behaviors towards the men they love. However, this cannot be said that Elinor using sense never shows passion and Elinor using sensibility never talks intelligent. Elinor is passionate in her love, but her style is diverged from Marianne. Austen being against the sensibility of eighteenth century points towards the importance of sense in her novel. From Elinor’s success, she proves that sense is not a negligible characteristic while she disapproves sensibility by showing the failure in Marianne’s relationship to Willoughby (Lauber 21). In her portrayal of Elinor, she draws a picture of a woman who is able to succeed being restrictive and cautious in her life while she also criticizes the emotional and overly expressive attitude of Marianne that makes her to fail. Elinor, who is only of nineteen years, appears to do the counseling work in her household. She always counsels her mother to do the needful with care and cautiousness (Butler 26). Elinor symbolizes sense in the story. She stops her mother to take any decision hurriedly as she stops her mother to leave Norland Park without any future consideration. She also persuades Marianne to do everything in a relaxing manner and with some thought procedure. She also advises Marianne to be sensible in considering and responding to any happening. For example, when Marianne goes alone with Willoughby to Mrs. Smith’s house, her attitude is rude and insolent, which is criticized by Elinor and Elinor makes Marianne to confess about her attitude. Like Marianne, Elinor also falls in love, but her way of loving and her expressing of love are quite different than Marianne. Edward Ferrars inspires Elinor, but she is very vigilant in her attraction towards the man as she informs her sister, “I am by no means assured of his regard for me” (Austen 7). She never loses her control when she becomes aware about the engagement of Lucy to Edward. In place of acting brash and emotional, she ponders over the relationship between Edward and Lucy and finds only a young fascination between the two. Elinor moves to London to find Willoughby with her sister, Marianne because of her love for her sister. Her attitude towards their hostess in London is consistently courteous while Marianne is insolent and rude. She also takes care of her sister affectionately when she gets sick. At hearing about Edward’s marriage, she is unable to keep her tranquil and composed image, but she controls her emotions and grief (Butler 29). Elinor’s faith and devotion towards Edward that always remain rational and controlled result in their successful marriage following contentment. Marianne, depicting sensibility in the novel, appears to be oversensitive and flawed in her persona. Austen describes Marianne as "She was sensible and clever, but eager in everything; her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation" (Austen 2). Marianne takes hasty decisions, which lack thought patterns. She is intelligent and clever, but she performs her actions with much emotion and passion, due to which, her feelings and emotions get hurt. She gets influenced by the external appearance of John Willoughby and never considers his internal personality that is deceitful and devious. Marianne sees no attraction in Edward because of her consideration of Edward’s personality as colorless. Marianne describes Edward to her mother as "He is not the kind of young man — there is something wanting—his figure is not striking" (Austen 6). She is amazed at her sister’s selection of Edward. She also sees no reason to like Colonel Brandon. Colonel Brandon is only thirty five year of age and loves Marianne, but according to Marianne, Colonel Brandon is an old man and with old romantic ideals. Marianne sees superficial personality of Willoughby as direly attractive and inspirational. To Marianne, Willoughby appears as a hero of her most favorite stories. She equalizes him to her fancied image of a hero. Marianne is impulsive in her decision making as she goes alone with Willoughby to Mrs. Smith’s house, rides on a horse offered by Willoughby and makes fun of Colonel Brandon. She does all the mentioned acts just to please Willoughby. Marianne is unable to hide her feelings towards others and shows her displeasure towards people she does not like. She forms her own opinions about people around her such as she regards Mrs. Jennings as earthy and garrulous and shows displeasure at Sir John’s jokes. Her attitude towards Mrs. Jennings is insolent, but is always ready to receive the bounties of Mrs. Jennings as a hostess. Marianne is candid and truthful (Armstrong 59). She speaks her mind and never tries to tell a lie of any trivial nature even to please anyone. She says what she feels. Marianne is unable to have any control when Willoughby desolates her. She is even unable to bear the pain of her crushed feelings due to which, she falls sick. After her recovery, she is enabled to see the difference between sense and sensibility. She realizes that she herself was responsible for her dilemma. Marianne informs Elinor that she was never being proposed for a marriage by Willoughby. She even realizes her insolent behavior towards people around her. With her understanding and realization, she is able to learn sense after which, she accepts the marriage proposal of Colonel Brandon considering him true from inside (Ruoff 51). She becomes happy at her decision. Edward Ferrars, the soul mate of Elinor, depends on his mother for financial support. Edward does not obtain any specific education for any profession, but is educated at home. Initially, he gets infatuated with young and beautiful Lucy, but later on, he realizes his interest and love for Elinor. Edward wants “domestic comfort and the quiet of private life” (Austen 11). Marianne is unable to recognize the innate qualities of Edward due to which, he appears unattractive to the young lady. However, Elinor considers him well informed, tasteful and speculative. She even appreciates the “expression of his eyes” and charm of his appearance. Elinor judges him as a graceful and respectable man. Edward is a principled man and he proves himself when he knows his heart’s inclination towards Elinor, but is ready to fulfill his promise towards Lucy (Armstrong 63). He appears inept and hesitant in his expression of love, but Elinor having sense, is confident of her choice. Edward, after his separation with Lucy, comes to Elinor, but is unable to express his love for her. Later on, Edward proposes Elinor and promises her about his affection and livelong togetherness. He never tries to betray Lucy or Elinor, but is true to his feelings. Elinor sees the qualities of his persona due to which, she fell in love with the gentleman. It was her sense that approved of the personality of Edward as an affianced partner and it was Marianne’s sensibility that judged Edward only from outside appearance as she judged Willoughby. Willoughby seems to be the romantic ideal hero when he carries Marianne home in the rain (Ruoff 53). He is also regarded as “uncommonly handsome” depicting towards his attractive appearance. Along with his appearance, his voice and his manners are also catchy and appealing. Not only Marianne, but many others appreciate his appearance. Marianne falls in love with Willoughby considering him to be in love with her. However, he never proposes her or tries to marry her, but Marianne takes his attention towards her as a persuasion of their forthcoming relationship. Willoughby’s real personality comes to forefront when he maliciously makes fun of Colonel Brandon taking support of Marianne who is unable to judge his personality (Butler 34). He desolates Marianne without any explanation when he is blamed by Mrs. Smith for seduction of Eliza Williams. Later on, he consistently shows rudeness towards Marianne by ignoring her. He also sends a coldblooded letter to Marianne informing her that he never liked her. He married a rich lady named Miss Grey and after his marriage, realized that he was unable to be happy. Willoughby realized his fault of hurting Marianne when he hears about her illness and reaches Cleveland to know about her. He informed Elinor that he did not write the letter to Marianne with his own will, but was made to write by his fiancee. He told Elinor that he repents his decision of desolating Marianne and marrying Miss Grey. However, he was a flirt and devious person. He tries to seduce Eliza and hurts Marriane. At the end, he marries a rich woman because he is deprived of any wealth by Mrs. Smith. Willoughby appears to be a negative character that is overseen by Marianne. She is trapped into loving him because of her emotional nature, imprudence and expressive devotion (Lauber 24). She made a senseless decision by judging him externally only. Marianne and Willoughby demonstrate the theme of sensibility through their love bondage and continue becoming ideal until and unless Willoughby desolates Marianne. However, the love bondage between Elinor and Edward demonstrates the theme of sense. The two love stories, one, a failure while the other, a success are intertwined with each other (Lauber 26). Elinor’s steps towards Edward are restrictive and controlled while Marianne’s footings are brash and emotional lacking any kind of control. The success of Elinor’s relationship shows that sense has an edge over sensibility. The characters, Mrs. Henry Dashwood, John Dashwood, Mrs. Jennings, Lucy, Colonel Brandon, Fanny Dashwood and others, support the major characters to reach their destination in life and help them to develop in gaining sense than sensibility. Marianne shows flaws in her personality by following her uncontrollable emotions and feelings, but she is able to see the lacking in her personality as she realizes her outspokenness, insolence and foolishness in identifying the real character of Willoughby (Lauber 23). However, Marianne is a positive character. Elinor restricts herself and keeps herself composed whenever she receives a shock or is in some adverse situation. Lucy tries to make Elinor jealous of her when she realizes that Elinor has some liking developed for Edward. She tries to hurt her feelings, but Elinor did not lose her temperament and remains composed. She shows her passion for Edward once he accepts his in front of her. Edward is a positive and respectable character as when he finally realizes that he loves Elinor, he still wants to be in relationship with Lucy because of his commitment with the lady. However, he gets a chance to get his real love when Lucy gets married to Robert, Edward’s brother. Edward is also a sensible person showing a composed and controlled personality (Lauber 23). Willoughby is a negative character who tries to be benefitted with Marianne’s sensibility. He seduces and makes pregnant Eliza Williams after which, he marries a wealthy woman in greed of wealth leaving Marianne behind. His character shows his villainy nature. He lacks human sentiments and thinks the ladies in his life as temporary companions. Sense and sensibility depicted by the two major characters, Elinor and Marianne have an affect not only on the two sisters but also other on other characters of the story. Elinor stands for sense while Marianne stands for sensibility. Elinor has a controlled and restrictive nature and takes decision after thinking while Marianne is uncontrollable and outspoken and speaks her mind every time whether it is necessary or not. She appears insolent and audacious to her company while Elinor being tactful and responsible always appears harmless and loving to the people around her. She conceals her feelings for Edward until she is sure that he also loves her while Marianne expresses her love for Willoughby when she knows nothing about the real personality of the person. She also informs about being not proposed by Willoughby, which indicates towards her foolishness in her love affair. She learns to use sense when she finally marries Colonel Brandon. The story shows connection between sense and sensibility out of which, sense has an edge over sensibility. Works Cited Armstrong, Isobel. Jane Austen: "Sense and Sensibility," Penguin Group, 1994. Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. New York: Bantam Books, 1983. Butler, Marilyn. Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1987. Lauber, John. Jane Austen. New York: Twayne, 1993. Ruoff, Gene W. Sense and Sensibility. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992. Read More