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Title:
Sense and Sensibility
Series:
----------
Author: Jane Austen
Rating:
5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages:
258
Words: 120K
What
a difference 17 years makes. When I first read and reviewed this back
in ‘06, I gave it 3 stars. Whether that was because it didn’t
have the same emotional impact on me as did Persuasion, or
if it was simply because I was a callow youth of 28 (oh, how the
character of Marianne in this book would laugh at that. At 17, anyone
over 25 is ancient and already just waiting for the grave) or some
other reason, I do not know. But this time around, I could not only
appreciate the story from a different perspective (having gotten
married in ‘08 changed my perspective on a lot of things) but also
the writing itself.
The
writing was complex, almost, but not quite, convoluted. It was not a
ten lane highway but a back country road that is still gravel, has
hairpin turns and occasionally washes out at the creek. In other
words, the writing had character and it wasn’t just about getting
the reader from Beginning to Middle to End. That being said, at first
I still tried to read this like I was in my Porsche 911. After
banging up the oil pan and puncturing one of the tires, I gave that
up and jumped into my Model T and tut tutted down the road, at just
the right speed. As it was meant to be read.
My initial
reaction back in ‘06 was that Elinor, the older sister who
showcases “Sense”, was the better of the two sisters. While I
think that Austen is advocating for self-control with the character
of Elinor, I also felt that she was inadvertently showing the
downsides to that. As an uptight, self-controlled kind of person
myself, I have found that throwing off the traces every once in a
while is very good for me. While emotions DO need to be controlled,
they should be guided into their proper channels, not just controlled
for control’s sake (or for culture’s sake, as Elinor seems to
do). That is not a slam on Elinor’s character at all, as she is
all of 19 or 20 and most young people need MORE control of their
emotions, not less, at that time of life. They’d make a fool of
themselves a lot less anyway and save themselves and others a world
of hurt and pain.
Starting to
look at things that way, I found myself (now at the wise, old and
ancient age of 45) agreeing with Marianne’s viewpoint a lot more.
She doesn’t care what other people, or “society” thinks. The
older I get, the less I care what you think. Doesn’t mean I want to
be a jackass and trample all over you, but in many areas, I have my
ideas firmly set and I won’t give way on them and if that hurts
someone feelings, that’s too bad. Maybe they should stop being a
pansy and put on their boot cut jeans instead of wearing those girly
skinny jeans. Ooops, see, that is being a jackass. You go right ahead
and wear those girly skinny jeans. I won’t mock you at all, at
least not if you’re a woman.
The only
downside to this story, which wasn’t much so I didn’t even bother
to knock a half star off of my rating for it, was that Marianne’s
falling in love with Colonel Brandon happened like that:
~snaps
fingers~
In my
Currently
Reading and Quote post from last month, Marianne made it evident
what she thought of “older” men. Of course, in that post I
laughed my head off because Colonel Brandon is all of 35. But to
have Marianne change not only her opinion but her feelings so
drastically and so quickly, while not out of the realm of possibility
at all, didn’t ring quite true to me. It felt very “Authorial
Fiat”.
I actually
ended up reading this novel twice, within a week. The first time I
was trying to drive that Porsche I mentioned and while I switched to
the Model T partway through, I felt like I had lost something at the
beginning, so I waited a week and then re-read it using the Model T
from the get-go. Part of that, I must admit, was because I had formed
the idea of watching four different screen adaptations and I wanted a
SOLID grounding in the text, so that I wouldn’t get things from the
movies and miniseries mixed into this book review. I feel that I have
done that more than adequately. So prepare yourselves, the next four
Sunday’s will be filled with more Sense and Sensibility than you
can shake a stick at.
Finally,
the synopsis hidden away by the details arrow is almost 1500 words
long. Open that at your own peril.
★★★★★
From
Wikipedia.org
Henry
Dashwood, his second wife, and their three daughters live for many
years with Henry's wealthy bachelor uncle at Norland Park, a country
estate in Sussex. That uncle decides to leave only a life interest in
the Norland Park estate to Henry, so that upon Henry's death the
property must pass to John Dashwood, Henry's son by his first
marriage, and thence to Harry Dashwood, the four-year-old son of
John. The uncle dies, but Henry lives just a year after that and is
unable in such short time to save enough money for the future
security of his second wife Mrs Dashwood, and their daughters,
Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, who are left only a small income. On
his deathbed, Henry extracts a promise from his son John to take care
of his half-sisters. But John's wife, Fanny, persuades her husband to
renege on the promise, appealing to his concerns about diminishing
his own son Harry's inheritance, despite the fact that John is
already independently wealthy thanks to both his inheritance from his
mother and his wife's dowry. Henry's love for his second family is
also used by Fanny to arouse her husband's jealousy, and persuade him
not to help his sisters financially.
John
and Fanny move in as the new owners of Norland, where the Dashwood
women are treated as unwelcome guests by Fanny. Mrs Dashwood seeks
somewhere else to live. Meanwhile, Fanny's brother, Edward Ferrars,
visits Norland and is attracted to Elinor. Fanny disapproves of their
budding romance, and offends Mrs Dashwood by implying that Elinor
must be motivated by his expectations of coming into money.
Mrs
Dashwood moves her family to Barton Cottage in Devonshire, near the
home of her cousin, Sir John Middleton. Their new home is modest, but
they are warmly received by Sir John and welcomed into local society,
meeting his wife, Lady Middleton; his mother-in-law, the garrulous
but well-meaning Mrs Jennings; and his friend, Colonel Brandon.
Colonel Brandon is attracted to Marianne, and Mrs Jennings teases
them about it. Marianne is not pleased, as she considers the
thirty-five-year-old Colonel Brandon an old bachelor, incapable of
falling in love or inspiring love in anyone.
While
out for a walk, Marianne gets caught in the rain, slips, and sprains
her ankle. John Willoughby sees the accident and assists her, picking
her up and carrying her to her home. Marianne comes to admire his
good looks and his similar tastes in poetry, music, art, and love.
His attentions, and Marianne's behaviour, lead Elinor and Mrs
Dashwood to suspect that the couple are secretly engaged. Elinor
cautions Marianne against her unguarded conduct, but Marianne refuses
to check her emotions. Willoughby engages in several intimate
activities with Marianne, including taking her to see the home he
expects to inherit one day and obtaining a lock of her hair. When the
announcement of an engagement seems imminent, Willoughby instead
informs the Dashwoods that his aunt, upon whom he is financially
dependent due to his debts, is sending him to London on business,
indefinitely. Marianne is distraught.
Edward
Ferrars pays a visit to Barton Cottage, but seems unhappy. Elinor
fears that he no longer has feelings for her, but she will not show
her heartache. After Edward departs, sisters Anne and Lucy Steele,
vulgar cousins of Mrs. Jennings, come to stay at Barton Park. Lucy
informs Elinor in confidence of her secret four-year engagement to
Edward Ferrars that started when he was studying with her uncle.
Elinor realises Lucy's visit and revelations are the result of her
jealousy and cunning calculation. This helps Elinor understand
Edward's recent sadness and behaviour towards her. She acquits Edward
of blame and pities him for being held to a loveless engagement to
Lucy by his sense of honour.
Elinor
and Marianne accompany Mrs Jennings to London. On arriving, Marianne
writes several personal letters to Willoughby, which go unanswered.
When they meet by chance at a dance, Willoughby is with another
woman. He greets Marianne coldly, to her distress. She leaves the
party distraught. Soon Marianne receives a curt letter enclosing
their former correspondence and love tokens, including the lock of
her hair. Willoughby is revealed to be engaged to Miss Grey, a young
lady with a large fortune. Marianne is devastated. After Elinor reads
the letter, Marianne admits to her that she and Willoughby were never
engaged. She behaved as if they were because she knew she loved him
and thought that he loved her.
As
Marianne grieves, Colonel Brandon visits and reveals to Elinor that
Willoughby seduced, impregnated, then abandoned Brandon's young ward,
Miss Eliza Williams. Willoughby's aunt subsequently disinherited him,
and so, in great personal debt, he chose to marry Miss Grey for her
money. Eliza is the illegitimate daughter of Brandon's first love,
also called Eliza, a young woman who was his father's ward and an
heiress. She was forced into an unhappy marriage to Brandon's elder
brother, in order to shore up the family's finances, and that
marriage ended in scandal and divorce while Brandon was abroad with
the Army. After Colonel Brandon's father and brother died, he
inherited the family estate and returned to find Eliza dying in a
pauper's home, so Brandon took charge of raising her young daughter.
Brandon says Marianne strongly reminds him of the elder Eliza for her
sincerity and sweet impulsiveness. Brandon removed the younger Eliza
to the country, and reveals to Elinor all of these details in the
hope that Marianne could get some consolation in discovering
Willoughby's true character.
Meanwhile,
the Steele sisters have come to London. After a brief acquaintance,
they are asked to stay at John and Fanny Dashwood's London house.
Lucy sees the invitation as a personal compliment. It is actually a
slight to Elinor and Marianne who, being family, should have received
such an invitation first. Too talkative, Anne Steele betrays to Fanny
Lucy's secret engagement to Edward Ferrars. As a result, the sisters
are turned out of the house, and Edward is ordered by his wealthy
mother to break off the engagement on pain of disinheritance. Edward,
still sensitive of the dishonour of a broken engagement and how it
would reflect poorly on Lucy Steele, refuses to comply. He is
disinherited in favour of his brother, Robert, which gains Edward
respect for his conduct and sympathy from Elinor and Marianne.
Colonel Brandon shows his admiration by offering Edward the clerical
living of the Delaford parsonage, to enable him to marry Lucy after
he is ordained.
Mrs
Jennings takes Elinor and Marianne to the country to visit her second
daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Palmer, at her husband's estate, Cleveland,
on their way back to their home in Devonshire. Marianne, still in
misery over Willoughby's marriage, goes walking in the rain and
becomes ill. She is diagnosed with putrid fever, and it is believed
that her life is in danger. Elinor writes to Mrs. Dashwood to explain
the gravity of the situation, and Colonel Brandon volunteers to go
and bring Marianne's mother to Cleveland to be with her. In the
night, Willoughby arrives and reveals to Elinor that his love for
Marianne was genuine and that losing her has made him miserable. He
elicits Elinor's pity, but she is disgusted by the callous way in
which he talks of Miss Williams and his own wife. He also reveals
that his aunt said she would have forgiven him if he married Miss
Williams but that he had refused.
Marianne
recovers from her illness, and Elinor tells her of Willoughby's
visit. Marianne realizes she could never have been happy with
Willoughby's immoral, erratic, and inconsiderate ways. She values
Elinor's more moderated conduct with Edward and resolves to model
herself after her courage and good sense. Edward later arrives and
reveals that, after his disinheritance, Lucy jilted him in favour of
his now wealthy younger brother, Robert. Elinor is overjoyed. Edward
and Elinor marry, and later Marianne marries Colonel Brandon, having
gradually come to love him. The two couples live as neighbours, with
sisters and husbands in harmony with each other. Willoughby considers
Marianne as his ideal but the narrator tells the reader not to
suppose that he was never happy.
