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... zing the falsehood of personal power in the material world. The ability to do so is shown to be the ability to deviate. Authority is achieved by counteracting in revisions. In Austen's novels, characters who gain authority are able to modify themselves (Bloom 25 - 6). The title of a French translation of Sense and Sensibility sums up the novel's theme.
The two ways of loving, although the contrast is wider than that. Austen provides closely paralleling experiences for her heroines. The Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne fall in love, then are both betrayed by their lovers. The novel dramatizes their differing responses.
Elinor is guided by sense and the desire to control her grief, while Marianne intensifies her suffering. She does not seem to care about the consequences to herself much less her family. Austen's title, Sense and Sensibility, can be somewhat confusing to the modern reader. Sensibility is the set of qualities displayed by Marianne Dashwood. The term defines itself as Marianne's attitudes and behaviors are dramatized. Elinor Dashwood uses "sense. " In other words, she displays common sense, and true sense is very rare. "Sense" appears to be a rational guard for others and an acceptance of obligations to others.
Sensibility is not necessarily the opposite of sense, although Marianne seems to believe that. The person which expresses sensibility feels deeply, and fully expresses her feelings. It also implies keen sensitivity to landscape and to the arts, such as music and poetry. Marianne's sincerity is unquestioned. She stakes her happiness on her principle's and nearly loses her life for them. Marianne and Elinor are more alike than they are different.
Marianne has sense and sensibility; whereas Elinor has strong feelings. Marianne loves poetry and landscapes; she believes in passionate love. She trusts her feelings to guide her conduct. Elinor is more mindful of how she interacts with others. The sisters are devoted to one another, but they are against each other as well. They both exaggerate and observe each other to fashion as their opposite.
Marianne depends for her identity on Elinor's watchful judgments of her, and Elinor fears the force of Marianne's sympathy. Elinor's view of the self as social is also shared by the narrator. Elinor's self-control is dependent on her control of others (Copeland 43 - 4). Emotion must be intense, or it is unreal. Marianne behaves as she believes a woman betrayed in love ought to behave, so her illness is self-created. Marianne's agony is so powerfully created that on rereading one is surprised to find that all of this suffering only fills one chapter.
Her sensibility is not to be condemned. Marianne not only intensifies her own misery, but she also makes sure that her mother and sister are miserable as well. In Sense and Sensibility, Elinor deserves the reader's sympathy by the courage and self- control, also the continuing concern for others. As Sense and Sensibility concludes, Marianne has apparently become more like her sister. She has the ability to recognize the dangers of sensibility and to control its excesses. Elinor is the primary heroine; the best evidence is the majority of the novel is told from her point of view.
Marianne's story is simply included with Elinor's. Readers usually sympathize with Marianne because she is truly wronged and because she suffers intensely. Marianne displays no concern, no sensitivity to the feelings of others; yet readers are more likely to pity Marianne rather than blame her. Austen's presentation of Marianne is so powerful that her sufferings inevitably become more interesting than Elinor's display of self-control. The consequence is that Marianne often becomes the primary object of concern. Sense and Sensibility is both passionate and the most introspective of Austen's novels.
Elinor's relentless self-examination anticipates the Victorian novel. Even its two heroines seem limited by the requirements of the title. Although Pride and Prejudice is similarly titled, Darcy is not always proud and Elizabeth is not always prejudiced. With its assortment of the harshness and the distortion of its satire, Sense and Sensibility suggests a direction that Austen chose not to follow in her later works.
Sense and Sensibility demonstrates the tyranny of stupidity, the suffering that it imposes on the intelligent and the sensitive. Life for them becomes a kind of enslavement, especially for Elinor, who cannot escape by transferring social responsibilities to someone else, as Marianne does. This powerful though imperfect work abundantly rewards the reader often in unexpected ways (Lauber 27 - 33, 39 - 40). Throughout each of these novels, it is clear that women played important roles.
In Emily Bront's Wuthering Heights, Catherine Earnshaw played more than one role. She was said to be playing a role of a female Satan, and also she shows compassion and willfulness. Even though she dies before the novel is half completed, it is impossible to forget was a tremendous part she played. She continuously haunts the Thrush cross Grange after she has died. In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, there were many important women roles.
Elizabeth Bennet was the leading female character in the novel. She was always quick to share her feelings. Lydia Bennet was Elizabeth's sister and was really nothing like her. Lydia did not have much common sense; she did not know the difference between right and wrong nor did she have any understanding of the troubles she put her family through. Charlotte Lucas was Elizabeth's best friend. Charlotte was not much like Elizabeth either.
She was very intelligent, but had no spunk. Sense and Sensibility shares many of the same characteristics with Pride and Prejudice. Both comedies end with many marriages, both full of laughter, and end with the closeness of families. Also, the two are titled similarly. However, Austen chose not to follow the same direction in her other novels as she did in Sense and Sensibility. The title of this novel represents the two heroines, Marianne and Elinor Dashwood.
Elinor represents "Sense" and her sister, Marianne, represents "Sensibility. " The Dashwood sisters shared several similarities, some differences as well. By the end of the novel, Marianne was more like her sister than she was at the beginning. She was beginning to show more "sense" and less "sensibility. " Throughout the novel Marianne showed no concern nor any sensitivity to the feelings of others. Marianne makes sure that everyone, along with herself, is miserable.
Elinor is the primary heroine in the novel. The majority of the novel is told from her point of view. Unlike Marianne, Elinor was more mindful of how she interacts with others. Each of these three novels have the commonality of complex female protagonists, Catherine Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights, Elizabeth and Lydia Bennet and Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice, and Elinor and Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. Catherine's identity best relates with Elizabeth Bennet and Marianne Dashwood. They are all judgmental and quick to express their feelings.
Lydia Bennet is Elinor Dashwood's opposite. Elinor has plenty of what Lydia wishes she had, common sense. Charlotte Lucas is in a category of her own. She unlike the rest of the characters. She is not as beautiful as Elizabeth Bennet; she is not rebellious like Catherine Earnshaw.
Instead of marrying for love she marries only for security, unlike Lydia Bennet. Charlotte shows no signs of common sense either. At the end of Sense and Sensibility, Marianne begins to show common sense. She began to act more and more like her sister throughout the novel. All of the characters link together somehow, whether it be a small similarity like Marianne and Elinor Dashwood, or a larger similarity like Catherine Earnshaw and Elizabeth Bennet.
Works Cited Bloom, Harold, ed. British Women Fiction Writers of the 19 th Century. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1998. Copeland, Edward and Mc Caster, Juliet, ed.
The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. New York: Cambridge U. P. , 1997. Gilbert, Sandra M. "Looking Oppositely: Catherine Earnshaw's Fall. " Modern Critical Interpretations Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Goode, Ruth.
Barron's Book Notes Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Woodbury: Barron's Educational Series, 1984. Lauber, John. Jane Austen. New York: Twayne, 1993. Nardin, Jane. "Propriety as a Test of Character. " Modern Critical Interpretations Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Swisher, Clarice, ed. Readings on Pride and Prejudice. San Diego: Green haven P. , 1999. Vine, Steve. Emily Bronte.
New York: Twayne, 1998. The Depiction of Women in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility and Emily Bront's Wuthering Heights Thesis: In their classic novels, Emily Bront and Jane Austen create a realistic portrayal of the various roles of women in Victorian society in their depiction of Catherine Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights, Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, and the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility. I. Each of these three novels, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, have the commonality of complex female protagonists. A. Catherine Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights played two roles, a rebellious daughter and a delirious wife at the Grange and also a ghost of her former self.
B. The three women in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and Lydia Bennet and Charlotte Lucas had differing personalities. They were all close friends but nothing alike. C.
Marianne and Elinor Dashwood were sisters in Sense and Sensibility; each with very different personalities. II. Emily Bront's Wuthering Heights was interpreted in many different ways. A. Catherine Earnshaw was most influential female in Wuthering Heights. B.
Women played a huge importance in Bront's Wuthering Heights. II. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was interpreted in many different ways. A.
Elizabeth Bennet is the leading female character in Pride and Prejudice. B. Lydia Bennet is Elizabeth's youngest sister, whom she is nothing like. C. Charlotte Lucas is an intelligent but plain woman. IV.
Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility was interpreted in many different ways. A. Elinor Dashwood is the primary heroine in Sense and Sensibility, and the story is told from her point of view. B.
Marianne Dashwood is the primary object of concern; her story is simply included with Elinor's.
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