Willoughby's Angering Elinor Research Paper

Fay Weldon’s ‘Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen’ (1984) through the form of an epistolic novel, serves to enrich a heightened understanding of the contemporary issues of Jane Austen’s cultural context. In doing so, the responder is inspired to adopt a more holistic appreciation of the roles of women inherent in Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813). Due to the examination of the shift of attitudes and values between the Regency era and the 1980s, the reader comes to better understanding of the conventions of marriage for a women and the role education had in increasing one’s marriage prospects. Weldon’s critical discussion of these issues transforms a modern responder’s understanding of the role of a woman during the 19th century.

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.

From the very first part of the novel readers are presented with the general atmosphere in England during the late eighteenth century. Women are discriminated and men come to inherit property belonging to their tutors. Men were typically provided with inheritances coming from their mothers and fathers alike. Conditions involving Elinor and Marianne were even more critical, as even though their brother inherited a significant fortune from his mother and his wife was expecting an inheritance from her mother, the two sisters depended on Norland Park. The moment when their father died was particularly problematic for them, as they became unwanted guests in the place that they previously considered home. The two sisters are practically influenced in taking

The awkwardness that transpires as both Elinor and Edward attempt to write letters in the same room shows both Elinor’s and Edward’s reluctance to show their feelings because of society’s judgements and develops their individual characters. Elinor is aware of the impact that her lack of wealth has on her marriage prospects, so she does not admit her feelings for Edward explicitly to him nor her family despite their existence. She is sensible and does not allow her love for a man make her vulnerable. Edward also has difficulty expressing his emotions. His feelings are complicated by his family’s desires and his engagement to Lucy Steele (Sarah Elizabeth Keyes). Despite his feelings for Elinor, he is characterized by his loyalty to his prior commitments. His loyalty, while admirable, is also the hamartia that nearly keeps him away from Elinor forever. Marianne Dashwood’s passion and spontaneity is evident through her actions; she cuts off a lock of her hair for her suitor, John Willoughby, without an engagement and weeps openly when he leaves town. Her excessive sensibility is a critique of women’s dependence on men for happiness. Willoughby is characterized as the perfect man, yet develops into a very problematic and unfaithful character. He draws Marianne in only to break her heart and it is eventually revealed that she is not the only girl

We can find in this piece of literature work that Marianne Dashwood is guided by too much passion and acts inappropriately, while her sister, Elinor reacts with too much prudence. Eventually, both sisters are rewarded with marriage once they learn how to regulate the appropriate amount of emotional response and gain knowledge through experience. Moreover, we can observer that both concepts are necessary in order to act in a correct way. The author tries to show the readers how important sense is in our lives. Not only can we act through our reason but also we need to take into account our

“Come listen all you galls and boys I’s jist from Tuckyhoe, I–m going to sing a little song, my name’s Jim Crow, Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb–ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow.” Thomas “Daddy” Rice, a popular white entertainer during the 1800’s, foolishly pranced around while singing this tune, aptly titled “Jump Jim Crow”, imitating African American plantation workers in a derogatory and undignified manner. Before long, the Jim Crow character and his song, dehumanizing blacks by portraying them as inferior, weak, and ignorant, became popular in the southern states. Years later, at the end of Reconstruction, after the

During the time period of the 1800s in England, not only was the economic situation different but the social norms were differently. Jane Austen depicts this greatly in her novel pride and prejudice, not only was the social classes a big deal, but the marriage between families was a bigger deal. Throughout the novel many of the characters encounter this problem of, love in marriage or money in marriage, and many of the families and females within this time period choice money in marriage. The author Jane Austen feels that the idea of marring for money rather than love is preposterous and expresses this through the character Elizabeth

In Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice,” the author traces portrait of women’s role during the Regency period: they were expected to get married, to be accomplished and to self-scarify.

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:

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.

Her development in the novel is from Innocence to Experience. The episode she suffered with Willoughby has shown her how the world really looks like and has contributed to her growth as a person, a growth towards maturity. After her illness, she realizes that too much feeling is the cause of her suffering and thus starts to move towards ‘sense’, leaving slightly behind her ‘sensibility’. This is why the modern reader does not happen to be pleased with the ending of the novel, for her marriage with Colonel Brandon is looked at as a betrayal of everything in which Marianne believed: feeling, love, passion… Nothing of which she achieves at the beginning of her relationship with Brandon, even though we find out that eventually she became ‘as much devoted to her husband as it had once been to Willoughby’ (294). Hence Experience has taught her well and thus she learns to value more her stability and security than love and

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.

Austen’s novels have always been lauded for their social commentary and critique. The most common issue they depict is the dependency of women in society upon men, specifically their reliance on marriage as a source of income. The characters of Marianne and Elinor in Sense and Sensibility are two such characters, who due to their estate and income being inherited by their stepbrother, are left to their own devices of securing a favorable marriage. The two sisters, so different in character, mirror the contrast of the depictions of interiors and nature in the novel. The free-spirited

Marriage has no always been about the love and happiness two people bring eachother; instead it was concidered to be more of a business transaction. Emma by Jane Austen takes place during the early twentieth century, this time period was completly absorabed in social classes and had a much different view on marriage than today. Through the young, bold, wealthy, and beautiful character Emma Woodhouse, Jane Austen exposes the protocol of marriage as well as the effects marriage held based on social standing during the early twentieth centuery.

Jane Austen’s well-known novel, Pride and Prejudice, discussed multiple social themes in the 19th century. Austen mainly criticized marriage during her era, when she says that, “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 3). As she explains that it was valuable to women since it provided them with security and a social title. The author explored the diverse motives behind matrimony in her time period by using a humorous and romantic plot to discuss the social issues. For instance, Charlotte Lucas’s unreasonable marriage to Mr. Collins is a vital example of how women needed to secure a future and attain social status. To conclude, Lydia Bennet’s meaningless marriage to George Wickham shows that entering the marriage estate could have also been for mainly financial purposes. Contrastingly, Jane Bennet, the heroine’s older sister, marries Charles Bingley for love, security, and a social ranking. On the other hand, Elizabeth Bennet marries Fitzwilliam Darcy after months of misunderstandings and romantic drama for none other than true love. Thus, Austen uses her leading characters’ marriages in Pride and Prejudice to exhibit the various attitudes and reasons for marrying in the 19th century. (Lane 2015)