Sense and Sensibility

Fanny discourages John from giving his sisters more money, arguing that this will deprive their son of his fortune. She makes the argument that the girls are only half-sisters and therefore cannot fully claim John’s affection or loyalty. She manipulates John into decreasing his gift until it is no more generous than seasonal offerings of fish and game.

Fanny approves, pointing out that the women will live so frugally when they move into a small house of their own that they will not need more than the old gentleman’s will has provided. She paints a bleak picture of them living “so cheap. Their housekeeping will be nothing at all. They will have no carriage, no horses, and hardly any servants; they will keep no company, and can have no expenses of any kind!” (12).

Mrs. Dashwood hopes that she and her daughters will settle somewhere near Norland Park, but Elinor points out that the neighboring properties are too large and expensive for them. Still, Mrs. Dashwood, who is aware of the promise her late husband extracted from his son, is confident that John will help them.

While Mrs. Dashwood’s contempt for Fanny makes her eager to leave Norland Park, she delays the departure because of a developing attachment between Elinor and Fanny’s brother, Edward Ferrars. While Edward’s mother and sisters want to see him publicly distinguished, he has a shy, quiet temperament and manners that require “intimacy to make them pleasing” (16). Still, the Dashwoods soon like Edward because he seems the opposite of his sister. Although he stands to inherit a great deal of wealth, the romantically inclined Mrs. Dashwood is motivated by his and Elinor’s mutual affection. When Mrs. Dashwood gossips to Marianne that he and Elinor may soon marry, Marianne admits that she finds Edward good but dull. She complains that he is unmoved by music and that he reads passionate passages of verse in an overly tame manner. While Elinor may be able to fall in love with such a man, Marianne's feelings require a suitor of greater sensibility. She even confesses to her mother that “the more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love” (19).

When Marianne laments Edward’s lack of confidence, Elinor admits that while he does not make a stunning first impression, the more she gets to know him, the more she likes him and even finds him handsome. Marianne gets carried away, stating how she thinks that Edward will soon be her brother-in-law. When Elinor says that she esteems and likes Edward, Marianne finds this pronouncement too insipid. Elinor laughs and says that Marianne may believe that she feels more for Edward than she has said, but that she should not be so confident that Edward returns her affection. She has observed that “there was, at times, a want of spirits about him which, if it did not denote indifference, spoke of something almost as unpromising” (24). Elinor senses that Edward has a secret and is therefore reluctant to give him her heart.

Fanny, who has also observed the attachment between Elinor and Edward, talks loudly about her mother’s expectations that he will marry ambitiously “and of the danger attending any young woman who attempted to DRAW HIM IN” (25). Mrs. Dashwood is so insulted by this accusation against Elinor that she immediately accepts her cousin Sir John Middleton’s invitation to come and rent Barton Cottage in Devonshire. Elinor, who thinks that it is better that the Dashwoods put some distance between themselves and Norland Park, approves.

When Mrs. Dashwood announces that she and her family are leaving Norland Park for the Devonshire cottage, she makes it clear that Edward will be a welcome guest.

She rents the cottage for a year. The change in lifestyle and status is evident, as the Dashwoods will have no carriage or horses of their own. Elinor calculates that they can only afford three servants.

Mrs. Dashwood soon realizes that John’s generosity extends no further than the six months he has kept them on at Norland. Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters are tearful on departing from their former home.

While they are melancholic on their journey, as soon as the women see Barton Valley where their cottage is located, they admire the lushness of the surrounding landscape. Although the cottage is in good repair, has sufficient bedrooms for them all and a good view, Mrs. Dashwood considers that “her former style of life rendered many additions to the latter indispensable” (33). She judges that as they have arrived in early September, it is too late in the year for improvements and that they can wait until springtime if they have money.

Sir John Middleton visits the next day and is friendly, giving them generous gifts of food and inviting them to Barton Park. There, they meet his elegant but formal wife and his lively children. Sir John Middleton makes it clear that he hopes the Dashwoods will visit often.

Barton Park is half an hour away from Barton Cottage. Sir John enjoys the addition of the Dashwoods, considering the girls “young, pretty, and unaffected” (38). He laments that the only gentleman he can introduce them to is Colonel Brandon, who at 35 seems like an eternal bachelor. Still, the colonel admires Marianne’s singing and piano playing and has a pleasing, gentlemanlike manner. There is also Mrs. Jennings, a vulgar woman who tries to pry into the girls’ love lives by joking about them leaving their hearts behind in Sussex. When Marianne feels disgusted on her sister’s part and shoots Elinor a sympathetic look, it is “with an earnestness which [gives] Elinor far more pain than could arise from common-place raillery as Mrs. Jennings’s” (39).

Given Mrs. Jennings’s wealthy widowed state and the fact that her two daughters are both well married, she has nothing better to do than to try to marry off the Dashwoods. She predicts that Colonel Brandon is in love with Marianne and considers it an excellent match, because Colonel Brandon is rich and Marianne attractive. Marianne is disgusted by the age difference between her and the colonel, and conjectures that he is too old for love altogether. Mrs. Dashwood, who is 40, cannot consign Colonel Brandon to old age or eternal bachelorhood.

Marianne confesses to her mother that she is alarmed because they have been at Barton cottage two weeks and Edward Ferrars has not yet visited them. Mrs. Dashwood reports that Elinor does not appear troubled, and she does not think they need to make any accommodation to the spare bedroom to prepare it for visitors. Marianne is dissatisfied with the cordial, unpassionate nature of Edward and Elinor’s leave-taking at Norland Park.

The Dashwoods and take many walks in the surrounding countryside. Marianne and Margaret go for a walk one day, and Marianne trips and sprains her ankle when it begins to rain. A gentleman finds her and carries her home. His handsomeness draws all the women’s attention, as does his gallant, unaffected manner. He announces that his name is Willoughby and that he is staying at Allenham, a property owned by a woman called Mrs. Smith, who is too old and feeble to be present in society and whose possessions he stands to inherit.

Sir John arrives and offers no information other than Willoughby’s being a good hunter and rider. While he states that Willoughby is “well worth catching” (51), he laments that Marianne seems so taken with him that she will forget about the colonel.

Willoughby visits Marianne every day. They talk openly, finding that they think alike on books and music. Elinor teases Marianne that she and Willoughby will soon exhaust every topic. Marianne protests the stuffiness of social expectation, stating that in expressing the enthusiasm of her true feelings, “I have erred against every common-place notion of decorum” (56). While Mrs. Dashwood considers Willoughby faultless, Elinor thinks that he is too careless in speaking his own mind. He is especially critical of Colonel Brandon, stating that the colonel is a man everyone respects, but no one feels strongly about. Marianne agrees, causing Elinor "concern; for what could a silent man of five and thirty hope, when opposed to a very lively one of five and twenty?” (58). Elinor thinks Colonel Brandon a good, well-informed, and well-traveled man. She attributes his depression to unfortunate experiences rather than natural temperament.

Willoughby and Marianne make no secret of their partiality to each other. While Mrs. Dashwood believes this is natural for young people in love, Elinor wishes they would be more discreet, conscious that others are ridiculing them.

While Marianne is so happy that she barely misses Norland Park, Elinor is lonely, feeling that none of their new acquaintances can offer her intelligent conversation. The exception is Colonel Brandon, who also finds in Elinor “the greatest consolation for the indifference of her sister” (64). They discuss Marianne and her propensity to disapprove of second attachments, deeming them unromantic, even though she herself is the product of the union between a man and his second wife. Elinor hopes that a few years in the world will make Marianne more reasonable and mature. Colonel Brandon begs Elinor not to wish such a thing, stating that he once knew a girl, “who thought and judged like [Marianne], but who from an inforced change” altered her views (66). The colonel breaks off, as though he has said too much.

When Elinor hears that Willoughby has gifted Marianne a horse, she is struck by the impropriety and impracticality of the gesture and tells Marianne that she must not accept. Marianne argues that while she has not known Willoughby long, she is “better acquainted him, than I am with any other creature in the world, except yourself and mama” (68). She claims that their mutual dispositions make them intimate acquaintances. Still, she agrees to return the horse. Willoughby says that the horse, named Queen Mab, is hers and that Marianne can take it up when she has a more permanent home. Elinor overhears Willoughby’s use of Marianne’s first name on its own, rather than referring to her as Miss Marianne, and conjectures that Marianne is on the brink of engagement. Margaret’s observation of Willoughby cutting and treasuring a lock of Marianne’s hair reinforces this opinion.

Margaret indiscreetly tells Mrs. Jennings that Elinor has her own gentleman lover and that his name contains an F. Elinor is deeply embarrassed and alarmed at the painful reminder of Edward. A plan for an excursion to Whitwall, a stately home belonging to Colonel Brandon’s brother-in-law, is made.

The excursion to Whitwall is postponed because Colonel Brandon is called away to London on urgent business. He will be gone indefinitely. Mrs. Jennings whispers to Elinor that it has to do with Eliza Williams, a girl she believes to be Colonel Brandon’s illegitimate daughter.

The others decide they will amuse themselves by driving their carriages about the countryside. Marianne gets into Mr. Willoughby’s carriage and disappears off with him. That evening, at dinner, Mrs. Jennings teases the lovers about where they have been. In her determination to know the truth, Mrs. Jennings sent her own servant as a spy, who traced them to Allenham. When Elinor asks Marianne about this, the latter says she does not care about Mrs. Jennings’s “very impertinent remarks” about her conduct (80). Marianne describes the rooms at Allenham in rapture and talks about Willoughby’s plans to refurbish them as though she is certain of marrying him and becoming mistress of the place.

Mrs. Jennings continues to conjecture that an extremely melancholy business must have dragged Colonel Brandon to London and mentions Miss Williams again. Elinor is frustrated by Marianne and Willoughby’s silence on their potential engagement.

Still, Willoughby and Marianne’s mutual affection is evident, and Willoughby protests Mrs. Dashwood’s wish to improve Barton Cottage, stating he does not want the place to be changed one bit. Elinor teases him about this, pointing out the cottage’s structural defects, but Mrs. Dashwood is charmed and invites Willoughby to dinner the next day.

Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor and Margaret go to visit Lady Middleton, but Marianne stays behind. Mrs. Dashwood believes that this might be an occasion for Willoughby to propose. Instead, when they return home, Marianne is in tears and Willoughby states that he has also been summoned to London on urgent business for an indefinite period. He highlights the unlikeliness of returning to the neighborhood by saying that his visits to Mrs. Smith only occur once a year. Mrs. Dashwood warmly invites him to Barton cottage. He leaves them, stating that “I will not torment myself any longer by remaining among friends whose society it is impossible for me now to enjoy” (89).

Mrs. Dashwood is astonished but consoles herself with the idea that Willoughby must leave because Mrs. Smith suspects his attachment to Marianne and threatened to cut him off if he became engaged to her. Elinor is suspicious of Willoughby’s vague reasons for leaving, especially in light of his previous openness. Elinor desires solid proof that Willoughby is serious about her sister and disapproves the coldness of Willoughby’s leave-taking. When Marianne re-emerges from her room, she is under a “violent oppression of spirits” which she does not attempt to control (95).

Marianne spends the first few days of Willoughby’s absence in a performative state of distress. She cannot sleep or eat and goes on rambling solitary walks to Allenham to reminisce.

When no letter comes from Willoughby, Elinor entreats their mother to ask Marianne whether they are engaged. However, Mrs. Dashwood’s “romantic delicacy” prevents her from forcing such a question (98). Elinor gains some reassurance from Marianne's confidence that he will merely be gone for weeks rather than months.

About a week after Willoughby’s absence, Elinor and Marianne see a gentleman on horseback. While Marianne is convinced that it is Willoughby, it turns out to be Edward. Edward seems overly reserved and “[distinguishes] Elinor by no mark of affection” (100). He reveals that he has been in Devonshire two weeks before visiting them. Elinor is hurt but endeavors to do her social duty and treat him with the politeness a distant family relation deserves.

Mrs. Dashwood is unsurprised by Edward’s visit, regarding it as natural. Her warmth draws him out of his shell and Elinor begins to be easier in his company. Mrs. Dashwood playfully asks Edward if his mother still wishes him “to be a great orator in spite of yourself” (104). He confesses that he has no ambitions for public life or amassing great wealth.

Edward asks Marianne if she still holds fast to the belief that someone can only be in love once and she says that she will never change her mind on that point. When Edward shares the view that Marianne is “a lively girl,” while Elinor believes her more “earnest,” Elinor comments that one can only judge another’s character when one has known them for a time (108). Reports of what people say about themselves or other people’s reports of them can be unreliable. Edward is surprised to find that Marianne thinks him reserved. Elinor tries to laugh it off, saying that Marianne finds everyone who is less effusive than her reserved.