Sense vs Sensibility

Often, two people who have endured similar life experiences and share an unmistakable parallel in lifestyles can be viewed as duplicates of one individual. In Sense and Sensibility, the two main characters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood can be seen as two extensions of the same character. The sisters are relatively close in age, grew up with the same social expectations of the same time period and household, and they evidently experienced similar childhood and family trauma and problems. Although it could be argued that they are the same character, these young women are very different from each other, in respects to their roles and practice of responsibility, their display of emotions, and openness to love. Jane Austen has cleverly titled this novel Sense and Sensibility to highlight the girls' different personalities, and how they contrast each other. As Harold Bloom explores in his criticism of Jane Austen’s works, “Sense and Sensibility really is about the relations between sense and sensibility, or as we might put it, between head and heart, thought and feeling, judgment and emotion” (Bloom, 23). Elinor, being the elder and more rational of the two is depicted as Sense, as she is the more rational of the two, and Marianne is labeled as Sensibility, being the more dramatic and romantic one. Despite their clear similarities in lifestyle and upbringing, the young ladies have developed very different ideas about self-regulation, carriage and dependability.

In terms of responsibility, Elinor is much more dedicated in her commitments and actions towards the peoples she loves than her sister is, and consistently shows this throughout the novel. Elinor specifically holds great responsibility within her family, as she continually demo...

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...ness to love. At the beginning of the novel, the girls seem trapped in their own perceptions, but towards the end learn that a balance between rationalism and romanticism is essential to living a stabilized life of exhilaration and boundaries. The “twists of fate and different perspectives on life within the same family prove as a satisfying juxtaposition of values”(California book watch). This demonstrates that sometimes differences can lead to a realization, in which one sees what is missing in their life that will provide for a lifetime of balance and classicism, just as the Dashwood sisters learn to do.

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 2006. Print.

Bloom, Harold. Jane Austen. New York: Infobase Pub., 2003. Print.

"Sense and Sensibility." California Bookwatch. May 2006. Gale Power Search. Web. 9 Jan. 2012.