Sense and Sensibility, originally titled Elinor and Marianne, is Jane Austen’s first published work. Sense and Sensibility, as well as Austen’s most popular novel Pride and Prejudice, are considered to be romantic comedies which portrayed Austen’s cleverness. Sense and Sensibility starts off in a financial setting and continues with falling deeply in love, tragic heartbreak, and many other heart wrenching emotions. Austen's books are normally centered around women and what was socially acceptable for them in their societies. Even though Austen’s characters break away from the norms of society, her themes are still clearly stated and received by the reader. Recurring themes in Austen’s novels are the economic and social norms and how those two key themes impact and lead the course of the characters’ lives. These themes are showcased well through marriage and the reasons for marriage. Austen does a fantastic job of displaying the social and economic sides of marriage, from both perspectives of men and women. Henry Dashwood, father to Elinor, Marianne, Margaret Dashwood, and husband to Mrs. Dashwood, dies with only one heir to leave his house to. Mr. Henry Dashwood’s son is the product of a previous marriage and his current family does not affiliate with Mr. John Dashwood. John Dashwood is married to a very greedy wife, Fanny Dashwood, who urges Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters to move out of her newly inherited manor shortly after they move in. Marriage was important for women because it secured a woman’s financial position. A woman did not receive much money, if any at all, unless her mother's parents were wealthy. Until she was married, her finances were controlled by her father. In order to live a fairly wealthy life, she need... ... middle of paper ... ...tivations for decisions made by characters. Those decisions are based around how to improve one's wealth or social status. Jane Austen was influence by the world around her. Her novels are a representation of the society she was living and what she experienced in her personal life. Austen does a great job of getting her points across to the reader while keeping her themes discrete. Works Cited Baker, William. Critical Companion to Jane Austen: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 2008. Print Jennings, Charles. A Brief Guide to Jane Austen: The Life and times of the World's Favourite Author. London: Robinson, 2012. Print. Lane, Maggie. Jane Austen's World: The Life and times of England's Most Popular Author. Holbrook, MA: Adams Media, 1996. Print. Ray, Joan Klingel. Jane Austen for Dummies. Chichester: John Wiley, 2006. Print.
Wallace, Tara Ghoshal. Jane Austen and Narrative Authority. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. 17-30.
In Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, the necessity of marrying well is one of the central themes. In Austen’s era a woman’s survival depended on her potential to acquire an affluent partner. This meant a choice of marrying for love and quite possibly starve, or marry a securing wealthy person, there was a risk of marrying someone who you might despise.
Southam, B.C., (ed.), Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage. Landon, NY: Routledge & Kegan Paul - Barres & Nobel Inc., 1968.
Jane, Austen,. Emma complete, authoritative text with biographical, historical, and cultural contexts, critical history, and essays from contemporary critical perspectives. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
...y had no real life applications. They didn’t teach their audiences anything of value. This is likely why Jane Austen wrote her novels in the ways that she did. She includes various passages, characters, plots, and parodies in different ways to remind the reader of the importance of reality. She emphasizes the need to think for oneself, rather than on the basis of books or the word of someone else. She encourages her readers to make judgments based on her characters, using various tools. One might argue that Austen wrote in a very calculated way. Everything she put down on paper served a purpose, to make certain concepts clear and teach her readers things that she believes to be crucial, whether it be pertaining to reading, or in how to act in ones own life.
Fowler, Karen J.Introduction. Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen: The Complete Novels. By Jane Austen. New York: Penguin, 2006. 211-421. Print.
Southam, Brian. "Jane Austen." British Writers. Vol. IV. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. New York: Scribners, 1981.
Paris, Bernard J. "Critical Readings: Emma." Critical Insights: Jane Austen (2010): 69-104. Literary Reference Center. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.
Austen, Jane. Emma. Norton Critical 3rd edition, ed. Donald Gray New York and London: Norton, 2001.
Litz, A. Walton, Jane Austen: A Study of Her Artistic Development. Oxford University Press, 1965, p. 198.
Austen. Critical Insights: Jane Austen. 2010: 8-14. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
Litz, A. Walton, Jane Austen: A Study of Her Artistic Development. Oxford University Press, 1965, p. 198.
Grochowski, Jonathan. "Jane Austen (b. 1775- D. 1817)." Jane Austen. N.p., 7 Dec. 2005. Web. 14 Feb. 2014. .
...f society and the desire to marry into a higher class, she is able to expose her own feelings toward her society through her characters. Through Marianne and Elinor she displays a sense of knowing the rules of society, what is respectable and what is not, yet not always accepting them or abiding by them. Yet, she hints at the triviality and fakeness of the society in which she lived subtly and clearly through Willoughby, John Dashwood and Edward Ferrars. Austen expertly reveals many layers to the 19th century English society and the importance of having both sense and sensibility in such a shallow system.
Fergus, Jan. “Biography.” The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen. Ed. Janet Todd.