‘Instructor’s Name’
Love, Status, Money and Marriage in Sense and Sensibility
Sense and sensibility, by Jane Austen, was first published in the year 1811, but it was originally written in the year 1795 and was titled as “Elinor and Marianne”. Austen was born on 1775 and even as a teen ager she penned many literary works and some of her famous works include ‘Pride and prejudice’, ‘Emma’ and ‘Mansfield Park’. Her writing style is very incisive, her thoughts are elegantly expressed and her works were greatly admired, with Prince Regent being one of her avid fan. This novel is considered to be one of her best and its film version which was released in 1995 went on to win the Oscar Award. Her novels are noted for their portrayal of emotional struggles of the women characters and depiction of Austen’s general take on the traditional gender roles. In this novel too she offers the reader an intimate glance into the struggles and emotions of the women of that era. Most of her novels mainly deal with their female protagonists’ journey towards marriage and this novel too follows the same pattern. Though the story deals with many themes like gender roles, inheritance and class discrimination, the major concepts of the novel is love, money, social status and marriage and the following part of the essay aims at analyzing how the author has employed various literary elements to convey these concepts.
The plot of the story delineates the life, love and marriage of two sisters Elinor and Marianne, and the choices they make in the process. Their father dies leaving them a small allowance and their estate to their step brother, with a promise that he will take care of his step sisters and step mother. But due to his and his wife’s selfishness and rude behavior they move to a much smaller house in a distant relative’s land. Elinor, who is sensible and matured, loves the simple but nice Edward Ferrars, the brother of her sister -in- law. Marianne who is good natured and sensitive, loves the handsome and wild Willoughby. There is also the character of Colonel Brandon, who is quiet and grave, who loves Marianne. The plot with many twists and turns establish how these romances are influenced by money and social stature, and how the girls in the end are forced to choose between their sense and sensibility. The story ends with Elinor marrying Edward and Marianne marrying Brandon, after a series of heartbreaks and disappointments. The plot juxtaposing the themes of love, class and money shows, how the marriages of that era were determined by many things other than love. Austen in her own way take on the common notion of the nineteenth century society about ‘good marriages’, which was the name given to marriages which took into consideration the financial standing of the family more than anything else. (Scholz, 2013, pg. 133)
Marriage in those periods was not just a personal matter of the people who get married, but collectively concerns the social group to which the couple belongs. There is not much importance given to love, alikeness or companionship in the marriages of those days, but it was more related to the political and economic alliances between two families. Women were expected to marry a man of wealth even though they did not have love towards them, just for having what the society called ‘a suitable marriage’. Though Austen’s novels do contain a lot of feminist views, it also sheds light on the flaws of the women characters, with some of her female characters influencing the male characters to achieve their ends.(Blatt, 2012) If we see in this story the marriage decisions of the characters of the novel are heavily influenced by their mothers. Mrs. Ferrars attempts to lure Edwards to break his engagement with Lucy by offering him the family estate as bribe, and later by threatening to impede his advancement in any other profession he might contemplate. Marianne too is portrayed to carry a likeness with her mother and being heavily influenced by her. There are other characters like Miss. Grey who tries to influence Willoughby by her money and Mrs. Smith who tries to make him marry Eliza, the girl who he had an illicit affair and later gave birth to his illegitimate child. If we closely scrutinize all the above incidents where a character is heavily pressurized by the other about their marriage decision, it is explicit that the marriages of the era in Austen lived was influenced more by money and class, rather than by love and romance.
Money is the central concept in this novel, which drives the plot. Wealth and inheritance are the two most important factors which are singularly responsible for the plight of the Dashwoods. John Dashwood who was granted the possession of the family estate was responsible (encouraged by his wife Fanny) for, the ouster of his step mother and her daughters out of their home to a meager dwelling.
“Had he been in his right senses, could not have thought of such a thing as begging you to give away half your fortune from your own child” (Austen, 1811, Pg. 6)
Money was responsible for Willoughby jilting Marianne and her heartbreak and finally her act of taking a sensible decision. Money also plays an important role in the romance of Elinor and Edwards. Lucy wants to marry Edwards for his money and thus she sticks to their engagement and thereby keeps Edwards away from proposing marriage to Elinor. But when Lucy recognizes that Robert is wealthier than his brother, she prefers him to Edwards and thus paving for the marriage of Edwards and Elinor. Though many of the characters in the novel hoped for a romantic relationship, the underlying financial implications of the concept of marriage can hardly be ignored. Inheritance and money create the systems of influence and power in the novel, and it has a profound effect on the decisions taken by the characters. In those days female members of the family were mostly not entitled to the family money and they had little choice in professions, so marriage for money was considered to be the most sensible thing in that era. Thus money defines many of the relationships forged during the course of the novel.
The characters of this story fit in a specific social stratification and mostly are victims of trying to measure up to the expectations of the class to which they belong. The classic example of this case is the character Willoughby who, for all his faults, seems to be genuinely in fond of Marianne but ends up in marrying Miss. Grey, because he is used to leading a certain kind of life which requires money and fame. Even Edwards Ferrars who is not swayed by money had to put up with his mother’s obstructions, because she had a dream for him to move up the social ladder and take the family with him.
His mother wished to interest him in political concerns, to get him into parliament, or to see him connected with of the great men of the day (Austen, 1811, Pg. 12)
All the characters in the story are painfully obsessed about their social standing and this has a profound effect on the decisions they take about their life. Austen with precision and wit expands on the constraints posed by social stratification on the lives of her character and skillfully juxtaposes it with their romantic life.
But in the end, one which triumphs and emerges as the winner in the contest between money, power and love, is undoubtedly love. Elinor and Edwards marry each other in the end of the novel, and Colonel Brandon who from the beginning chooses love over money marries the one he loves, Marianne. Marianne, though initially seems to take a decision based on what is right and not love, eventually gets over Willoughby and warms up to her husband. As the author puts it,
“Marianne could never love in halves; and her whole heart became devoted to her husband” (Austen, 1811, Pg. 330)
Thus though throughout the story Austen had taken pain to convey how marriage decisions of that day were governed by money and class distinctions, in the end by arranging the marriages to happen according to the love of the characters rather than by any other consideration, she gives an intense message to her society. The story does not have a fairy tale ending whereby the vile and cunning are punished, as most of the villains in the story like, Lucy and Willoughby, lead a wealthy and prosperous life and virtuous characters like Edwards are rendered penniless. But by placing her characters in this financial standing, Austen through the ending of the story conveys that the real happiness does not come out of money but is obtained only through a life spent with someone you love.
Works cited
Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. 1811. London: R. Bentley, 1833. Print.
Blatt, Shannon A. Feminine Manipulation in Sense and Sensibility. University of Dallas. 2012. Web. December 11, 2013. < www.jasna.org/essaycontest/2012/graduate-2.html>
Scholz, Anne-Marie. From Fidelity to History: Film Adaptations as Cultural Events in the Twentieth Century. Berghahn Books, 2013. Print.
