Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics)
by Jane Austen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jane AustenBrand: PBS
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-04-29
ISBN: 0141439661
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780141439662
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: "She Can Never Be More Lost to You than She is Now..."
Summary: 4 Stars
One thing needs to be made clear before reading this book; the words "sense" and "sensibility" do not mean the same things today as they did in Jane Austen's time. Though `sense' referred to intelligence and the ability to judge situations well, `sensibility' had connotations to having appropriate sensitivity toward moral and artistic issues, linked with the superiority of a person's aesthetical `senses'. As such, there is room for debate over which sister represents which trait, something seemingly obvious from the outset of the book, but which dramatically changes by its conclusion (which amusingly mirrors the ongoing debate over which traits Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy embody in the title of their story "Pride and Prejudice").
"Sense and Sensibility" was Austen's first novel, and as such is considered her weakest by the critics, though this also means it is also the most accessible and easy-to-read novel. First novels are almost always the most amateurish, and as such it is a much simpler work, from the storyline to the sentence structure, which leads to an easier reading experience than her more complex novels ("Emma" and the aforementioned "Pride and Prejudice"). Anyone new to the world of Austen is best to start here as the easiest book with which to ease into her range of novels.
The sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are extreme opposites; oldest sibling Elinor uses her head, whilst the younger Marianne follows her heart; but for all of this, the two are very close. After the death of their father, Elinor and Marianne - along with their mother and younger sister - are forced to give up their comfortable estate to their stepbrother (the product of their father's first marriage) and sister-in-law due to the inheritance law. But before relocating to Barton Cottage, Elinor forms an attachment with Fanny Dashwood's brother Edward Ferrars, a shy and awkward, but good-hearted man. Hoping that her feelings are returned, but unable to make any advances, Elinor travels to Barton Cottage in the hopes that he will return to her there in the near future.
At Barton Cottage, the girls make many new acquaintances, in particular the loud and bustling matriarch Mrs Jennings who is determined to marry the girls off as quickly as can be, and the quiet and gentlemanly Colonel Brandon. As for the romantic and dreamy Marianne, she's fallen hopelessly in love with the dashing John Willoughby after he rescues her from a rainy day and a twisted ankle whilst out walking in the countryside - much to the dismay of the smitten Colonel Brandon. Already concerned at Marianne's overly romantic disillusions, Elinor is concerned at her rather wanton behaviour in the presence of her new beau, but is then has her attention drastically diverted on being introduced to a Miss Lucy Steele who has a secret to share about Edward Ferrars...
The story winds its way through the girls' negotiations with the society they live in, the restrictions held upon them and the individuals which hold power over them - not with the same deftness that Austen displays in later novels, but still with much thought-provoking commentary. The family's plight in being reduced to guests in their own home at Norland, at the mercy of their somewhat dim-witted brother is particularly revealing as to the social injustices of the time, and though the frustrations of the girls' status is never explicitly stated, it is readily evident for anyone willing to read between the lines. At the end of the day, all they have is each other and the fervent hope that they will find both happiness and security in marriage. Their trials in love are perhaps the most heart-rending experiences of any other Austen heroines, (where romances are either touched by irony or poignancy) in the fact that a happy ending is not guaranteed for the sisters and that their future happiness depends on a good match - it particular it is hard not to feel your heart break for Marianne, whose unswerving belief in her own feelings and the raptures of her heart are so cruelly put to the test.
The characters of Elinor and Marianne are utterly irresistible. Elinor is the sort of person you would desperately wish for in your life in order to benefit from her good sense and protective nature, whilst Marianne is utterly charming in her romantic flights of fancy (in fact she's so winsome and dreamy that it's almost a shame when she gains some `sense' at the novel's end - one would have been contented to have her indulge in her dreaming forever). Though the novel is told almost solely through Elinor's eyes, in several ways Marianne is the main protagonist, who goes through the most trials and changes. Whatever your own opinions, the two provide an excellent foil for each other, and at all times the sisterly bond between them is apparent.
There have been so many adaptations of Jane Austen novels throughout the years, though to my mind none is better than Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. As I was reading the novel, I often found myself switching on the DVD in order to compare the two. It is a beautiful film, loyal to the themes, storyline and characters of the novel and in some cases improve upon it, and so comes very highly recommended as a companion piece to Austen's first novel.
Summary of Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics)
Listen to audio presented by Literary Affairs: Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.
View our feature on Jane Austen.Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love?and its threatened loss?the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.
Though not the first novel she wrote, Sense and Sensibility was the first Jane Austen published. Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason. The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion. Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she "loves him tenderly," she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister:
Oh! Mama, how spiritless, how tame was Edward's manner in reading to us last night! I felt for my sister most severely. Yet she bore it with so much composure, she seemed scarcely to notice it. I could hardly keep my seat. To hear those beautiful lines which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness, such dreadful indifference!Soon however, Marianne meets a man who measures up to her ideal: Mr. Willoughby, a new neighbor. So swept away by passion is Marianne that her behavior begins to border on the scandalous. Then Willoughby abandons her; meanwhile, Elinor's growing affection for Edward suffers a check when he admits he is secretly engaged to a childhood sweetheart. How each of the sisters reacts to their romantic misfortunes, and the lessons they draw before coming finally to the requisite happy ending forms the heart of the novel. Though Marianne's disregard for social conventions and willingness to consider the world well-lost for love may appeal to modern readers, it is Elinor whom Austen herself most evidently admired; a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure. --Alix Wilber
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