The Dashwood Sisters - The Women of Jane Austen - Part I

The Dashwood Sisters. Could there be anything more entertaining than these two women? They are as different as night and day and both on a pursuit for husbands. Elinor bears everything with quiet decorum and sense. Marianne is outspoken and seeks the thrills of romantic fellowship with no sense at all.
Okay, I'll confess. Sense and Sensibility is my favorite of Austen's works. It was her first novel written in 1795 at the age of 19 and was accepted by a publisher and put into print in 1811 (at her own expense, I might add for all you indies out there) . Though I'm not an Austen expert by any means, I'm thankful for the many resources available online about her life and works from people who are. Unfortunately, I missed my trip to the London Library in 2011 to see one of her manuscripts on display.
I'm not quite sure what it is about this story. Perhaps it's all that yearning for love and silent pining inside the hearts of women that draws me so strongly to their characters. As women, we probably all have a bit of Elinor and Marianne in each of us.
Elinor, who loves the steady, kindhearted, humble man in the form of Edward Ferrars, is the sensible sister of the two. She bears her love and disappointment with quiet restraint, while dealing with her sister's outward and passionate emotions regarding Willoughby.
Though I've never had a sister, the fact that they are so different as night and day is entertaining. Austen does a wonderful job with each of them telling the other about their own exasperation's over the other's personality.
"I do not attempt to deny," said she, "that I think very highly of him—that I greatly esteem, that I like him."Marianne here burst forth with indignation—"Esteem him! Like him! Cold-hearted Elinor! Oh! worse than cold-hearted! Ashamed of being otherwise. Use those words again, and I will leave the room this moment."
Then there is Marianne -- brokenhearted Marianne whose life nearly ends because she cannot have the man she loves. Marianne, of course, is undoubtedly the romantic at heart in this story compared to her sister Elinor who keeps everything hidden for the sake of propriety. She's lost all good sense when it comes to her infatuation with Willoughby. Gregarious, passionate, and handsome Willoughby fits perfectly into her idealist qualifications of what a gentleman should be.
"Mama, the more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much! He must have all Edward's virtues, and his person and manners must ornament his goodness with every possible charm."
Though Marrianne is happy for her sister's budding relationship with Edward, she clearly expresses her thoughts of the deficits of his personality in her eyes.
"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!"
For me, Marianne represents all of the girlish and hopeful feelings we possess at 16 years of age regarding love. Our hearts are filled with romantic notions of being swept off our feet by the most amiable of men, who can recite to us poetry with heartfelt enunciation that brings tears to our eyes. They rescue us when in distress, are attentive, offer flowers, cut locks of our hair to keep with them, and promise to adore us for all eternity.
Elinor, on the other hand, is the more mature young woman who sees the wonder of what love can be, but also recognizes the cruel hurt and devastation it can bring to a female's heart. She not only sees its terrible effects of a broken heart nearly bringing her dearest sister to death's door, but she also bears the heartache of love lost to another.
As far as modern adaptations on screen, we have been blessed with two beautiful renditions of Sense and Sensibility in film and television. The 1995 movie version with Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson is a wonderful condensed version. My favorite, however, probably because it is much longer is the 2008 BBC version staring Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield. The choice of characters for Edward and Col. Brandon excited me a bit more, as well as the cinematography.
Choose for yourself who are your favorites to play these parts? Who do you imagine when you read Sense and Sensibility?
I give you a challenge to any of my readers, if you wish to write about any of the men in this story who vie for the love of these women's hearts, be my guest blogger. Just shoot me an email and let me know what you think of Edward, Willoughby, and Brandon.

1995 Movie 2008 BBC TV