Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen (1811)
“Two sisters, one heart of sense, one of sensibility — and Austen wants you to question which is worse.”
Characters in Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen · 1811 · 7 characters analyzed
Cast: Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, John Willoughby, Colonel Brandon, Edward Ferrars, Lucy Steele, Mrs. Jennings.
Character Analysis
The novel's moral center and its most complex character. Elinor is intelligent, ironic, and in complete command of her exterior — which means her interior suffering is invisible to everyone but the reader and eventually Marianne. The novel asks whether her control is a virtue or a form of self-denial that allows others to take advantage of her. Austen insists on both answers simultaneously.
Measured, qualified, self-interrupting — constantly conscious of how she sounds and what she reveals