Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen (1811)
“Two sisters, one heart of sense, one of sensibility — and Austen wants you to question which is worse.”
EraRomantic / Regency
Pages409
Difficulty★★★☆☆ Challenging
AP Appearances8
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.
How They Speak
Measured, qualified, self-interrupting — constantly conscious of how she sounds and what she reveals