sense_and_sensibility理智与情感总结.docVIP

Marriage is a matter of one’s sense and sensibility Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austens first published novel. Although Sense and Sensibility is similar to her other novels in plot, tone, and type of characters, it differs from the others in its representation of the courtship of two sisters rather than one heroine, there are two. In the novel, Elinor Dashwood, a nineteen year old woman of sense and Marianne Dashwood is her seventeen year old sister with sensibility. Elinor is subdued and quiet while Marianne is emotional and romantic. The two main characters’ stories about finding a happy marriage inspire readers to read the novel again and again and think about the theme of it, which may be the reason for the popularity of the novel. Sense and Sensibility begins with the widowed Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters—Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret—being ousted from their home when the new owner, John Dashwood and his wife, Fanny, move in John Dashwood, Mr. Dashwoods eldest son from his first marriage, inherits his fathers entire estate, under the laws of primogeniture. The Dashwood women are given a home, Barton Cottage, on the estate of Sir John Middleton, a distant relative. One visitor to the area, Colonel Brandon, is interested romantically in Marianne, but he does not fit her ideal of a romantic hero and she ignores him. However, another visitor to the area, Willoughby, matches her expectations and she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Elinor becomes disappointed that the man in whom she is interested, Edward Ferrars who is Fanny Dashwoods brother, a young clergyman, does not call on her as she had expected. Other guests at the Middletons include the Palmers and the Misses Steele, who, like the Dashwood sisters, are dependent upon others to avoid slipping from gentility to poverty; the younger of whom, Lucy, reveals to Elinor that she is secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars. Although bitterly disappointed, Elinor promises to keep the secret and bears this ne