The novel follows the young ladies to their new home, a meagre cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience love, romance and heartbreak. The philosophical resolution of the novel is ambiguous: the reader must decide whether sense and sensibility have truly merged.
When Henry Dashwood dies, his house, Norland Park , passes directly to his only son John , the child of his first wife. His second wife, Mrs. Dashwood , and their daughters, Elinor , Marianne and Margaret are left only a small income. On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood extracts a promise from his son, that he will take care of his half-sisters; however, John's selfish wife Fanny , soon persuades him to renege. John and Fanny immediately take up their place as the new owners of Norland, while the Dashwood women are reduced to the position of unwelcome guests.
Dashwood begins looking for somewhere else to live. In the meantime, Fanny's brother, Edward Ferrars , a pleasant, unassuming, intelligent but reserved young man, visits Norland and soon forms an attachment to Elinor. Fanny disapproves the match and offends Mrs. Dashwood with the implication that Elinor is motivated by money rather than love. Dashwood indignantly speeds her search for a new home. Their new home lacks many of the conveniences that they have been used to; however, they are warmly received by Sir John, and welcomed into the local society by him, his wife, Lady Middleton , his mother-in-law, Mrs.
Jennings and his friend, the grave, quiet and gentlemanly Colonel Brandon. It soon becomes apparent that Colonel Brandon is attracted to Marianne, and Mrs. Jennings teases them about it. Marianne is not pleased as she considers Colonel Brandon, at thirty-five, to be an old bachelor incapable of falling in love, or inspiring love in anyone else.
While out walking one day with Margaret, Marianne takes a fall and injures her ankle. Less remembered is the radical way the film elevated its two male characters—Colonel Brandon played by the late Alan Rickman and Edward Ferrars Hugh Grant —beyond their source material. Gibson, who also starred, walked away that year with the Best Director Oscar for the film. Sense and Sensibility set out to do something different: It made male receptiveness to female needs and desires and a commitment to proto-gender equality seem both incredibly attractive and historically inevitable.
It is, after all, a novel about what happens to a family of four women a recently widowed mother and her three daughters forced make their way in the world, suddenly without means or even a home. They exemplify true family values which contrast against the self-involved and rather moronic approach of Sir John Dashwood. This made me laugh: He just loves money and seems unable, like many other characters, of finding new money.
All their wealth comes from inheritance rather than actual incomes. He is also completely controlled by his wife. At the start of the novel he seems so genuine but she twists him all too easily. Perhaps he loved her so much that he was willing to neglect his family or perhaps he was already on the verge of making such a harsh decision and she gave him the slightest of nudges to send him over.
The romances in here were more fickle and self-involved compared to her other novels. It also made the reading experience far more entertaining. In Pride and Prejudice , Emma and even Persuasion it was so very clear how it would all end. This one, on the other hand, made things a little more lively.
And, of course, I could only ever give it five stars because of its subtle wit, eloquence of expression and sophisticated plot. How I do love Austen. I've just got Mansfield Park left to read now. Facebook Twitter Insta Academia. Ruby Granger. Author 2 books I'm not a fan of Jane Austen. I've given her many chances, and do really want to like her work, but am always let down -- until now, that is! I enjoyed Sense and Sensibility so much more than I was expecting to!
I still wouldn't rank it on the same level as the Bronte sisters, but the story is sardonically funny, clever and surprisingly gripping for one with such a slow pace! I thought the characters were really believable. Those characters who seemed more 2D at the beginning, grew out of later-revealed back-stories which made them more complex and complicated any notion of good and evil in the book. I particularly loved Marianne as a character, and how she transgresses what is expected of proper, upper-class ladies.
Instead of talking in the drawing room, she will take up a book or stare out of the window or go on a long walk outside. She is strong and fiery and a new favourite of mine. I would definitely recommend this to you -- even if you didn't like Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion and Mansfield Park all of which I will now be giving another go! Ahmad Sharabiani. Henry Dashwood, his second wife, and their three daughters live for many years with Henry's wealthy bachelor uncle.
That uncle decides, in late life, to will the use and income only of his property first to Henry, then to Henry's first son John Dashwood by his first marriage , so that the property should pass intact to John's three-year-old son Harry. The uncle dies, but Henry lives just a year after that and he is unable in such short time to save enough money for his wife Mrs Dashwood, and their daughters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, who are left only a small income.
On his deathbed, Mr Henry Dashwood extracts a promise from his son John to take care of his half-sisters. But before Henry is long in the grave, John's greedy wife, Fanny, persuades her husband to renege on the promise, appealing to his concerns about diminishing his own son Harry's inheritance despite the fact that John is independently wealthy thanks to his inheritance from his mother and his wife's dowry.
Henry Dashwood's love for his second family is also used by Fanny to arouse her husband's jealousy and convince him not to help his sisters economically.
The story focuses on two sisters, ages 17 and 19, and how their romantic interests and relationships epitomize their different approaches to life. The older sister Elinor embodies sense, good judgment and discretion. Her sister Marianne is emotional and volatile, following her heart with a supreme disregard for what society might — and does — think.
Elinor is pretty much always right. Although at most points in this novel Austen seems to be saying very clearly that Elinor's approach of being sensible is superior to Marianne's sensibility, every once in a while the story suggests that maybe being sensible all the time isn't the best idea, and there needs to be some balance between the two extremes.
Food for thought. One truly nice thing is that despite their vast differences and their occasional fairly frequent annoyances with each other, Elinor and Marianne have a deep love and loyalty for one another.
Their relationship remains strong through all of the stresses that hit them, and is even strengthened during the course of the novel.
Another thing that struck me in this story is how many of the characters — other than the totally emotionally honest Marianne — are keeping secrets. Storyline Edit. When Mr. They are taken in by a kindly cousin, but their lack of fortune affects the marriageability of practical Elinor and romantic Marianne. When Elinor forms an attachment for the wealthy Edward Ferrars Hugh Grant , his family disapproves and separates them.
And though Mrs. Both relationships are sorely tried. Lose your heart and come to your senses. Rated PG for mild thematic elements. Did you know Edit. Trivia Director Ang Lee originally was considering Kate Winslet only for the smaller part of Lucy Steele, even though she really wanted to play Marianne.
When Winslet arrived at her audition, she pretended that her agent had sent her to read for Marianne, and her reading won her the role. Goofs When the fiddler exits the church at the wedding, the fiddle is fitted with a chin-piece, which was not used on fiddles until the twentieth century.
Quotes Edward Ferrars : I-I've come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is, and always will be, yours. User reviews Review. Top review. The agony of unrequited love. What an excellent film! Superb performances, spellbinding dialogue, and beautiful sets and props led to an enchanting 2 hours of lost love and hope. I loved the stiffly formal, wonderfully polite, yet stifling mores these English were forced to endure.
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