Characters
Elinor Dashwood is a fictional character and the protagonist of Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility. In
this
novel, Austen analyses the conflict between the opposing temperaments of sense, and sensibility.
Age: 19
Sibling(s): John Dashwood (half-brother); Marianne Dashwood; Margaret Dashwood
Significant other: Edward Ferrars
-----------------------------
Colonel Brandon
Colonel Brandon is a fictional character in Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility. A quiet and reserved man,
he
forms an attachment to the younger of the Dashwood sisters, Marianne.
Age: 36
Sibling(s): Elder brother (deceased); Sister (in Avignon)
Significant other: Marianne Dashwood
-----------------------------
Marianne Dashwood
The 16-year-old second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood, she embodies the "sensibility" of the title, as
opposed to her elder sister Elinor's "sense".
Age: 16 at beginning of novel
Parent: Mrs. Dashwood
Significant other: Colonel Brandon
-----------------------------
John Willoughby
He is described as being a handsome young man with a small estate, but has expectations of inheriting his aunt's
large estate.
-----------------------------
Edward Ferrars
Edward Ferrars is a fictional character in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. He is the elder of Fanny
Dashwood's
two brothers and forms an attachment to Elinor Dashwood.
Age: 23
Significant other: Elinor Dashwood
-----------------------------
Lucy Steele
Significant other: Robert Ferrars
Lucy Ferrars (née Steele) is a character in Sense and Sensibility. She is married to Robert Ferrars, but was
engaged
to Edward Ferrars for quite a long time. She is the younger sister of Anne Steele, and sister-in-law to Edward
Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood.
-----------------------------
Mrs. Jennings is a character in Sense and Sensibility. She has two daughters, Lady Middleton and Mrs. Palmer.
Through her children, she has two sons in-law, Sir John Middleton and Mr. Palmer. Both of her daughters married
exceedingly well, and their husbands are wealthy gentlemen.
Mrs. Jennings was a bit of a meddler and took an active interest in the romantic lives of young people,
especially
Elinor and Marianne, much to their particular chagrin.
-----------------------------
Mrs. Henry Dashwood is a character in Sense and Sensibility. She was married to Henry Dashwood before she became
his
widow. She has three daughters, Elinor Dashwood Ferrars, Marianne Dashwood Brandon, and Margaret Dashwood. She
has
one stepson, John Dashwood, and is the mother-in-law of Edward Ferrars and Colonel Brandon. She is 40 years old
at
the beginning of the novel. She is a cousin of Sir John Middleton.
-----------------------------
Margaret Dashwood is a major character in Sense and Sensibility. She is the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Henry
Dashwood. She has two older sisters, Elinor and Marianne. She has an elder half brother, John Dashwood. She is a
sister-in-law of Edward Ferrars, Colonel Brandon, and Fanny Dashwood. She is an aunt of Harry Dashwood. She is
thirteen at the beginning of the book.
-----------------------------
Henry Dashwood is a minor character in Sense and Sensibility. He was the head of the Dashwood family of Norland
Park
in Sussex[1]. Before his death, he was married to Mrs. Dashwood[2]. He had one son, John Dashwood, from a
previous
marriage. He had three daughters, Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, and Margaret Dashwood from the current
Mrs.
Henry Dashwood. He cared for his second wife and daughters more than he cared for his son[1].
"The old gentleman died: his will was read, and like almost every other will, gave as much disappointment as
pleasure. He was neither so unjust, nor so ungrateful, to leave his estate from his nephew; but he left it to
him on
such terms as destroyed half the value of the bequest. Mr. Dashwood had wished for it more for the sake of his
wife
and daughters than for himself or his son; but to his son, and his son's son, it was secured, in such a way, as
to
leave to himself no power of providing for those who were most dear to him, and who most needed a provision by
any
charge on the estate, or by any sale of its valuable woods."
—Sense and Sensibility[3]
-----------------------------
John Dashwood is a character in Sense and Sensibility. He is the only son and heir of Mr. Henry Dashwood and his
first wife[1]. He is the stepson of Mrs. Henry Dashwood and the elder half-brother of Elinor Dashwood, Marianne
Dashwood, and Margaret Dashwood. He is the brother-in-law of Edward Ferrars, Robert Ferrars, and Colonel
Brandon. He
is married to Frances Dashwood and has one son, Harry Dashwood.
-----------------------------
Frances "Fanny" Dashwood (née Ferrars) is the wife of John Dashwood. She is the only sister of Edward and Robert
Ferrars. She is the sister-in-law of Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, and Margaret Dashwood. She has one son,
Harry Dashwood, whom she spoils. Her mother, Mrs. Ferrars is still living, although her father is not.
-----------------------------
Lady Middleton (née Jennings) is a minor character in Sense and Sensibility. She is married to Sir John
Middleton of
Barton Park, a very wealthy and generous man. She has four children and is around 26 or 27.
-----------------------------
Sir John Middleton is a minor character in Sense and Sensibility. He is married to Lady Middleton, the daughter
of
Mrs. Jennings. He is wealthy and resides mostly at Barton Park, his family estate. He is about 40 at the
beginning
of the novel. He has four children, the eldest of which is a son of six years of age. The boy is also his
heir.
-----------------------------
Mr. Palmer
Mr. Palmer is a rather serious man married to a rather silly young woman, and he's never quite recovered from
this
fact. We don't know much about Mr. Palmer, but what we do know paints a somewhat comical, contradictory picture.
First of all, our first impressions of him are of a rude, sardonic, disinterested man, who seems to despise
everyone
else under the sun. However, as we get to know him a little better, we start to warm up to him.
His muttered comments are often quite funny, and on the inside, it turns out that he's not such a boor. As
Elinor
notes late in the book, Mr. Palmer is actually just a man – he puts on his show of gruffness towards everyone
else
simply as a declaration of his gender. In reality, he shows a softer side once everyone's visiting his home at
Cleveland; he's genuinely concerned about Marianne's illness, and he also reveals that he sincerely cares for
his
family.
-----------------------------
Mrs. Ferrars is a minor character in Sense and Sensibility. She is the mother of Fanny Dashwood, Edward Ferrars,
and
Robert Ferrars. She is the mother-in-law of John Dashwood, Elinor Dashwood Ferrars, and Lucy Steele. She has one
grandchild, Harry Dashwood, so far.
She is portrayed as a bad-tempered, unsympathetic woman who embodies all the foibles demonstrated in Fanny and
Robert's characteristics. She is determined that her sons should marry well, even though the late Mr. Ferrars
left
them a fortune.
-----------------------------
Robert Ferrars is a character in Sense and Sensibility. By the end of the novel, he is married to Lucy Steele,
the
ex-fiancée of his elder brother Edward. He is the younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Ferrars, and brother of Edward
Ferrars
and Fanny Dashwood. He is brother-in-law to John Dashwood, Anne Steele, and Elinor Dashwood Ferrars.
-----------------------------
Plot
Henry Dashwood, his second wife, and their three daughters live for many years with Henry's wealthy bachelor
uncle
at Norland Park, a large country estate in Sussex. 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.
John and Fanny immediately move in as the new owners of Norland, while the Dashwood women are treated as
unwelcome
guests by a spiteful Fanny. Mrs Dashwood seeks somewhere else to live. In the meantime, Fanny's brother, Edward
Ferrars visits Norland and soon forms an attachment with Elinor. Fanny disapproves of the match and offends Mrs
Dashwood by implying that Elinor must be motivated by his expectations of coming into money.
Mrs Dashwood moves her family to Barton Cottage in Devonshire, near the home of her cousin, Sir John Middleton.
Their new home is modest, but they are warmly received by Sir John and welcomed into local society, meeting his
wife, Lady Middleton, his mother-in-law, the garrulous but well-meaning Mrs Jennings, and his friend, Colonel
Brandon. Colonel Brandon is attracted to Marianne, and Mrs Jennings teases them about it. Marianne is not
pleased,
as she considers the thirty-five-year-old Colonel Brandon an old bachelor, incapable of falling in love or
inspiring
love in anyone.
A 19th-century illustration by Hugh Thomson showing Willoughby cutting a lock of Marianne's hair
While out for a walk, Marianne gets caught in the rain, slips, and sprains her ankle. The dashing John
Willoughby
sees the accident and assists her, picking her up and carrying her back to her home. After his rescue of her,
Marianne quickly comes to admire his good looks and his similar tastes in poetry, music, art, and love. His
attentions, and Marianne's behaviour, lead Elinor and Mrs Dashwood to suspect that the couple are secretly
engaged.
Elinor cautions Marianne against her unguarded conduct, but Marianne refuses to check her emotions. Willoughby
engages in several intimate activities with Marianne, including taking her to see the home he expects to inherit
one
day and obtaining a lock of her hair. When an engagement, or at least the announcement of one, seems imminent,
Mr
Willoughby informs the Dashwoods that his aunt, upon whom he is financially dependent, is sending him to London
on
business, indefinitely. Marianne is distraught and abandons herself to her sorrow.
Edward Ferrars pays a short visit to Barton Cottage but seems unhappy. Elinor fears that he no longer has
feelings
for her, but she will not show her heartache. After Edward departs, the sisters Anne and Lucy Steele, who are
vulgar
cousins of Mrs. Jennings, come to stay at Barton Park. Lucy informs Elinor in confidence of her secret four-year
engagement to Edward Ferrars that started when he was studying with her uncle, and she displays proof of their
intimacy. Elinor realises that Lucy's visit and revelations are the result of Lucy's jealousy and cunning
calculation, and it helps her to understand Edward's recent sadness and behaviour towards her. She acquits
Edward of
blame and pities him for being held to a loveless engagement to Lucy by his sense of honour.
Elinor and Marianne accompany Mrs Jennings to London. On arriving, Marianne rashly writes several personal
letters
to Willoughby, which go unanswered. When they meet by chance at a dance, Willoughby is standing with another
woman.
He greets Marianne reluctantly and coldly, to her extreme distress. She shows him how shocked she is that he
barely
acknowledges her, and she leaves the party completely distraught. Soon Marianne receives a curt letter enclosing
their former correspondence and love tokens, including a lock of her hair. Willoughby informs her of his
engagement
to a young lady, Miss Grey, who has a large fortune. Marianne is devastated. After Elinor has read the letter,
Marianne admits to Elinor that she and Willoughby were never engaged. She behaved as if they were because she
knew
she loved him and thought that he loved her.
As Marianne grieves, and Willoughby's engagement to Miss Grey is made public, Colonel Brandon visits the
sisters. He
reveals to Elinor that Willoughby is a scoundrel. His aunt disinherited him after she learned that he had
seduced,
impregnated, then abandoned Brandon's young ward, Miss Eliza Williams, and refused to marry her. Willoughby, in
great personal debt, chose to marry Miss Grey for money rather than love. Eliza is the illegitimate daughter of
Brandon's first love, also called Eliza, a young woman who was his father's ward and an heiress. She was forced
into
an unhappy marriage to Brandon's elder brother, in order to shore up the family's debts, and that marriage ended
in
scandal and divorce while Brandon was abroad with the Army. After Colonel Brandon's father and brother died, he
inherited the family estate and returned to find Eliza dying in a pauper's home, so Brandon took charge of
raising
her young daughter. Brandon tells Elinor that Marianne strongly reminds him of the elder Eliza for her sincerity
and
sweet impulsiveness. Brandon removed the younger Eliza to the country, and reveals to Elinor all of these
details in
the hope that Marianne could get some consolation in discovering that Willoughby was revealed as a villain.
Meanwhile, the Steele sisters have come to London as guests of Mrs Jennings. After a brief acquaintance, they
are
asked to stay at John and Fanny Dashwoods' London house. Lucy sees the invitation as a personal compliment,
rather
than what it is, a slight to Elinor and Marianne who, being family, should have received such invitation first.
Too
talkative, Anne Steele betrays Lucy's secret engagement to Edward Ferrars, Fanny's brother. As a result, the
Misses
Steele are turned out of the house, and Edward is ordered by his wealthy mother to break off the engagement on
pain
of disinheritance. Edward refuses to comply and is immediately disinherited in favour of his brother, Robert,
which
gains him respect for his conduct and sympathy from Elinor and Marianne. Colonel Brandon shows his admiration by
offering Edward the living (a clergyman's income) of Delaford parsonage so that he might one day be able to
afford
to marry Lucy after he takes orders.
As Marianne grieves over Willoughby, Mrs Jennings takes Elinor and Marianne to the country to visit her second
daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Palmer, at her husband's estate, called Cleveland. Marianne, still in misery over
Willoughby's marriage, goes walking in the rain and becomes dangerously ill. She is diagnosed with putrid fever,
and
it is believed that her life is in danger. Elinor writes to Mrs. Dashwood to explain the gravity of the
situation,
and Colonel Brandon volunteers to go and bring Marianne's mother to Cleveland to be with her. In the night,
Willoughby arrives and reveals to Elinor that his love for Marianne was genuine and that losing her has made him
miserable. He elicits Elinor's pity because his choice has made him unhappy, but she is disgusted by the callous
way
in which he talks of Miss Williams and his own wife. He also reveals that his aunt said she would have forgiven
him
if he married Miss Williams but that he refused.
Marianne recovers from her illness, and Elinor tells her of Willoughby's visit. Marianne realises that she could
never have been happy with Willoughby's immoral, erratic, and inconsiderate ways. She values Elinor's more
moderated
conduct with Edward and resolves to model herself after Elinor's courage and good sense. Edward arrives and
reveals
that, after his disinheritance, Lucy jilted him in favour of his now wealthy younger brother, Robert. Elinor is
overjoyed. Edward and Elinor marry, and later Marianne marries Colonel Brandon, having gradually come to love
him.
The two couples live as neighbours, with both sisters and husbands in harmony with each other. Willoughby
considers
Marianne as his ideal but the narrator tells the reader not to suppose that he was never happy.
Quotes
“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I
require so much!”
tags: love, requirements
“If I could but know his heart, everything would become easy.”
tags: love
“Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience- or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”
tags: follow-your-bliss, self-actualization
“I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.”
“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be
insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”
tags: disposition, intimacy, marianne-dashwood, openness, opportunity, self-disclosure, time
“It is not everyone,' said Elinor, 'who has your passion for dead leaves.”
“I 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.”
tags: devotion, love, pronouncements-of-love
“I will be calm. I will be mistress of myself.”
tags: self-control, serenity
“I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my
natural awkwardness. [...] Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. If I could
persuade myself that my manners were perfectly easy and graceful, I should not be shy.”
tags: shyness
“Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.”
tags: agreement, compliments, discussion, disdain, intelligence, opposition, rationality, reason 302 likes
Like
“To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect”
tags: expect, expectations, hope, love, wish
“She was stronger alone…”
tags: loneliness, strength
“If a book is well written, I always find it too short.”
tags: books, reading
“Know your own happiness.”
“What do you know of my heart? What do you know of anything but your own suffering. For weeks, Marianne, I've
had
this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature. It was forced on me by the
very
person whose prior claims ruined all my hope. I have endured her exultations again and again whilst knowing
myself
to be divided from Edward forever. Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided
proof
enough of a broken heart, even for you.”
tags: classics, heartbreak, stoicism
“Always resignation and acceptance. Always prudence and honour and duty. Elinor, where is your heart?”
tags: stoicism
“There is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the
reception of more general opinions.”
tags: youthful-optimism
“I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter in all
my
feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both.”
tags: literature, marianne-dashwood, sense-sensibility
“Eleanor went to her room "where she was free to think and be wretched.”
tags: heartbreak
“I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my
natural awkwardness."
tags: chapter-17, edward-ferrars, shyness
“I have not wanted syllables where actions have spoken so plainly.”
“Life could do nothing for her, beyond giving time for a better preparation for death.”
tags: hopelessness
“Elinor could sit still no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst
into
tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease.”
“to hope was to expect”
tags: wishful-thinking
“Sometimes one is guided by what they say of themselves, and very frequently by what other people say of them,
without giving oneself time to deliberate and judge."
-Elinor Dashwood”
tags: chapter-17, elinor-dashwood, sense
“She was stronger alone; and her own good sense so well supported her, that her firmness was as unshaken, her
appearance of cheerfulness as invariable, as, with regrets so poignant and so fresh, it was possible for them to
be.”
“..that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself”
tags: anticipation
“I am excessively fond of a cottage; there is always so much comfort, so much elegance about them. And I
protest, if
I had any money to spare, I should buy a little land and build one myself, within a short distance of London,
where
I might drive myself down at any time, and collect a few friends about me and be happy. I advise everybody who
is
going to build, to build a cottage.”
“But remember that the pain of parting from friends will be felt by everybody at times, whatever be their
education
or state. Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience; or give it a more fascinating name: call it
hope.”
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_Sensibility
- https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2809709-sense-and-sensibility
