Sense and Sensibility

Elinor is as prudent as her sister Marianne is impetuous. Each must learn from the other after they are they are forced by their father's death to leave their home and enter into the contests of polite society.

The charms of unsuitable men and the schemes of rival ladies mean that their paths to success are thwart with disappointment but together they attempt to find a way to happiness.

Review by John Purcell

To my mind the heroines of Sense and Sensibility, the Dashwood sisters, represent two facets of Jane Austen herself. In Marianne we have Austen's sensibility - her passion, feeling and emotion. In Elinor we have Austen's sense - her reason, composure and prudence. This is conjecture only. I never met Ms Austen, which is my loss. But it seems reasonable to suggest it. Don't we all share all of these qualities to a larger or lesser degree?

Marianne would hate the previous paragraph. She would declare it tepid, limp, uninspired. And she'd be right, wouldn't she? Sense and Sensibility deserves better than my cool, evenhanded evaluation. I'll try again. I feel very Elinor.

Thrown out of their home, the Dashwoods must learn to live in straitened circumstances. Elinor rolls up her sleeves to make the best of the new situation. Marianne, however, wants more from life. Much more. She wants to live life to the full, she wants to know true passion, she wants poetry, music, and adventure in her life.

So when Marianne twists her ankle while out on an adventure, and dashing Mr Willoughby lifts her in his arms and carries her home, sense and sensibility collide. We so want Marianne to be happy, but we also hear the alarm bells going off in Elinor's head.

An antidote to the blues, Sense and Sensibility will give you the strength to soldier on.

About the Author

Jane Austen's (1775 - 1817) works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.