Courtship and Marriage in Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Student’s Name

ii

Courtship and Marriage in Sense and Sensibility By Jane

Austen

Autora: Magdalena López Poveda

TRABAJO PARA EL TÍTULO DE MÁSTER Entregado en la Secretaría de

Humanidades de la Universidad de Almería como requisito parcial

conducente a la obtención del título de MÁSTER EN ESTUDIOS

INGLESES: APLICACIONES PROFESIONALES Y COMUNICACIÓN

INTERCULTURAL 2012

ITINERARIO: Investigación y Docencia

Directora del TFM: Doña Elena Jaime de Pablos

Convocatoria de Septiembre de 2012

CONTENTS

RESEARCH

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1

1.1 State of the question to be investigated ...............................................3

1.2. Hypothesis ......................................................................................... 5

1.3. Objectives………………………………………………………………….7

2. Courtship and marriage protocol in late 18th century and early 19th ………...9

2.1. Courtship .......................................................................................... 9

2.2. The rules of proper ladies’ behavior…………………………………..10

2.3. Modes of Address………………………………………………………12

2.4. Conversation and physical contact …………………………………..12

2.5. The proposal…………………………………………………………….13

2.6. Engagements …………………………………………………………...13

2.7 Marriage negotiation…………………………………………………….16

2.8. Marriage………………………………………………………………….16

2.9. Female prototype ……………………………………………………….18

2.10. Male prototype ………………………………………………………..20

3. Representation of courtship and marriage protocol in Jane Austen’s work..22

4. Jane Austen rejection of courtship and marriage protocol as it was accepted by her contemporaries …………………………………………………………..39

5. General Conclusions …………………………………………………………….42

6. Works cited ……………………………………………………………………….45

Courtship and Marriage in Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 1

Magdalena López Poveda

1. INTRODUCTION

Sense and Sensibility was Austen´s first published novel. It appeared in three

volumes 1811 under the pseudonym “A Lady”.

The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the role of women in the family

and British society through this novel which was written during late eighteenth

and early nineteenth centuries by Jane Austen. Society was patriarchal with

entail laws to protect the interests of male heirs and make alliances to preserve

their privileges of ownership at the same time preventing women freedom for

their own choices, so that most marriages were arranged because the only way

that women had to have a comfortable life was to marry a man with a fortune.

However, Jane Austen in her work Sense and Sensibility is closer to the

injustices of women, but especially the rejection of marriage for money rather

than love, Austen also did not agree that women depend on economically-

financial protection of man, so as not to look kindly on patriarchy and the

merging of interests of the aristocratic and middle class. Much has been said of

the power of attraction of the work of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility

especially.

The eighteenth century is a fascinating period of a gradually changing climate in

political, cultural and social spheres of life. As David Cecil suggests, “Her books

express a general view of life. It is the view of that eighteenth-century civilisation

of which she was the last exquisite blossom. One might call it the moral-realistic

view” (Cecil 1942: 115).



In my research paper, I concentrate mainly on changes of attitudes towards

Courtship and marriage in British society. I analyse marriage and courtship in

the eighteenth-century Britain and its consequences concerning the position of

women in society as they are reflected in Jane Austen’s novel Sense and

Sensibility. I chose Jane Austen because marriage is a chief concern of her

novels, Austen never married. This does not necessarily mean that she did not

know what love as such is.

The research paper is organized as follows: The first part of each chapter

contains a theoretical description of the social background in the eighteenth-

century Britain associated with the phenomenon analysed, the principles behind

courtship and marriage protocol and female and male prototypes.

In the second part I reflect on that courtship and marriage protocol in Jane

Austen’s novel end the causes and consequences of these activities and I will

try to illustrate them through particular cases in real life as described in Austen’s

novel.

The third part is Jane Austen’s approval or rejection of courtship and marriage

in Sense and Sensibility and Austen’s opinion of an existing status of married

women at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth

centuries and some of her ideas relating to marriage and courtship, which I find

revolutionary. As Virginia Woolf put it, “Since a novel has its correspondence to

real life, its values are to some extent those of real life” (Woolf 1945: 110).



1.1. STATE OF THE QUESTION TO BE INVESTIGATED: Relevance of

Courtship and Marriage in Sense and Sensibility

The relevance of courtship and marriage in Sense and Sensibility by Jane

Austen has already been supported by some authors for instance, Joan Kingel

(2006) who examines each of Jane Austen´s Novels and looks at why her

stories of women deal with marriage, class and money, scandal and hypocrisy,

emotion and satire.

Claire Tomalin (1998) reflects Austen´s own exacting standard, she leaves the

reader with a much deeper appreciation of circumstances and emotion behind

the creation of Sense and Sensibility.

Dreide Le Faye (2002) presents a meticulously researched overview of life in

early nineteenth century England, from foreign affairs to fashion, from transport

to drains, she goes on to consider each novel individually, explain its action, its

setting the reaction of public and critics and Jane´s own feeling about book.

Jones Hazel (2009) offers deep insights that inform not only what one is reading

of Austen’s novels, but of the treacherous social bedrock underlying the lives of

women living in that time and an insight into regency society.

Darryl Jones (2004) provides detailed readings of Austen’s novel Sense and

Sensibility, as well as studies of her early, unfinished fragmentary work, this is

an essential book for anyone studying the work of one of the most important

and enduring writers of the manners marriage and minuets.



Mary Poovey (1984) makes an important contribution to English and literary

history and feminist theory. “The Proper Lady” was a handy concept for

developing bourgeois patriarchy, since it deprived women of worldly power,

relegating them to a sanctified domestic sphere that, in complex ways,

nourished and sustained the harsh real world of men.

We can also find an article about Sense and Sensibility and the Problem of

Feminine Authority by Tara Ghoshal Wallace (1992) which is about readers of

Sense and Sensibility who have questioned Jane Austen's ambivalence. This

deals with the values of proper conduct as opposed to those of inner-directed

behavior; but this question has tended to obscure another ideological issue in

the novel-the issue of feminine authority and power. While readers debate

whether the narrator is drawing rigid lines between sense and feeling, they may

overlook the book's attitude towards female power, an attitude which is

negative, cautionary, devaluing.

In this essay we argue that Sense and Sensibility betrays Austen's anxieties

about female authority; seen from this perspective the novel reveals struggles

and tensions rather than ideological serenity.

We have researched on Emilie or on Education, Jean Jacques Rousseau’s

ideal education for Emile’s imaginary wife, Sophie. Rousseau argues that

women should receive a different type of education men do.

However, Gilbert and Gubar (1979) state that women writers are constrained by

the patriarchal system and they should be defined beyond the duality.



1.2. HYPOTHESIS

Nowadays women´s topics have aroused great interest. Whereas in the last

decades it is increased by symposiums, conferences, and workshops at

national and international level, studies from the social point of view have got a

vindictive character. Convenience marriage has been one of the focuses of

research at a university level in particular in the late eighteenth century and

early nineteenth century in England.

Facts pose the following problem: the recognition of women’s right to live the

life as wanted within a patriarchal system that defines womanhood in terms of

marriage and motherhood.

We will deal with the courtship and convenience marriage in the late eighteenth

century and early nineteenth century, and with the way ideal men and woman fit

into convenience marriage to perpetuate gender stereotypes.

In fact convenience marriage was common in late eighteenth and early

nineteenth century; we consider that it was a social agreement in that period.

Since women were deprived of the liberty to earn or inherit money, marriage

was their safety net from a life of poverty and despair; thus, women felt that

their only alternative was to compete on the marriage market. Men were the

buyers; women were the sellers. Society encouraged young women "to exercise

gamesmanship instead of honesty, to control rather than to share, and to live

through others rather than to find their own fulfillment" (Pearson and Pope 1981:

119). For these reasons, satisfactory marriages were extremely uncommon.

However, a fundamental idea in Austen's novels was that the respectable



marriage was that based on gender equality friendship, love and mutual respect

where man and woman were partners. In Austen's opinion, a person should "do

anything rather than marry without affection" (Austen 1796: 382).

In addition to financial pressures, the severe restrictions laws and customs in

eighteenth and nineteenth century England made women look to marriage as a

means of stability, thus becoming dependent on men. For instance, inheritance

laws entailed a family's inheritance to a male heir.

“Society was a very patriarchal institution. In Austen’s time men were in control

of all monetary assets. When a relative male died, his money was actually

passed on to the closest living male heir and the women were left penniless.

While men and women were allowed to choose their own partners, money,

status and wealth were important and often marriage was made on those

ground alone” (Coontz 2005: 56).

In fact, in Sense and Sensibility a male heir deprives his sisters of their home

expecting them accept “marriages of convenience," Austen shows that

"patriarchal control of women depended on women being denied the right to

earn or even inherit their own money" (Gilbert and Gubar 1979: 136).



1.3 OBJETIVES

1) Courtship and marriage protocol in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century.

In Regency England, marriage for women was not a feeling but a way to

survive. Courtship in this period was a long process which could last several

years or sometimes a financial arrangement, since when women marry their

properties become their husband’s.

a) Female prototype

Rousseau’s Emile or on Education book V (1792) sets the framework for

female education in Jane Austen´s time. It explains that Sophie, Emile’s

ideal wife, should be submissive and take care of the home and children.

From childhood, a woman was consciously educated for marriage in order

to become a good wife and submissive mother. These skills concerned with

learning to sing, play piano or dance as well as learning languages

highlighting in this sense, French, the art of conversation and silence among

other aspects.

After finishing her studies a woman was officially available within the

marriage market speaking in a metaphorical way. Financial or familial

circumstances could lead to women´s delay or debut in society; fact that

usually took place when the young was 17-18 years old, buying new clothes

to make her public appearance.



b) Male prototype

Rousseau believed that men were superior to women. He believed that men

were better to carry out public task and women were better to deal with

domestic chores. This is why Sophie is given a complementary education to

prepare her to guide and support her husband. Men’s education was

different; men who belong to the upper class were educated by a tutor or

else at a private boarding school.

2) Representation of courtship and marriage protocol in Jane Austen’s work

From the 1790s to the end of her life in 1817, Jane Austen became an

increasingly critical observer of the marriages which came to her notice.

Sense and Sensibility illustrates the problem of single women who are helpless

in near-poverty by law and patriarchy.

3) Jane Austen’s rejection of courtship and marriage protocol was

accepted by her contemporaries

Jane Austen rejects courtship and marriage on fashion in her time, her criticism

of marriages of convenience, is based upon satire, Jane Austen was a strong

advocate of marriage for love.



2. COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE PROTOCOL IN LATE 18TH CENTURY AND EARLY 19TH CENTURY

2.1 COURTSHIP

According to Vickery (2009:75) Courtship was considered more as a kind of

progress in life rather than a romantic interlude for young men because of the

fact that all women's properties and belongings passed directly to their

husband’s hands. In this respect, courtship was seriously taken by both parts.

The girl was protected by her mother during the first years of her social life.

She could not use her own cards but her mother’s, and in the case of not having

one, she used another woman’s cards from the family. Mothers were seeing

as a kind of companions, especially at early stages of her social life, because of

the fact that a single woman was never allowed to go out alone and particularly

when the company was mixed i.e. men and women.

Courtship was carried out according to different steps. First of all, the couple

went for a walk, always accompanied by someone. Then, the relationship was

identified and then mutual attraction was demonstrated by both parts.

If there was a lady at an assembly with the purpose of dancing, she could not

resume their friendship in the street, until not being submitted by a mutual friend

and with the permission of the lady.

Only lower classes had the opportunity to establish or make social life during

the Sunday service, dinner of the Church and at ball holiday whereas the upper

classes were allowed to carry out this social life in the period ranged from April

to June. (Vickery 2009: 75)

A woman needed to take care and be sophisticated in public affairs in order not

to offend or upset her family or even a possible candidate for marriage



Vickery adds, “eighteenth-century women needed to find a husband, so the

courtship lasted for years, sometimes they process was shortened due to

financial negotiations between families” (Vickery 1998: 82). According to

Brophy, a daughter could not marry without parental consent and engagement

depended on the type of family (Brophy 1991: 66). This means that she could

not willingly choose her husband, but sometimes the consent of parents is a

mere consent of the parties to the union, so that money makes the young

couple to get involved personally. “Many parents concerned about the future of

their daughter could not agree with the choice of their daughter. There existed

conduct manuals for women not to lose their honour and learn how to behave in

the presence of the other sex, because in courtship virtues of chastity and

submission are very important for women.

2.2 THE RULES OF PROPER LADIES’ BEHAVIOURS

According to Hill (1997: 23) there were specific rules and prohibitions for

courtship:

She should never be closer to the people of high rank unless she

was submitted by a mutual friend.

People of inferior rank were always presented to people in the

same position if higher rank people gave them permission.

Even after being introduced, higher rank person was not obliged to

maintain a friendship. A single woman could never go alone. Her

chaperone could be an elder person and preferably married.



Only during the engagement period, a woman was allowed to go

out alone with the gentleman and took his hand if proceeded.

A decent woman could not travel alone with a man in a car, unless

he belonged to her own family.

She can never call up a married man in his place of residence.

She could not receive a man at her place if she was alone;

another family member was required to be present in the room.

A lady should never look back on the street, at church, opera, etc.

Inappropriate conversations were not allowed in single women.

When it came to dating, I could go out alone with the gentleman,

he could hold her hand.

A proper woman could not travel in a closed carriage alone with a

man who was not family.

She can never call up a married man in his place of residence.

She could not get a man to her house if she was alone; another

family member had to be introduced in the room.

A lady should never look back on the street, at church, opera, etc.

Inappropriate conversations were not allowed in single women.

Sexual contact was not allowed before marriage. Innocence and

purity were especially required and demanded by men.

Intelligence and knowledge about politics were not taken into

consideration when choosing a woman. However, a woman was

allowed to have certain liberties, such as flirting with her fan

because it was accepted by the protocol. In marriages carried out

by high society members, women wore a generous dowry, and

financial aspects were agreed in prenuptial agreements.

Formal means of addressing someone.

To be discreet in conversation.

There was no possibility of intime touching.

They could not send letters between themselves.

They could not deliver gifts. (Hill 1997: 23)



2.3 MODES OF ADDRESS

According to Ross (2006: 21) the forms of treatment to address someone and

even among family members were very quiet. Married people are addressed

formally in public for example Sir Middleton and Lady Middleton in Sense and

Sensibility. Outside the family Christians names were used to distinguish the

younger siblings. In Sense and Sensibility Miss Dashwood (the eldest sister)

and Marianne Dashwood. Address someone by their last name denoted a lower

rank, such as a maid or child. (Ross 2006: 21)

2.4 CONVERSATION AND PHYSICAL CONTACT

According to Hill (1997: 35): physical contact was limited during Jane Austen’s

time handshake was a sign of intimacy, but in general the verbal expression by

an inclination towards the head or bow. There were also ways for a man and a

woman without engagement to have a conversation or join in the rules by

dancing and walking. Dancing had a very important social function; couples

could meet, talk and touch. The different kinds of dances holding hands were

allowed. The couple could also have a private conversation while dancing, but

always supervised by those who were near the dance floor.

Young girls in the countryside were escorted by a lady in company when

walking, if the couple wanted to talk they placed themselves discreetly one

behind the other .Correspondence and gifts were not allowed (Hill 1997: 35).



In Sense and Sensibility, Elinor assumes that her sister Marianne has received

a secret gift from Willoughby, a horse and she gives him a lock of her hair that

he accepts with pleasure while in London: “Such conduct made them, of course,

most exceedingly laughed at; but ridicule could not shame, and seemed hardly

to provoke them” (Austen 1994: 46).

2.5 THE PROPOSAL

According to Jones (2009: 27) once the proposal was accepted and the

parents consented the engagement, to break it was seen as something serious.

Engagement was a contract and the gentlemen could not ignore it, once

accepted, women could only change her mind after a careful consideration.

When courtship was made correctly and the proposal was accepted, the couple

began to prepare for marriage (Jones 2009: 27).

2.6. ENGAGEMENT

According to Jones (2006: 36).the engagement is a period lasted between

six months to two years depending on the age and circumstances. The

engagement finished with a ring that could be in the form of a knot of love or a

simple band. Couples could break their engagement but damages needed to

be paid to the affected part. Upon a proposal's acceptance, the suitor would

seek the acceptance of the father (or guardian) of the lady. Gift-giving was a

sign of an engagement.

It was quite ordinary that the gentlemen asked the maiden´s father permission

to court his daughter, but sometimes the gentlemen declared first and then the

girl received the blessing of the father. Often there were couples who engaged

in secret.



Marriage arrangements also included the amount of money that the bride would

receive annually from her husband. Contract marriage provisions were made for

the wife also in the case of husband’s death.

Brides did not receive the engagement ring until they reached the settlements.

The bride and the mother were in charge of the bride trousseau.

It was customary to provide of new clothing such as gloves, shoes, dresses

including the wedding dress.

Engagements in the Regency period were generally short compared with the

engagements today. The wedding took place months after the initial declaration.

Society in Jane Austen’s time early nineteenth century was a rural society,

marriage was seen as a way of elevating social status. This type of society was

a mixture of family background, reputation and wealth.

English women did not have any possibility of improving; the only respectable

job for women was to lady companion and governess. They in the nineteenth

century lived in a precarious situation, surviving only on the domestic labour.

They could not say, and even could not give their point of view on any subject,

under the control of men. At the ceremony they swear to be obedient to their

husbands and their lives were confined to marriage and reproduction. If a

woman was rich all her property went into her husband’s hands.

The courtship in Jane Austen’s time is essential to the understanding of

romantic relationships in her novels. In them, Jane Austen weaves themes such

as love; courtship and marriage.



Her work based on the qualities of compatibility, and intimacy rather than being

subjected to arranged marriages of previous centuries for wealth, status and

family advancement.

When a gentleman was sure that his chosen lady's feelings were reciprocal.

The most acceptable was going to ask permission from the parents of the lady,

in this way, the intentions were clear and appropriate framework was arranged

private.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good

fortune must be in want of a wife" (Austen 1813: 1).

Courtship was difficult. Men could not have with single women a private

conversation. They could not send correspondence; they could not touch each

other. Men and women without engagement are not allowed them to be alone,

they must always be accompanied by chaperone, and any show of interest from

each other would be misinterpreted as intended marriage. Very often facial

action gave information about what they wanted to communicate, for example:

blushes, stares, smiles, frowns and tears.

According to Hill (1997: 26). It is unacceptable for a woman to recognize man´s

attentions without proper behavioral conduct. The lady who wanted to succumb

some kind of enthusiasm or awareness of the intentions of a gentleman made a

fool of herself and became a subject of ridicule and derision.



Ross adds, breaking an engagement was a serious ordeal, but a woman could

do it at any time. Older men did not break an engagement, though younger men

could if it was determined that he was seduced by a 'gold digger' (Ross 2006:

36).

2.7 MARRIAGE NEGOTIATIONS

According to Jones (2009: 13) many couples organized their relationship with

the aim of marriage as the ultimate goal. There was a group of women trying to

arrange marriages.

Getting along with this type of selective social group helped the girls to make a

pairing advantage. In this period the majority of high society women got married

at ages between 18 and 23 years old (Jones 2009: 13).

2.8 MARRIAGE

According to Jones (2009: 61) attendance at the church wedding celebration

was moderate, only young unmarried sisters, cousins, and witnesses and the

best man attended.

Most weddings were held in the church after the reading of the banns. Unless

the couple had a license, the ceremony had to be done in the church before

lunch (hence the popularity of the wedding breakfast).

Banns were read three consecutive Sundays; every person under age was

required to submit consent of his/her parents or guardians. One of the partners

had to be resident in the parish where marriage was to take place. The priest

also did a certificate stating that banns were well done. Weddings were

celebrated between eight and noon.



It was common to see cousins getting marriage; especially in royal and wealthy

families, it was a way to protect the homestead. It was illegal in England for a

woman to marry a brother of the deceased husband or a man to marry the

sister of his sick wife (Jones 2009: 61).

According to Mary Wollstonecraft “England eighteenth-century women were

very dependent on their husbands because they were the only way to survive,

because the upper middle class woman could not work, the only paid work was

respectable for a woman's work were as governess or lady Companion if a

woman was single was in charge of her father, brothers or nearest male

relative” (Wollstonecraft 1990: 110). Vickery says that “most of the women did

not have physical sign of affection for the opposite sex, but they accepted the

marriage like a way to survive” (Vickery 1998: 136). Wilkes affirms that “the

women had to show quiet and modest when they were in the company of the

opposite sex” (Wilkes 1990: 31). “Well as women had to be virtuous men

needed to have social skills also declared as a suitor and future husband”

(Vickery, 1998: 54).

The wife was advised by the conduct manuals in that time she was submissive

to her husband, the husband had imperfections but they were not important in

theses type of books. So this can be justified as an injustice, but in the

institution of marriage all this was normal “upon which the Order of Humane

Society did so much depend” (Regan 2001: 19). In addition to “submissiveness

and obedience, wives were also advised to develop their ability to use female

charm to calm down their husbands when necessary” (Brophy 1991: 147).



“Despite these requisites of a good wife, a good husband was not to misuse his

authority. The intention of the promoted male power was not to generate a reign

of fear” (Regan 2001:21), it was just the consequence of the general

contemporary idea that women were “the weaker vessel” (Wollstonecraft 1990:

55). “In fact, a married woman was to establish her place in society within the

walls of her home, as the mistress of the household. Following the expansion of

the English middle class during this period, it became common to employ maids

and servants to perform the domestic duties. The duties left for the mistress

were then more concerned with looking after the needs of the family and being

at their disposition” (Vickery 1998:3). “Her role was therefore to function as the

manager of the family and household matters, in which case her role

resembled that of her husband’s, as working gentlemen would order labourers

and servants to perform the manual labour, rather than doing it themselves”

(Vickery 1998: 8-9).

"Marriage is crucial because it is the only accessible form of self-definition for

girls in her society" (Gilbert and Gubar 1979: 127).



2.9 FEMALE PROTOTYPE

In the second half of the eighteenth century, Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote a

treatise on education, Emile or on education, which sets out the new

educational theories. In the Enlightenment pedagogy cannot be analyzed

independently from politics.

Sofia’s education is different to Emile’s. Sofia is not to be educated for

autonomy but for dependence, (first on father then on the husband).

Submission and obedience. The first object of study of women must be men

close to them (husband, father, brother, son ...). The energy and time left after

the completion of this first task should be used to treasure all the "knowledge"

necessary for the performance of her functions: wife and mother. The fulfillment

of these tasks requires that women internalize a peculiar idea of virtue.

Rousseau believed that men and women have fundamentally different natures

and understandings. Thus, early childhood education should depend on that

fact. If Emile's education aims at in the exercise of citizenship, Sofia’s

education culminates achieving the role of wife and mother. If Emile´s “natural”

tendency is to evolve in the public sphere a Sophia’s “nature” tendency is to

succeed in the private sphere.

In Jane Austen's day, women were not educated either in schools or

universities, this type of education were not considered necessary for girls, and

then were educated mainly at home. Women were educated to decorate,

entertain, be daughters, wives and mothers. They were taught by their fathers

to read and write, their mothers taught them to sew, embroider and care for the

home, in order to prepare them for their own home one day. Besides some

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html



other skills such as drawing, singing, playing musical instruments and learn a

foreign language (like French and Italian), if a governess was hired or young

ladies were sent abroad to complete their education when families were wealthy

to finish their education profile.

Since women could not study for a degree, they could not get involved in policy

issues; their education was religious and practical.

2.10 MALE PROTOTYPE

The model of male education proposed by Rousseau in Emile or on Education

was widely spread. In fact, this treatise on education can only be understood in

full if you enroll in a broader perspective: therefore rational and political

construction. Thus, Rousseau's educational theories are aimed at producing a

rational and autonomous individual. Able to take charge of public affairs. Master

of himself, Master of his passions. Critical more oriented to the general will of

the particular. Emile complaints inequality over all things and defends freedom.

Rousseau's educational ideal is fulfilled in the exercise of citizenship.

Young children were taught by their parents or a governess or tutor. Rousseau

removed his fictional pupil, Émile, from his family and placed him in rural

isolation. The first three stages of a child's development (infancy, boyhood, and

pre-adolescence) required a kind of "negative" education. Protected from the

artificial and pernicious influences of contemporary society, Émile would not

develop unrealistic ambitions and feelings of jealousy or superiority with regard

to other men (amour propre). In such a way, the tutor would encourage the

child's physical development, shield him from social and religious institutions,



prevent the formation of bad habits and prejudices, and preserve his natural

inclination of self-interest (amour de soi).

Educated free from the manipulations and desires of others up to this point,

Rousseau wanted Emile to remain ignorant of social duty and only to

understand what was possible or impossible in the physical world. In such a

way, his student would learn to obey the immutable laws of nature.

3. REPRESENTATION OF COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE PROTOCOL IN JANE AUSTEN’S WORK

One of the characteristics of Sense and Sensibility is the lack of a father figure,

at that time the father made decisions on the future marriage of their daughters.

In the absence of the father, mothers had some authority to do so. Mothers

played an important role in the upbringing and education.

In the novel is Jane Austen depicts upper class sometimes in England in the

early nineteenth century. Jane Austen wrote about some social changes that

occurred at the time, such as land reform and the first stage of the industrial

revolution.

The Dashwood sisters illustrate the plight of upper-class women in England.

Jane Austen criticises and parodies the romantic concept of an ideal love and

passion through Marianne. Marianne rejects Colonel Brandon’s love because

she feels attracted by Willoughby this gentleman; however he marries Miss

Grey for money. Marianne discovers disappointment and learns to love for

Colonel Brandon. This is further evidence of Jane Austen’s.



Sense and Sensibility reflects a patriarchal view of passional love system,

where only the first son inherits the estate of his father, John Dashwood inherits

the properties of his father Henry Dashwood leaving his sisters only some

furniture and 400 pounds a year. Another major heir in the novel is Edward, he

is the first son of the Ferrars, but is left nothing, when announcing his

engagement with Miss Steele socially inferior to him.

Some features defining the female prototype mentioned in Emile or on

Education by Jean Jacques Rousseau, who greatly influenced the French

Revolution are to be found in Elinor’s Character.

Sense and Sensibility like many novels at the time, depicts a society ruled by

appearances and prejudice where the role of women is subordinate to than of

men. Jane Austen shows the difficulties the heroines of her novel must go

through when affected by men’s decisions,

Jane Austen's portrait of women is an incredible and real challenge; she

summarizes the delights and difficulties of femininity through the array of

characters. Lady Middleton is an elegant woman; she represents the void some

ladies, married to gentleman highly regarded, felt.

“They were of course very anxious to see a person on whom so much of their

comfort at Barton must depend; and the elegance of her appearance was

favourable to their wishes. Lady Middleton was not more than six or seven and twenty; her face was handsome, her figure tall and striking, and her address

graceful. Her manners had all the elegance which her husband's wanted. But they would have been improved by some share of his frankness and warmth;

and her visit was long enough to detract something from their first admiration, by shewing that though perfectly well-bred, she was reserved, cold, and had

nothing to say for herself beyond the most common-place inquiry or remark.” (Austen 1994: 26)



Marianne's opinion is that Mrs. Jennings was an elegant lady, prim and proper

as it was the eldest daughter of Lady Middleton:

“Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton's mother, was a good-humoured, merry, fat,

elderly woman, who talked a great deal, seemed very happy, and rather

vulgar. She was full of jokes and laughter, and before dinner was over had said many witty things on the subject of lovers and husbands; hoped they had

not left their hearts behind them in Sussex, and pretended to see them blush whether they did or not. Marianne was vexed at it for her sister's sake, and

turned her eyes towards Elinor, to see how she bore these attacks, with an earnestness which gave Elinor far more pain than could arise from such

common-place raillery as Mrs. Jennings's”. (Austen 1994: 29)

Marianne challenges the traditional concept of femininity; this attitude will cause

her some trouble:

"Elinor," cried Marianne, "is this fair? is this just? are my ideas so scanty? But I

see what you mean. I have been too much at my ease, too happy, too frank. I have erred against every common-place notion of decorum! I have been open

and sincere where I ought to have been reserved, spiritless, dull, and deceitful. Had I talked only of the weather and the roads, and had I spoken

only once in ten minutes, this reproach would have been spared." (Austen 1994: 42)

By rejective the role of Sophie, she will know the real meaning of tragedy, she will

experience social sworn.

“Marianne would have thought herself very inexcusable had she been able to sleep at all the first night after parting from Willoughby. She would have been

ashamed to look her family in the face the next morning, had she not risen from her bed in more need of repose than when she lay down in it. But the

feelings which made such composure a disgrace, left her in no danger of incurring it. She was awake the whole night, and she wept the greatest part of

it. She got up with an headache, was unable to talk, and unwilling to take any nourishment; giving pain every moment to her mother and sisters, and

forbidding all attempt at consolation from either. Her sensibility was potent enough!” (Austen 1994:73)

Another vision of women in Sense and Sensibility is Mrs. Palmer´s. Less elegant and proper that her elder sister Lady Middleton she is much more charming, Jane Austen makes clear this character is not the ideal woman raised at of the time:

“Mrs. Palmer was several years younger than Lady Middleton, and totally

unlike her in every respect. She was short and plump, had a very pretty face,



and the finest expression of good humour in it that could possibly be. Her manners were by no means so elegant as her sister's, but they were much

more prepossessing. She came in with a smile, smiled all the time of her visit, except w hen she laughed, and smiled when she went away”. (Austen

1994:92)

With the description of the Steele sisters, Jane Austen shows a variety of

criteria to judge:

“The young ladies arrived, their appearance was by no means ungenteel or

unfashionable. Their dress was very smart, their manners very civil, they were

delighted with the house and in raptures with the furniture, and they happened to be so doatingly fond of children that Lady Middleton's good opinion was

engaged in their favour before they had been an hour at the Park. She declared them to be very agreeable girls indeed, which for her ladyship was

enthusiastic admiration. Sir John's confidence in his own judgment rose with this animated praise, and he set off directly for the cottage to tell the Miss

Dashwoods of the Miss Steeles' arrival, and to assure them of their being the sweetest girls in the world. From such commendation as this, however, there

was not much to be learned; Elinor well knew that the sweetest girls in the world were to be met with in every part of England, under every possible

variation of form, face, temper, and understanding”. (Austen 1994:101-102)

Steele sisters are not the kind of women who support Elinor, this thinks that

Lucy cannot be trusted: “This specimen of the Miss Steeles was enough. The

vulgar freedom and folly of the eldest left her no recommendation, and as Elinor

was not blinded by the beauty or the shrewd look of the youngest, to her want of

real elegance and artlessness, she left the house without any wish of knowing

them better”. (Austen 1994:106)

Lucy shows a type femininity that is quite all right, but being a woman she is not

deeply uneducated, Jane Austen criticizes her lack of education and personal

development:



“Lucy was naturally clever; her remarks were often just and amusing; and as a

companion for half an hour Elinor frequently found her agreeable; but her powers had received no aid from education, she was ignorant and illiterate,

and her deficiency of all mental improvement, her want of information in the most common particulars, could not be concealed from Miss Dashwood, in

spite of her constant endeavour to appear to advantage. Elinor saw, and pitied her for, the neglect of abilities which education might have rendered so

respectable; but she saw, with less tenderness of feeling, the thorough want of delicacy, of rectitude, and integrity of mind, which her attentions, her

assiduities, her flatteries at the Park betrayed; and she could have no lasting satisfaction in the company of a person who joined insincerity with ignorance; whose want of instruction prevented their meeting in conversation on terms of equality, and whose conduct towards others, made every shew of attention

and deference towards herself perfectly valueless”. (Austen 1994: 108)

Mrs. Palmer is a great host, but she needs to be polished to enter high society circle, Jane Austen regards her aa good woman in spite of her constant and irritating laughter:

“Nothing was wanting on Mrs. Palmer's side that constant and friendly good-

humour could do, to make them feel themselves welcome. The openness and heartiness of her manner more than atoned for that want of recollection and

elegance, which made her often deficient in the forms of politeness; her kindness, recommended by so pretty a face, was engaging; her folly, though

evident, was not disgusting because it was not conceited; and Elinor could have forgiven everything but her laugh”. (Austen 1994: 257)

British society in Sense and Sensibility is a portrayed as very complex issue. It

is stratified by being divided into hierarchical classes. Characters are

obsessively aware of their possessions, relationships and power within the

social system. For example, John Dashwoods, cold and selfish, he believes that

people need to do is to behave with decorum in everyday life to earn respect,

regardless of human qualities: “He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be

rather cold hearted, and rather selfish, is to be ill-disposed: but he was, in general, well

respected; for he conducted himself with propriety in the discharge of his ordinary

duties”. (Austen 1994: 5)



Elinor knows that she cannot think of marrying Edward because Edward's family

would not accept her. This shows the importance of social status in British

society at the time:

“He is very far from being independent. What his mother really is we cannot know; but, from Fanny's occasional mention of her conduct and opinions, we have never been disposed to think her amiable; and I am very much mistaken

if Edward is not himself aware that there would be many difficulties in his way, if he were to wish to marry a woman who had not either a great fortune or high

rank”. (Austen 1994:18)

Marianne and Elinor have different points of views on society; however both

must have control over their actions. Whereas Marianne does what she wants,

Elinor probes to behave otherwise:

"I am afraid," replied Elinor, "that the pleasantness of an employment does not

always evince its propriety."

"On the contrary, nothing can be a stronger proof of it, Elinor; for if there had been any real impropriety in what I did, I should have been sensible of it at the

time, for we always know when we are acting wrong, and with such a conviction I could have had no pleasure." (Austen 1994:60)

Edward does not feel comfortable in high society and he thinks he does not fit

into it when his mother imagines future plans for her son, he says:

"My judgment," he returned, "is all on your side of the question; but I am afraid my practice is much more on your sister's. 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. I have frequently thought that I must have been

intended by nature to be fond of low company, I am so little at my ease among strangers of gentility!" (Austen 1994:82)

Elinor is a similar type of person. She does not feel comfortable either with

some female members representative high society in London: "My objection is

this; though I think very well of Mrs. Jennings' heart, she is not a woman whose society



can afford us pleasure, or whose protection will give us consequence." (Austen 1994:

131)

Elinor analyses the different social norms live society in London and in the

country and social activities carried in each place:

“Elinor found, when the evening was over, that disposition is not materially

altered by a change of abode, for although scarcely settled in town, Sir John had contrived to collect around him, nearly twenty young people, and to

amuse them with a ball. This was an affair, however, of which Lady Middleton did not approve. In the country, an unpremeditated dance was very allowable;

but in London, where the reputation of elegance was more important and less easily attained, it was risking too much, for the gratification of a few girls, to

have it known that Lady Middleton had given a small dance of eight or nine couple, with two violins, and a mere side-board collation”. (Austen, 1994 144)

Lady Middleton is more concerned with social status than feelings. She feels

affection for the Dashwoods. However she prefers as friend the future Mrs.

Willoughby because she is rich and powerful:

“Lady Middleton expressed her sense of the affair about once every day, or

twice, if the subject occurred very often, by saying, "It is very shocking indeed!" and by the means of this continual though gentle vent, was able not

only to see the Miss Dashwoods from the first without the smallest emotion, but very soon to see them without recollecting a word of the matter; and

having thus supported the dignity of her own sex, and spoken her decided censure of what was wrong in the other, she thought herself at liberty to attend

to the interest of her own assemblies, and therefore determined (though rather against the opinion of Sir John), that as Mrs. Willoughby would at once be a

woman of elegance and fortune, to leave her card with her as soon as she married”. (Austen 1994:182)

Fanny like Lady Middleton is very very cold and selfish. They like people according their social condition,: Lady Middleton was equally pleased with Mrs. Dashwood. There was a kind of cold-hearted selfishness on both sides, which mutually attracted them; and they sympathised with each other in an insipid propriety of demeanour, and a general want of understanding. ( Austen 1994:194)



Love in Sense and Sensibility is viewed from different angles, sometimes it can

be dangerous and even tragic, sometimes wonderful and beautiful.

The view that Mrs. Dashwood has about love and relationships in general is

different from her daughter’s, Elinor:

It is enough," said she; "to say that he is unlike Fanny is enough. It implies everything amiable. I love him already." "I think you will like him," said Elinor, "when you know more of him." "Like him!" replied her mother with a smile. "I can feel no sentiment of approbation inferior to love."

"You may esteem him."

"I have never yet known what it was to separate esteem and love." ( Austen 1994: 14)

Elinor loves Edward because of his personality, but her feelings for him cannot be described as irrational passion:

“The excellence of his understanding and his principles can be concealed only by that shyness which too often keeps him silent. You know enough of him to

do justice to his solid worth. But of his minuter propensities, as you call them, you have from peculiar circumstances been kept more ignorant than myself.

He and I have been at times thrown a good deal together, while you have been wholly engrossed on the most affectionate principle by my mother. I

have seen a great deal of him, have studied his sentiments and heard his opinion on subjects of literature and taste; and, upon the whole, I venture to

pronounce that his mind is well-informed, his enjoyment of books exceedingly great, his imagination lively, his observation just and correct, and his taste

delicate and pure. His abilities in every respect improve as much upon acquaintance as his manners and person. At first sight, his address is certainly

not striking; and his person can hardly be called handsome, till the expression of his eyes, which are uncommonly good, and the general sweetness of his

countenance, is perceived. At present, I know him so well, that I think him really handsome; or, at least, almost so”. (Austen 1994:17)



Willoughby is the perfect lover according to Marianne, he is the person she

imagined and expected to be her partner and Elinor makes evaluation Edward’s

features this way:

“Willoughby was a young man of good abilities, quick imagination, lively

spirits, and open, affectionate manners. He was exactly formed to engage Marianne's heart; for, with all this, he joined not only a captivating person, but

a natural ardour of mind, which was now roused and increased by the example of her own, and which recommended him to her affection beyond

everything else”. (Austen, 1994:43)

Marianne thinks that love is as portrayed in the novels, but Jane Austen shows

readers love which is a much more complex matter:

The evening passed off in the equal indulgence of feeling. She played over

every favourite song that she had been used to play to Willoughby, every air in which their voices had been oftenest joined, and sat at the instrument gazing

on every line of music that he had written out for her, till her heart was so heavy that no farther sadness could be gained; and this nourishment of grief

was every day applied. She spent whole hours at the pianoforte alternately singing and crying; her voice often totally suspended by her tears. In books,

too, as well as in music, she courted the misery which a contrast between the past and present was certain of giving. She read nothing but what they had

been used to read together. (Austen, 1994:73)

Jane Austen reflects through Charlotte Palmer that love is a mystery, as though

her husband is a rude person, who has a bad temper, she loves him: Oh! no; but

if mama had not objected to it, I dare say he would have liked it of all things. He had

not seen me then above twice, for it was before I left school. However I am much

happier as I am. Mr. Palmer is just the kind of man I like." (Austen 1994 100)

Elinor realizes that lovers need to match Lucy Steele, is not Edward’s proper

match, they're not made for each other. Lucy Steele is engaged to Edward in

order to achieve social fulfillment. Her engagement is not based upon real

affection:



“Had Edward been intentionally deceiving her? Had he feigned a regard for

her which he did not feel? Was his engagement to Lucy an engagement of the

heart? No; whatever it might once have been, she could not believe it such at present. His affection was all her own. She could not be deceived in that. Her

mother, sisters, Fanny, all had been conscious of his regard for her at Norland; it was not an illusion of her own vanity. He certainly loved her. What

a softener of the heart was this persuasion! How much could it not tempt her to forgive! He had been blame able, highly blame able, in remaining at

Norland after he felt her influence over him to be more than it ought to be. In that, he could not be defended; but if he had injured her, how much more had

he injured himself! If her case were pitiable, his was hopeless. His imprudence had made her miserable for a while; but it seemed to have deprived himself of

all chance of ever being otherwise. She might in time regain tranquillity; but he, what had he to look forward to? Could he ever be tolerably happy with

Lucy Steele? Could he, were his affection for herself out of the question, with his integrity, his delicacy, and well-informed mind, be satisfied with a wife like

her -- illiterate, artful, and selfish?.” (Austen 1994: 117-118)

Though Elinor loves Edward, he knows the match cannot be dove because her

economic position makes it impossible. His mother, Mrs. Ferrars has other her

son plans for her son, Miss Morton:

“But I did not love only him; -- and while the comfort of others was dear to me,

I was glad to spare them from knowing how much I felt. Now, I can think and speak of it with little emotion. I would not have you suffer on my account; for I assure you I no longer suffer materially myself. I have many things to support me. I am not conscious of having provoked the disappointment by any imprudence of my own, and I have borne it as much as possible without spreading it farther. I acquit Edward of all essential misconduct. I wish him very happy; and I am so sure of his always doing his duty, that though now he may harbour some regret, in the end he must become so. Lucy does not want sense, and that is the foundation on which everything good may be built. And after all, Marianne, after all that is bewitching in the idea of a single and constant attachment, and all that can be said of one's happiness depending entirely on any particular person, it is not meant -- it is not fit -- it is not possible that it should be so. Edward will marry Lucy; he will marry a woman superior in person and understanding to half her sex; and time and habit will teach him to forget that he ever thought another superior to her." (Austen 1994: 221-222)

Marianne changes her point of view about love when Willoughby marries Miss

Grey to acquire social status. She analyzes the situation and she admits she

made a mistake: "I have not a doubt of it," said Marianne; "and I have nothing to

regret, nothing but my own folly." (Austen, 1994: 298)



In Sense and Sensibility everything is based on marriage which becomes the

most important social contract. Marriage to Jane Austen is a paramount

concern. Marriage is not only a personal question. It affects the whole social

group, because marriage is not a matter of love or companionship, but more a

political, social and economic alliance between two people, and their families.

In Sense and Sensibility we see two different views of marriage: the first

marriage according to convenience, marriage is understood in purely economic

terms. The second, marriage understood in sentimental terms. Mrs. Dashwood

has a view of marriage where people are to give and receive love:

“Some mothers might have encouraged the intimacy from motives of interest, for Edward Ferrars was the eldest son of a man who had died very rich; and some might have repressed it from motives of prudence, for, except a trifling sum, the whole of his fortune depended on the will of his mother. But Mrs. Dashwood was alike uninfluenced by other consideration. It was enough for her that he appeared to be amiable, that he loved her daughter, and that Elinor returned the partiality”. (Austen 1994: 3-4)

Middleton’s marriage is an example of marriage understood in practical terms:

“Sir John was a sportsman, Lady Middleton a mother. He hunted and shot, and she humoured her children; and these were their only resources. Lady Middleton had the advantage of being able to spoil her children all the year round, while Sir John's independent employments were in existence only half the time”. (Austen 1994: 28)

Marriage is a public issue in the Regency. In the novel, Mrs. Jennings is always

interfering with couples, trying to match people taking into account economic

issues:

“Mrs. Jennings was a widow, with an ample jointure. She had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now therefore nothing to do but marry all the rest of the world”. (Austen 1994: 32)



Marianne’s point of view on marriage is quite pessimistic; she seems to

believe that the ability to love simply dissipates once people are over twenty

five:

"A woman of seven-and-twenty," said Marianne, after pausing a moment, "can

never hope to feel or inspire affection again; and if her home be uncomfortable, or her fortune small, I can suppose that she might bring herself

to submit to the offices of a nurse, for the sake of the provision and security of a wife. In his marrying such a woman, therefore, there would be nothing

unsuitable. It would be a compact of convenience, and the world would be satisfied. In my eyes it would be no marriage at all, but that would be nothing.

To me it would seem only a commercial exchange, in which each wished to be benefited at the expense of the other." (Austen 1994:33)

Therefore marriage is not always as beautiful as everyone thinks it is.

Sometimes it is the cause of troubles, Mr. Palmer the man who marries

Charlotte Mrs. Jennings’s youngest daughter is rude, sarcastic and moody,

really unhappy when is in his wife’s company. She is a young girl who makes

silly remarks; this couple was established on financial interests:

“Elinor was not inclined, after a little observation, to give him credit for being

so genuinely and unaffectedly ill-natured or ill-bred as he wished to appear. His temper might perhaps be a little soured by finding, like many others of his

sex, that through some unaccountable bias in favour of beauty, he was the husband of a very silly woman, but she knew that this kind of blunder was too

common for any sensible man to be lastingly hurt by it”. (Austen 1994:97)

Jane Austen gives another example of marriage as a business contract, that of

John Dashwood and Fanny. There are two parties involved to obtain social and

financial benefits:

“We think now" -- said Mr. Dashwood, after a short pause, "of Robert's marrying Miss Morton." “Elinor, smiling at the grave and decisive importance of her brothers tone, calmly replied” – "The lady, I suppose, has no choice in the affair." "Choice! -- how do you mean?"



"I only mean, that I suppose from your manner of speaking, it must be the same to Miss Morton whether she marry Edward or Robert."

"Certainly, there can be no difference; for Robert will now to all intents and purposes be considered as the eldest son; and as to anything else, they are both very agreeable young men. I do not know that one is superior to the other." (Austen 1994: 251)

Mrs. Jennings is a matchmaker; her mission is to find a husband for all the girls

in the area, Marriage is described as a kind of community activity carried out

within groups of friends:

"I am sure your mother will not object to it; for I have had such good luck in

getting my own children off my hands, that she will think me a very fit person

to have the charge of you; and if I don't get one of you at least well married before I have done with you, it shall not be my fault. I shall speak a good word

for you to all the young men, you may depend upon it." (Austen 1994:129)

Marriage as a financial merger between families may fail because one of the

parties may not love the other. In Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen reflects

her rejection of this type of marriage when Edward is despised and disinherited

by her mother for not complying with her wishes. He prefers love to money

when closing Elinor as his partner:

“His mother explained to him her liberal designs, in case of his marrying Miss Morton; told him that she would settle on him the Norfolk estate, which, clear of land-tax, brings in a good thousand a-year; offered even, when matters grew desperate, to make it twelve hundred; and in opposition to this, if he still persisted in this low connection, represented to him the certain penury that must attend the match. His own two thousand pounds she protested should be his all; she would never see him again; and so far would she be from affording him the smallest assistance, that if he were to enter into any profession with a view of better support, she would do all in her power to prevent his advancing in it”. (Austen 1994: 225)

Marianne recognizes when he knows the true story of Willoughby that their

splitting up is positive for her. He is not reliable and their engagement would

have been unsatisfactory:



"It is a great relief to me -- what Elinor told me this morning -- I have now heard exactly what I wished to hear." For some moments her voice was lost; but, recovering herself, she added, and with greater calmness than before: "I am now perfectly satisfied, I wish for no change. I never could have been happy with him, after knowing, as sooner or later I must have known, all this. I should have had no confidence, no esteem. Nothing could have done it away to my feelings." (Austen 1994: 297)

At the end of the novel, different marriages take place; Jane Austen teaches in

Sense and Sensibility that there is nothing better than a love match:

“His situation indeed was more than commonly joyful. He had more than the ordinary triumph of accepted love to swell his heart, and raise his spirits. He was released without any reproach to himself, from an entanglement which

had long formed his misery, from a woman whom he had long ceased to love and elevated at once to that security with another, which he must have

thought of almost with despair, as soon as he had learnt to consider it with desire. He was brought, not from doubt or suspense, but from misery to

happiness; and the change was openly spoken in such a genuine, flowing, grateful cheerfulness, as his friends had never witnessed in him before”.

(Austen 1994: 306)

Jane Austen, knew that money was a motivating factor in a lot of decisions put

forward in Sense and Sensibility. Wealth and inheritance creates a system of

control and power that profoundly influence the decisions and personal choices

of some characters, most of the characters Jane Austen in Sense and

Sensibility are economically dependent on their parents or other relatives and

therefore are obliged to submit to them. Jane Austen tries to balance the

pragmatic need of wealth with its emotional demands through the novel.

“Mrs. Smith has this morning exercised the privilege of riches upon a poor

dependant cousin, by sending me on business to London. I have just received

my dispatches, and taken my farewell of Allenham; and by way of exhilaration I am now come to take my farewell of you”. (Austen 1994:66)



Wealth is viewed different according to character, for example: Elinor and

Edward are happy to achieve a certain level of comfort while Marianne dreams

of living in a mansion with Willoughby:

“Strange if it would!" cried Marianne. "What have wealth or grandeur to do with happiness?" "Grandeur has but little," said Elinor, "but wealth has much to do with it."

"Elinor, for shame! said Marianne; "money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned." "Perhaps, said Elinor, smiling, "we may come to the same point. Your competence and my wealth are very much alike, I dare say; and without them, as the world goes now, we shall both agree that every kind of external comfort must be wanting. Your ideas are only nobler than mine. Come, what is your competence?" "About eighteen hundred or two thousand a year; not more than that." Elinor laughed. "Two thousand a year! One is my wealth! I guessed how it would end." (Austen 1994: 80)

Mrs. Dashwood’s view of wealth, unlike Marianne’s is not selfish, quite the

contrary, she perceives wealth as something good for her daughters: “I should

be puzzled to spend a large fortune myself," said Mrs. Dashwood, "if my

children were all to be rich without my help." (Austen 1994:81)

Willoughby rejects Marianne, because he has no money himself. In London, the

excuses he offers to reject Marianne are not convincing:

“Poor soul!" cried Mrs. Jennings, as soon as she was gone, "how it grieves me to see her! And I declare if she is not gone away without finishing her wine! And the dried cherries too! Lord! nothing seems to do her any good. I am sure if I knew anything she would like, I would send all over the town for it. Well, it is the oddest thing to me, that a man should use such a pretty girl so ill! But when there is plenty of money on one side, and next to none on the other, Lord bless you! they care no more about such things! " . "The lady then, Miss Grey I think you called her is very rich?" "Fifty thousand pounds, my dear. Did you ever see her? a smart, stylish girl they say, but not handsome. I remember her aunt very well, Biddy Henshawe;



she married a very wealthy man. But the family is all rich together. Fifty thousand pounds! And by all accounts it won't come before it's wanted; for they say he is all to pieces. No wonder! dashing about with his curricle and hunters! Well, it don't signify talking, but when a young man, be he who he will, comes and makes love to a pretty girl, and promises marriage, he has no business to fly off from his word only because he grows poor, and a richer girl is ready to have him. Why don't he, in such a case, sell his horses, let his house, turn off his servants, and make a thorough reform at once? I warrant you, Miss Marianne would have been ready to wait till matters came round. But that won't do, now-a-days; nothing in the way of pleasure can ever be given up by the young men of this age." (Austen 1994: 163)

John feels guilty for not sharing his inherited wealth with his sisters, but he feels

he needs to protect his fortune:

“Your expenses both in town and country must certainly be considerable, but your income is a large one."

"Not so large, I dare say, as many people suppose. I do not mean to complain, however; it is undoubtedly a comfortable one, and I hope, will in time be better. The in closure of Norland Common, now carrying on, is a most serious drain. And then I have made a little purchase within this half year, East King ham Farm, you must remember the place, where old Gibson used to live. The land was so very desirable for me in every respect, so immediately adjoining my own property, that I felt it my duty to buy it. I could not have answered it to my conscience to let it fall into any other hands. A man must pay for his convenience, and it has cost me a vast deal of money." (Austen 1994: 190)

John is an immoderate man when considering Mrs. Jenninngs’ fortune. He

thinks that Elinor will receive part of it when the old lady dies:

"She seems a most valuable woman indeed. Her house, her style of living, all

bespeaks an exceeding good income, and it is an acquaintance that has not only been of great use to you hitherto, but in the end may prove materially

advantageous. Her inviting you to town is certainly a vast thing in your favour; and indeed, it speaks altogether so great a regard for you, that in all

probability when she dies you will not be forgotten. She must have a great deal to leave."(Austen 1995:191)



When thinking about Edward , John states that his brother in law should

emulate Willoughby by marrying a woman with fortune, Edward takes a

different path, honor rather than money:

"It is a melancholy consideration. Born to the prospect of such affluence! I

cannot conceive a situation more deplorable. The interest of two thousand pounds -- how can a man live on it! -- and when to that is added the

recollection that he might, but for his own folly, within three months have been in the receipt of two thousand five hundred a-year, (for Miss Morton has thirty

thousand pounds,) I cannot picture to myself a more wretched condition. We must all feel for him; and the more so, because it is totally out of our power to

assist him." (Austen 1994: 226)

Willoughby admits to Elinor that he made a mistake by marrying Miss Grey. He

will never be happy: “To avoid a comparative poverty, which her affection and her

society would have deprived of all its horrors, I have, by raising myself to affluence, lost

everything that could make it a blessing”. (Austen 1994:277)

Jane Austen, shows that happiness has very little to do with money. Elinor and

Edward will be happy with the ten thousand pounds given to them:

“What she would engage to do towards augmenting their income, was next to be considered; and here it plainly appeared, that though Edward was now her only son, he was by no means her eldest; for while Robert was inevitably endowed with a thousand pounds a year, not the smallest objection was made against Edward's taking orders for the sake of two hundred and fifty at the utmost; nor was anything promised either for the present or in future, beyond the ten thousand pounds, which had been given with Fanny. It was as much, however, as was desired, and more than was expected by Edward and Elinor; and Mrs. Ferrars herself, by her shuffling excuses, seemed the only person surprised at her not giving more”. (Austen 1994: 317-318)



4. JANE AUSTEN’S REJECTION OF COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE PROTOCOL AS IT WAS ACCEPTED BY HER CONTEMPORARIES.

Nowadays society puts significant value on marriage, the couple is expected to

share a life full of love and affection, but in the eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries, the concept of marriage, as we have stated was different. Arranged

marriages were on fashion .Jane rejects them. Many marriages in the novel are

based on money and not on love, we have the example of Sir and Lady

Middleton, Willoughby and Miss Grey, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, they are an exact

description of marriages based on financial agreements.

Throughout Sense and Sensibility there is a conflict between reason and

emotion that is transmitted through several different characters. Elinor and

Edward or Marianne and Colonel Brandon achieve some kind of balance in

marriage .They represent partners who respect and love each other.

Jane Austen's novel portrays the life of women who want to marry for love. Jane

Austen herself never married but had two opportunities to do so. She wanted

her personal independence, so that she represented many of the heroines of

her novels. She published her novels anonymously because at her time writing

was a man’s activity. Marriage is the main theme of her novels. Through her

satirical and ironic style, she meant to convey her rejection of the way women

treated in the marriage market. Jane Austen heroine described her heroines as

smart women, strong, independent women, able to stay true to themselves and

their beliefs.



Her stories detailed the daily women’s live in late eighteenth and early

nineteenth centuries with great honesty and truth, she described the desperate

struggle for women to marry.

Jane Austen describes the upper class wives, who represent smart, educated

and refined women, although some of them are cold and stinging for example

Fanny or Lady Middelton, however Mrs. Jennings is a character who represent

the aristocratic woman, nosy, boring, carefree and ready for gossip, thus with

these type of characters Jane Austen mocks.

The idea of romance and passion is also criticized by Jane Austen through the

character of Marianne. Discretion was an issue of relevance in society. The

disagreement of Elinor and Marianne in the issues of discretion and decorum

stands out in the novel, Marianne lacks prudence and Elinor lacks passion to

express her feelings.

Mrs. Dashwood is idealistic. She has expectations to marry her two daughters

well, but Fanny Dashwood her daughter in law tries to prevent her brother

“Edward” from loving Elinor. She and her mother, Mrs. Ferrans, have other

projects for him. Jane Austen shows how women of “good families” could marry

rich and respectable gentlemen like Edward whereas women with little money

could not easily do it.

Jane Austen wrote about what she knew, about the daily lives of the women of

her time and about young women who had interest in marriage.



She had views on women and marriage and women´s rights in general and she

made this known in her writing. Her message is read by millions of women and

men all over the world. Thanks to pioneers like Jane Austen, women have

learnt to understand the pillars patriarchal society.

Gilbert and Gubar (1979: 26) give Austen credit for educating readers about

“grace under pressure” but found Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre 1847 to be far

more perceptive about the depths of the female psyche. Mary Poovey´s (The

proper lady and the woman writer 1984) states that Austen is aware of the

limitations society imposes on women, but Poovey ultimately casts “Austen as a

novelist who sees marriage as the ideal paradigm for the most perfect fusion

between the individual and society (Poovey 1984: 203).

“During a time when all social criticism, particularly that aimed at the institution

of the family in general and the place of women in particular came to be

associated with the radical cause, Austen defended and enlarged a progressive

middle ground that had been eaten away by polarizing polemics born of the

1790s” (Johnson 1988: 166)



5. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion this study have provided some evidence that Jane Austen took a

"stratified society absolutely for granted and examined the female

powerlessness that underlay monetary pressure to marry, and showed " the

injustice of eighteenth and nineteenth century laws and customs, and the

suppressed individualism of females (Gilbert and Gubar, 1979: 136). Through

her novel, Austen gave voice to the women of her time, but Austen's own voice

was not lost among the others either; she spoke loud and clear in the outcome

of her stories because, despite the existing female condition, the heroines

in Sense and Sensibility overcame society's barriers by marrying for love, not

for money, by expressing their true selves, and by asserting the small amount of

freedom that they were allowed, all of which society considered to be

appropriate behavior, all of which Jane Austen considered to be essential to a

happy and fulfilling life, and all of which are relevant to women even today.

Austen’s focus on marriage reflected the reality that women experienced in late

eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. There was a vast difference

between the opportunities available to women in Austen’s time and the present

time. In those times, it was near impossible for young, respectable women to

make their own fortune and be truly independent. After all, universities, politics,

and careers were not open to women. The few occupations that were available

to them were neither highly respected nor well paid. Therefore, the only way for

women to leave their family home and to have some money was to get married.

In today’s society, however, many women go to university and/or have a career



and most would only consider marriage for love. Adams notes that many of

Austen’s novels feature “a heroine who moves, sometimes gracefully,

sometimes awkwardly, through a sort of courtship dance in which she must

judge each of her dancing partners for appearance, style, character, and, most

importantly, compatibility, not just for the dance, but also for possible marriage.”

(Adams 1982: 56)

Women readers can identify with the heroines’ difficulties in finding a husband

and empathize with them as they attempt to overcome each obstacle that

stands in their way. Moreover, it is somewhat comforting to the modern woman

to know that even in Austen’s more romantic time, women did not have an easy

run of things when it came to finding a suitable husband. Ultimately, most of

Austen’s heroines could have saved themselves a lot of trouble and heartache if

they had just gone with the first man that caught their eye.

The one of the most explicit changes in the eighteenth-century Britain’s social

life is a rise of a companionate marriage. As discussed above, it altered the

existing motives for marriage and enlarged children’s freedom of decision-

making about their spouses.

Austen does not passively accept the common features of marriages and

human relationships of her own class. She often expresses, even though not

very explicitly, her dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in connection with the

women of her time.



Both heroines, Elinor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility produce a

completely new type of a female character who is determined to marry only in

accordance with her feelings and expectations.

This kind of dynamicity in courtship on the side of a woman is not typical of

British society of that time. Besides Elinor’s attitude to courtship and marriage is

far from being ideal since women were largely praised for being submissive

and obedient.

With reference to the phenomenon of matchmaking, Austen never admits that

she is in favour of it. On the contrary, she frequently emphasises how the

conditions concerning position of women and marriage existing in British society

lead to humiliating measures, as matchmaking and husband hunting testify. She

actually expresses the same attitude to the features degrading women as Mary

Wollstonecraft does, “To rise in the world, and have the liberty of running from

pleasure to pleasure, they must marry advantageously, and to this object their

time is sacrificed, and their persons often legally prostituted” (Wollstonecraft

1792: 130).

By her portrayal of married couples in Sense and Sensibility, Austen exemplifies

is the negative consequences of marriages of convenience (see the case of Mr.

and Mrs. Palmer), and emphasizes the importance of affection only love can

lead to happiness, satisfaction, mutual understanding and respect.



6. WORK CITED

Adams, Timothy Dow. To Know the Dancer from the Dance: Dance as a Metaphor of Marriage in Four Novels of Jane Austen. Virginia: Virginia

University press, 1982. 55-65.

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Austen, Jane. Letters to her sister Cassandra Austen. London: Collins & Brown limited, 1991.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Bantam classic, 1983.

Brophy, Elizabeth Bergen. Women's lives and the 18th-Century English Novel. Tampa: University of South Florida Press, cop. 1991.

Cecil, David. Poets and story-tellers. A Book of Critical Essays. London: Constable and Company, 1942.

Coontz, Stephanie. Marriage. A History. New York: Viking Press, 2005.

Gilbert, Sandra and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.

Hill, Mary. Regency Etiquette: The Mirror of Graces (1811) by a Lady of Distinction (reprint) Mendocino, California: R.L. Shep, 1997.

Jones, Hazel. Jane Austen and Marriage. London: Continuum Edition, 2009.

Jones, Darryl. Jane Austen, Critical Issues, Basingstoke (Hampshire): Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Johnson, Claudia L. Jane Austen: Women, Politics and the Novel Chicago: U Chicago P, 1988. 156-175.

Le Faye, Deirdre. Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002.

Pearson, Carol and Katherine Pope: The Female Hero In American And British Literature, New York: R. Bowker, 1981.



Poovey, Mary. The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer: Ideology as Style in the Works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley and Jane Austen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.

Regan, Stephen. The nineteenth century novel, A critical Reader. London: Routledge, 2001.

Ross, Josephine. Jane Austen’s Guide to Good Manners: Compliments, Charades & Horrible Blunders. New York: Bloomsbury US, 2006. Rousseau Jean-Jacques. Emile, or On Education. Trans. Allan Bloom. New York: Basic Books, 1979.

Tomalin, Claire. Jane Austen: A Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

Vickery, Amanda. The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998. Vickery, Amanda. Behind closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England. Boston: Yale University Press, 2009. Wallace, Tara Ghoshal. Sense and Sensibility and the Problem of Feminine Authority, Eighteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 4: Iss. 2, Article 4, 1992. 149-163. Wilkes, Wetenhall. A Letter of Genteel and Moral Advice to a Young Lady. Women in the Eighteenth Century. Ed. Vivien Jones. London: Routledge, 1990. 29-35. Wollstonecraft, Mary. Vindication of the Rights of Woman. London: Ed. Carol H. Poston, 1792. Wollstonecraft, Mary. Thoughts on the Education of Daughters: with Reflections in the Female Conduct, in the more Important Duties of Life. Women in the Eighteenth Century. Ed. Vivien Jones. London: Routledge, 1990. 110-112.

Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. London: Hogarth Press, 1945.

Jane Austen’s illustration: Detail from Jane Austen, an engraving by Mr. Andrews after a portrait by Cassandra Austen. Published 1870, reproduced by courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London, research by image Select International.

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