Sense and sensibility novel analysis 3

7. EDWARD FERRARS

The most appealing member of the Ferrars family, Edward does not share the unpleasant characteristics of his mother, sister and brother. During most of the narrative, he is in low spirits because of his deeply regretted engagement to Lucy Steele; this makes it impossible for him to speak to Elinor of his love for her, although she is sure of it. Consequently, he appears to be rather dull young man- as Marianne complains to her mother. Admitting that Edward is “amiable” enough, she says, “there is something wanting- his figure is not striking; it has none of that grace which i should expect in the man who could seriously attach my sister. His eyes want all that spirit, that fire, which at once announce virtue and intelligence”(p.14-15). Worse, he has no taste and reads aloud without enough emotion to suit the passionate Marianne.

8. ROBERT FERRARS

The younger brother of Edward, and a very minor character, Robert is a vain and foolish would be dandy. Elinor feels a “contempt”(p.252) for him that anyone less self-centered would notice. He serves a useful purpose in the plot, since the scheming Lucy transfers her attention to him as a potentially wealthier prospect than his brother. His mother’s favorite, he is soon forgiven by her and retains the inheritance she transfered to him on learning of Edward’s engagement to Lucy.

9. SIR JOHN MIDDLETONE

From the moment he offers an affordable home to his cousin, Mrs Dashwood, Sir John is clearly established as very different from her nearer relative, John Dashwood. Generous and hospitable, he makes his cousin and her daughters very welcome at Barton and cannot do enough for them. However, his cordiality and constant desire for company conceal a shallowness and fear of being alone. He enjoys the country sports offered by his estate and entertains lavishly at Barton park. He enjoys the company of young people in particular, and, we learn, “was blessing to all the juvenile part of the neighborhood, for in summer he was forever forming parties to eat cold ham and chicken out of doors, and in winter his private balls were numerous enough for any young lady who was not suffering under the insatiable appetite of fifteen”(p.28)

However, the cultivated Dashwoods find social events at the big house usually tedious and the company of Sir John and his wife unrewarding. He is insensitive and enjoys teasing young women, in a heavy handed way, about their supposed romantic prospects. Elinor, recognizing his underlying good nature and her social duty, is always civil, but Marianne is outspoken and even rude when he uses a phrase she finds particularly offensive, joking that she might be “setting her cap” at a young man (p.40).

10. LADY MIDDLETON

The dull daughter of Mrs Jennings is a surprising wife for sir John, and perhaps the reason for his constant need of additional company. Her elegant houses are perfectly run, and she offers a lavish table to suit Sir John, but she has little interest beyond her four spoilt children and domestic matters. Worse, she has a chilly personality an is described damningly as having a “cold insipidity” that is “repulsive” (p.30).

Unsurprisingly, Lady Middleton and Fanny Dashwood appear to be soul mates: when they meet, we learn that “There was a kind of cold hearted selfishness on both sides, which mutually attracted them; and they sympathized with each other in an insipid propriety of demeanor, and a general want of understanding”(p.194

11. MRS JENNINGS

Introduced as “a good humored, merry, fat, elderly woman who talked a great deal, seemed very happy, and rather vulgar”(p.29), Mrs Jennings is , surprisingly, lady Middleton’s mother. She has a great deal more in common with sir John than with her daughter and, in the first part of the novel, the Dashwoods find her company unwelcome; Marianne avoids her and Elinor suffers from “everlasting talker” who takes a great fancy to her.

It is only Marianne’s desire to be near the departed Willoughby that causes the Dashwood girls to accept Mrs Jennings’ invitation to her London House for the winter season. But, as the narrative unfolds, Mrs Jennings’s gossipy, inquisitive and coarse characteristics are outweighed by her great kindness, her “active good nature”(p.290) and sincerity. In of her snobbish daughter’s distaste, Mrs Jennings is not prepared to give up her old friends “in trade”, and her judgments about the behavior of Fanny Dashwood and Mrs Ferrars are sound. Her real worthy is shown during Marianne’s illness, when her help and support are invaluable. By the end of the novel, Elinor is able to feel that she “really loves” Mrs Jennings p.261, and more sober Marianne recognizes what she owes her.

12. MR AND MRS PALMER

This apparently ill-matched pair make brief appearances at Barton park, at their London house and finally at their country house, Cleveland. Mr Palmer is proud, silent and disdainful of his silly wife, while she is always laughing and pretending amusement at his scornful treatment of her. Charlotte Palmer is Mrs Jennings’ younger , much loved daughter, and the birth of her first child preoccupies Mrs Jennings for some time in London, helping the plot forward as the Dashwoods have to spend some time at the Middleton’s house. The plot also requires somewhere isolated for Marianne to be ill, and Cleveland serves this purpose, as the girls stay there on their long journey home to Barton Cottage.

13. ANNE AND LUCY STEELE

Like the Dashwood Sisters, the Steeles are young women with very little money, but there the similarity ends. They are invited to Barton park on the the strength of their distant relationship to Mrs Jennings and are strongly contrasted with Elinor and Marianne.

Anne, the elder sister, “nearly thirty, with a very plain and not a sensible face”(p.102), is a clownish figure in the narrative. Unmarried, she clings, apparently without justification, to the notion that a Gr Davies in her home town, Exeter, is attracted to her, and chatters incessantly about beaux. Garrulous and tactless, she is an embarrassment to her sister, Lucy, who leaves Anne stranded at the end of the narrative, having borrowed all her money, then left her behind to run away with Robert Ferrars.

Lucy is an attractive girl in her early twenties: “her features were pretty”, the Dashwoods acknoledged, “and she had a sharp quick eye, and a smartness of air, which, though it did not give actual elegance or grace, gave distinction to her person” (p.102). Lucy is Elinor’s rival, having become engaged to Edward four years ealier when he fell in love with her, and unwilling to release him now that he has changed his mind.

14. COLONEL BRANDON

A retired army friend of Sir John’s and frequently at his house, although his quite and considerate nature is very different from that of his boisterous host. Much too old for marriage at thirty-five, in the eyes of Marianne, the Colonel’s devotion to her neverthless increases throughout the narrative. He is finally successful in winning her affections after she eventually recovers from her disastrous love affair with the rakish Willoughby.

Marianne sees the Colonel an an ancient and decrepit arthritic when she first meet him, on the basis of his liking of flannel waistcoat in the cold weather. It is long time before she recognizes his true worth- unlike Elinor, whose rapport with him is so sympathetic that they are thought to be in love by some acquaintances. Although, like most of Austen’s men, he is not a strong presence in the narrative, the reader warms to his sensitivity and reliability.