Sense
and Sensibility is
one of the most important novels of Jane Austen, and in this novel, love, money
and marriage came up many times. This novel basically tells the story of two
sisters, Elinor and Marianne. These two sisters liked each other very much and
had a very good relationship, but their characters were totally opposite of
each other. However, they fall in love. In love, failure comes first, and then
they get married. The financial issues are presented against this backdrop
giving the readers a glimpse of contemporary society. Simultaneously, Jane
Austen described the women's condition. In that era, love, money and marriage
were important for girls, and these were also equally important to men.
If
we want to talk about love, money and marriage in this novel, we should look at
the social system of that time. In those days, women did not have any right to
inheritance, for which they had to depend on their brothers or other male
relatives in case of having no immediate brother. It was the reality of the
society of that time, and Jane Austen in almost all her novels has portrayed
this reality. In Pride and Prejudice, we can also see the same kind
of reality where the women remained under mental stress for not getting any
share in the property. In Sense and Sensibility, we can see that
Elinor and Marianne became dependent on their brother after the death of their
father, and their brother, being influenced by his wife, did not give them any
share in the property although he promised on his father’s death bed to look
after his sisters. The novel depicts the painful condition of women in
19th-century English society. Although many readers might think that it is a
romantic novel, Jane Austen showed the ugly reality of society and the
financial worries and problems of women.
The
relationship between Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars, considering from the
perspective of love, was good. However, the misfortune of the two is that
Edward Ferrars several years ago promised a girl named Lucie Steele that he
would marry her, and on the other hand, Edward Ferrars’ mother is a very
domineering woman. So, Elinor and Edward split up, and later, fortunately, they
met again and got married in the end. On the other hand, Marianne Dashwood
first fell in love with John Willoughby, but John Willoughby was a cheater. At
the same time, Colonel Brandon fell in love with Marianne Dashwood, but
Marianne Dashwood did not like him. Eventually, Marianne Dashwood realizes that
men like John Willoughby can be very attractive as lovers, but they are not
worthy of being husbands. On the other hand, men like Colonel Brandon may not
be ideal as lovers, but they are not bad as husbands.
The
issue of money repeatedly appears throughout the novel several times because
Jane Austen tried to show that falling in love is easy. Elinor and Edward like
each other. Willoughby also spends a very wonderful time with Marianne, but the
reality of money changes everything. When Edward tries to keep his promise to
Lucy Steele and decides to marry her, his mother deprives him of property and
gives it to his brother. As a result, Edward suddenly finds himself in deep
financial trouble. Seeing this condition, Lucy also leaves him, and here we can
realize the importance of money at that time. The same can be said about
Marianne and Willoughby. It is not that Willoughby did not like Marianne. He
liked and would have proposed Marianne had the financial issue not come up. Had
Willoughby married Marianne, he would not have gotten anything. Hence, he
marries a woman who brings a huge amount of property for him.
In
this novel, we repeatedly see that both men and women who got married thought
seriously about money and wealth. The writer beautifully elaborated this matter
through Willoughby. Out of greed for money, he married the daughter of a rich
businessman and became unhappy in his later years. On the other hand, many
parents want their daughters to marry rich men. However, Elinor and Marianne
were exceptional. Both of them gave love and affection more priority, for which
they became happy. Jane Austen did not say how much Marianne became happy, but
there is no doubt that Marianne’s husband, Colonel Brandon, is a good person,
and he truly loved Marianne with all her heart.
The social reality Jane Austen depicted in her novel clearly reveals that women's condition in England was not so good. They were under immense pressure all the time. That is not the condition of present-day England. Now, women in England have more freedom, and at the same time, girls get an equal inheritance in their parents’ property. So, there is no doubt that the condition of England has changed a lot in 200 years.
