Monthly Archives: November 2013

November 27, 2013 · 8:56 am

Can moderation keep us happier?

Balance may just be the key!

Balance may just be the key!

Every age has its doctrines: capitalism, individualism, economic rationalism; and it is less uncomfortable to analyse those from the past with the help of hindsight, than those in the present. Spontaneous-and-Sentimental Marianne in Sense and Sensibility is an idealist. Remember she believed in truth and sincerity in all situations. She would not moderate her feelings whether they were pleasant or unpleasant. When she starts to fall in love with Willoughby  Continue reading →

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November 20, 2013 · 11:15 am

Generosity and John Dashwood

English: "That is, I mean to say—your fri...

English: “That is, I mean to say—your friends are all truly anxious to see you well settled” – John Dashwood expressing his wishes to Elinor. Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. London: George Allen, 1899, frontispiece. Français : Frontispice de l’édition de 1899 illustrée par Chris Hammond de Sense and Sensibility de Jane Austen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility is a masterfully crafted character.  He is manipulated by his wife to be ungenerous towards his sisters. Despite a deathbed promise to his father to look after his sisters, he easily acquiesced to his wife’s wish  to do little more than be neighbourly. Rather than be generous he chooses to be mean. To add insult to injury, John Dashwood Continue reading →

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November 13, 2013 · 10:44 am

What can Eliza in Sense and Sensibility reveal?

English: "She was scarcely able to stand&...

English: “She was scarcely able to stand” – Marianne sprains her ankle and Willoughby comes upon her and rescues her. Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. London: George Allen, 1899, page 44. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Initially it may seem hard to reconcile a position of feminism for Jane Austen when all of her heroines end up in love and ultimately married. However, when one looks a little deeper one can see that Austen clearly deconstructs the world of advantage that men inhabit. Remember the very sobering and distressing story of  Decent and Dependable Colonel Brandon’s ward Eliza in Sense and Sensibility’?  Her story illustrates the terrible consequences for women in such an unfair world: Eliza’s mother, also called Eliza, is forced to marry for fortune and was treated cruelly by her husband. Unable to endure her married life she Continue reading →

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November 6, 2013 · 10:13 am

Is Austen a fan of the double standard?

Allegory of Love, I: Infidelity

Allegory of Love, I: Infidelity (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Women fall from grace when caught for being unfaithful while men tend to be able to get off guilt free in the Austen Six. The fact that this is the way Austen presents it might make us think that this is the way she thinks it should be. Not so. The fact that she highlights the differences of the relative treatment for the same misdemeanour surely shows that she is revealing the unfairness of it all.

 

When Typical-Teen-LydiaBennet, in Pride and Prejudice elopes with Wickham, Continue reading →

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