Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility
Due
to unfortunate circumstances and a selfish sister-in-law (the wife of a
half-brother) the three Dashwood sisters and their mother have to leave their
old, great mansion and move to a lovely far-off cottage.They have little money
available. Despite the unfavorable circumstances they get arranged well and find
new friends. Elinor, the oldest daughter, has fallen in love with Edward Ferrars
before and feels lonely. But she is a sensible and strong 19-year-old girl,
while her sister Marianne is very emotional and waits for the one great love.
She does not believe that Edward is good enough for her sister. The great love
she is waiting for, she soon appears to find in Willoughby, a charming
young man visiting his aunt, a neighbour of the Dashwoods. But Willoughby leaves
unexpectedly, and nobody knows why. Mrs. Dashwood thinks that him and Marianne
are engaged and fears nothing. But there is another man in love with Marianne,
Colonel Brandon. Marianne thinks of him as a boring, far to old man for her. But
Elinor likes him and hence he becomes a friend of the family. The youngest
sister, Margaret, is not yet interested in men.
During
the winter, Elinor and Marianne are invited to London by Mrs. Jennings, a friend
of the familiy. Marianne wants to go there to meet Willoughby (with whom she is
in fact not engaged) and so they go. They meet several people and go to many
parties, but at first they do not meet Willoughby and he does not respond to
letters of Marianne. When at last they meet him, he is cold and unfriendly and
writes a letter the next day, that he does not feel anything for Marianne any
more but is going to marry another woman soon. Marianne suffers deeply, Elinor
empatizes with her but is in fact down-hearted herself, because she heard from a
friend, Lucy Steele, that Edward is engaged to Lucy. They keep the engagement a
secret, because his mother wants him to marry a wealthy woman, which neither
Lucy nor Elinor are.
Around Easter the two girls visit friends in the countryside.When they plan to return, Marianne suddenly becomes very ill. When Willoughby hears about that, he comes to Elinor to tell her his whole story and that he is not at all the villain they all believe. He made mistakes but he was also somehow unlucky. He married only because his wife’s money and confesses that he is still in love with Marianne. They will all forgive him later, but of course he can never marry Marianne. One day the engagement of Edward and Lucy becomes public and his mother is so angry, that she breaks with him. After some time however, his brother and Lucy fall in love with each other, while he realises, that he actually loves Elinor and not Lucy. So each of the pairs marry, and at last the true Colonel Brandon reaches Marianne’s heart and they marry as well.
Of
course a somehow old-fashioned book – but it is written in a so nice-to-read
style, that I recommend it to everyone.
8.10.2004