Sense and Sensibility, Chapters 14-22

We've now finished the first volume of Sense and Sensibility and things are starting to get juicy. Two important things happen in these chapters — first Willoughby leaves abruptly, sending Marianne into a funk. His departure causes Mrs. Dashwood and Elinor to speculate about whether he and Marianne are engaged. Mrs. Dashwood thinks that Mrs. Smith (Willoughby's relative, from whom he will inherit the house) found out about the engagement and unhappy about it, sent him away. Elinor doubts that the couple is engaged at all.

The second thing of note is that Edward Ferrars comes to visit for a week. While he's there, the Dashwoods spot a ring with a lock of hair in it. Marianne suspects it is Elinor's hair (and Elinor thinks he "procured it by some theft or contrivance unknown to herself,") but Edward says it is his sister's hair. Edward is lying here, as we find out later.

The Palmers, a young couple, come to visit the Middletons and have dinner with the Dashwoods. Mrs. Palmer, the daughter of Mrs. Jennings and therefore Lady Middleton's sister, is pregnant and bubbly, while Mr. Palmer is rude and ignores his wife. Elinor asks Mrs. Palmer if she knows anything about Willoughby, and she replies that she knows about his engagement to Marianne. The Palmers leave and more visitors arrive in the form of the vulgar Steele sisters, who are also related to Mrs. Jennings.

The elder sister, Anne, is nearly 30 and quite plain, while the younger, Lucy is very pretty and clever. The Dashwoods don't especially enjoy their company, but are forced to spend time with the sisters nonetheless. Things get more interesting when Lucy pulls Elinor aside to ask if she has met Edward's mother, which Elinor doesn't know what to make of. She soon learns that Lucy has been secretly engaged to Edward for four years — they met at the home of Lucy's uncle, who was Edward's teacher — and that it is her hair in Edward's ring. The engagement is a secret, as the couple thinks Edward's mother would not approve of Lucy's lack of fortune.

The first volume ends with these two anticipated engagements going awry. While we don't know whether Marianne and Willoughby are engaged, we can assume that his sudden departure does not spell good things for the couple. It's interesting how little Marianne wants to talk about him, given her propensity for sharing feelings. After Elinor hears that news about Edward's engagement, which causes "an emotion and distress beyond any thing she had ever felt before," she is "mortified, shocked, confounded." This is the first instance where Austen has Elinor really feel something, though Elinor remains calm around Lucy and does not betray how deeply she apparently cares for Edward.

Two lines in these chapters give us some insight into the main characters', well, character. In Chapter 18, Edward, Elinor and Marianne are walking and admiring the scenery. Edward cuts Marianne off when she asks him which part of the scenery he most admires, and he says that he can only speak about those aspects of the landscape he knows about and does not want to "offend" her with his "ignorance." A bit later, in Chapter 21, Marianne falls silent in a conversation with the Steeles about Lady Middleton. Austen tells us that "it was impossible for her to say what she did not feel, however trivial the occasion; and upon Elinor therefore the whole task of telling lies when politeness required it, always fell."

Though Edward and Marianne insist on only saying those things they firmly believe/feel, they are both, in a sense, lying by omission — Edward keeps his engagement secret, and Marianne keeps whatever has transpired between her and Willoughby a secret. So while they will only talk about those things that are true, they do not talk about all true things.

We also start to see how the Dashwood sisters each embody sense and sensibility — Elinor may have sense, but she finds herself hurt by a man whom she gave her heart to. Marianne, meanwhile, chooses to stay out of a potentially uncomfortable conversation with the Steeles by holding her tongue since she couldn't agree with them. Austen is starting to show us how important it is to attain a balance between sense and sensibility.

What did you think about the first volume of the novel?

This week's reading assignment is to read through Chapter 34. See you here next Monday to talk about them!