Austen’s funny and sarcastic narration contributes to a light-hearted mood for much of the novel, though there are key points when the mood dramatically shifts into shock, heartbreak, or despair. For example, when Lucy reveals to Elinor while they are gossiping that she has been engaged to Edward for four years—the very same Edward whom Elinor believes she will soon marry—the mood shifts from playful to painful:
What felt Elinor at that moment? Astonishment, that would have been as painful as it was strong, had not an immediate disbelief of the assertion attended it. She turned towards Lucy in silent amazement.
Later in the novel, when Marianne is the one grieving the loss of her relationship with Willoughby because of his own betrayal, she becomes very ill, and the mood shifts again into a tender register as Elinor sits by her bedside:
It was then about twelve o’clock, and she returned to her sister’s apartment to wait for the arrival of the apothecary, and to watch by her the rest of the night. It was a night of almost equal suffering to both. Hour after hour passed away in sleepless pain and delirium on Marianne’s side, and in the most cruel anxiety on Elinor’s, before Mr. Harris appeared.
Near the end of the novel, after both sisters have processed their grief and have found themselves with men who are fully committed to them (Elinor taking Edward back after he ends his engagement with Lucy and Marianne accepting Colonel Brandon into her heart after letting go of Willoughby), the mood of the novel becomes lighthearted once again:
Mrs. Jennings’s prophecies, though rather jumbled together, were chiefly fulfilled; for she was able to visit Edward and his wife in their Parsonage by Michaelmas, and she found in Elinor and her husband, as she really believed, one of the happiest couples in the world. They had in fact nothing to wish for, but the marriage of Colonel Brandon and Marianne, and rather better pasturage for their cows.
Here Austen leaves readers laughing about how Mrs. Jennings’s primary worry is about the pasturage of her cows, not much of a problem at all. (And, of course, Colonel Brandon and Marianne do go on to get married after all.)
Austen’s funny and sarcastic narration contributes to a light-hearted mood for much of the novel, though there are key points when the mood dramatically shifts into shock, heartbreak, or despair. For example, when Lucy reveals to Elinor while they are gossiping that she has been engaged to Edward for four years—the very same Edward whom Elinor believes she will soon marry—the mood shifts from playful to painful:
What felt Elinor at that moment? Astonishment, that would have been as painful as it was strong, had not an immediate disbelief of the assertion attended it. She turned towards Lucy in silent amazement.
Later in the novel, when Marianne is the one grieving the loss of her relationship with Willoughby because of his own betrayal, she becomes very ill, and the mood shifts again into a tender register as Elinor sits by her bedside:
It was then about twelve o’clock, and she returned to her sister’s apartment to wait for the arrival of the apothecary, and to watch by her the rest of the night. It was a night of almost equal suffering to both. Hour after hour passed away in sleepless pain and delirium on Marianne’s side, and in the most cruel anxiety on Elinor’s, before Mr. Harris appeared.
Near the end of the novel, after both sisters have processed their grief and have found themselves with men who are fully committed to them (Elinor taking Edward back after he ends his engagement with Lucy and Marianne accepting Colonel Brandon into her heart after letting go of Willoughby), the mood of the novel becomes lighthearted once again:
Mrs. Jennings’s prophecies, though rather jumbled together, were chiefly fulfilled; for she was able to visit Edward and his wife in their Parsonage by Michaelmas, and she found in Elinor and her husband, as she really believed, one of the happiest couples in the world. They had in fact nothing to wish for, but the marriage of Colonel Brandon and Marianne, and rather better pasturage for their cows.
Here Austen leaves readers laughing about how Mrs. Jennings’s primary worry is about the pasturage of her cows, not much of a problem at all. (And, of course, Colonel Brandon and Marianne do go on to get married after all.)
Austen’s funny and sarcastic narration contributes to a light-hearted mood for much of the novel, though there are key points when the mood dramatically shifts into shock, heartbreak, or despair. For example, when Lucy reveals to Elinor while they are gossiping that she has been engaged to Edward for four years—the very same Edward whom Elinor believes she will soon marry—the mood shifts from playful to painful:
What felt Elinor at that moment? Astonishment, that would have been as painful as it was strong, had not an immediate disbelief of the assertion attended it. She turned towards Lucy in silent amazement.
Later in the novel, when Marianne is the one grieving the loss of her relationship with Willoughby because of his own betrayal, she becomes very ill, and the mood shifts again into a tender register as Elinor sits by her bedside:
It was then about twelve o’clock, and she returned to her sister’s apartment to wait for the arrival of the apothecary, and to watch by her the rest of the night. It was a night of almost equal suffering to both. Hour after hour passed away in sleepless pain and delirium on Marianne’s side, and in the most cruel anxiety on Elinor’s, before Mr. Harris appeared.
Near the end of the novel, after both sisters have processed their grief and have found themselves with men who are fully committed to them (Elinor taking Edward back after he ends his engagement with Lucy and Marianne accepting Colonel Brandon into her heart after letting go of Willoughby), the mood of the novel becomes lighthearted once again:
Mrs. Jennings’s prophecies, though rather jumbled together, were chiefly fulfilled; for she was able to visit Edward and his wife in their Parsonage by Michaelmas, and she found in Elinor and her husband, as she really believed, one of the happiest couples in the world. They had in fact nothing to wish for, but the marriage of Colonel Brandon and Marianne, and rather better pasturage for their cows.
Here Austen leaves readers laughing about how Mrs. Jennings’s primary worry is about the pasturage of her cows, not much of a problem at all. (And, of course, Colonel Brandon and Marianne do go on to get married after all.)
