While Austen’s name has become synonymous with the earnest romance novel, the truth is that the tone of her novels—including Sense and Sensibility—is primarily an ironic and tongue-in-cheek one. For example, here Austen communicates Mrs. Dashwood’s experience of getting to know Edward while in the midst of grieving the loss of her husband:
Edward had been staying several weeks in the house before he engaged much of Mrs. Dashwood’s attention; for she was, at that time, in such affliction as rendered her careless of surrounding objects […] He did not disturb the wretchedness of her mind by ill-timed conversation.
Rather than earnestly capturing the effects of losing a life-long partner, Austen describes in a comedic way how Mrs. Dashwood’s “affliction” was that she was careless in the home and did not want others to “disturb the wretchedness of her mind.”
In addition to turning some mournful moments into playful ones, Austen includes some characters primarily to satirize certain aspects of British 18th century society—such as Fanny Dashwood, Mr. Palmer, and Lucy Steele. She also exaggerates some aspects of her main characters (Elinor and Marianne) to show the limits of a strict adherence to either sense or sensibility. Austen cares about her characters and also sees the ways that they are stuck in certain patterns, exaggerating them, at points, for comedic effect.
That said, the story does become more earnest and serious as it goes along. By the end of the novel, when Edward reveals that he has not, in fact, married Lucy Steele (as the Dashwoods believe) and wants to marry Elinor, Austen grants the characters sincere happiness:
Elinor could sit it no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease. Edward, who had till then looked anywhere rather than at her, saw her hurry away, and perhaps saw—or even heard, her emotion; for immediately afterwards he fell into a reverie, which no remarks, no enquiries, no affectionate address of Mrs. Dashwood could penetrate.
Letting her characters experience “tears of joy” and “reverie” here shows that Austen’s tone has softened as the novel concludes and as the characters have learned valuable lessons.
While Austen’s name has become synonymous with the earnest romance novel, the truth is that the tone of her novels—including Sense and Sensibility—is primarily an ironic and tongue-in-cheek one. For example, here Austen communicates Mrs. Dashwood’s experience of getting to know Edward while in the midst of grieving the loss of her husband:
Edward had been staying several weeks in the house before he engaged much of Mrs. Dashwood’s attention; for she was, at that time, in such affliction as rendered her careless of surrounding objects […] He did not disturb the wretchedness of her mind by ill-timed conversation.
Rather than earnestly capturing the effects of losing a life-long partner, Austen describes in a comedic way how Mrs. Dashwood’s “affliction” was that she was careless in the home and did not want others to “disturb the wretchedness of her mind.”
In addition to turning some mournful moments into playful ones, Austen includes some characters primarily to satirize certain aspects of British 18th century society—such as Fanny Dashwood, Mr. Palmer, and Lucy Steele. She also exaggerates some aspects of her main characters (Elinor and Marianne) to show the limits of a strict adherence to either sense or sensibility. Austen cares about her characters and also sees the ways that they are stuck in certain patterns, exaggerating them, at points, for comedic effect.
That said, the story does become more earnest and serious as it goes along. By the end of the novel, when Edward reveals that he has not, in fact, married Lucy Steele (as the Dashwoods believe) and wants to marry Elinor, Austen grants the characters sincere happiness:
Elinor could sit it no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease. Edward, who had till then looked anywhere rather than at her, saw her hurry away, and perhaps saw—or even heard, her emotion; for immediately afterwards he fell into a reverie, which no remarks, no enquiries, no affectionate address of Mrs. Dashwood could penetrate.
Letting her characters experience “tears of joy” and “reverie” here shows that Austen’s tone has softened as the novel concludes and as the characters have learned valuable lessons.
