Jane Austen's Novel Sense and Sensibility - Book Report/Review Example

An Analysis of Sense and Sensibility From both New Historic and Feminist Methods Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility broaches a number of human failings with a gentle but firm admonishment. Despite the story's close adherence to acceptable social behavior, both its inception and its execution reveal a much more revolutionary nature. In order to examine these elements, this paper will examine the book first with the New Historicism analytical method and then gradually shift into a Feminist analysis, which itself incorporates such various methods as New Historicism, Marxism, and Psycho-analysis. By establishing the social influences upon the author, one can better understand her focus in writing; by understanding the early biasness against both female authors and the novel in general. Lastly, through examining the mentality of both Austen and the characters she has illustrated, one can fully appreciate the full revolutionary ramifications of her accomplishments. Jane Austen's access to books is greater than implied by Marianne Dashwood's claim "Our own library is too well known to me..." (Austen 343). For, in addition to her father's library containing some 500 books, her entire family are known to have often borrowed or exchanged books as the opportunity arose. Frequent book references in her correspondences imply a wide literary familiarity; it is precisely because of the scope of her reading that she never becomes a student of one particular style over another. Austen allows her own taste to dictate an author's skill, only incorporating outside references within her own stories as "the daily uses that people make of their reading, in conversation, argument, and the shaping of imaginative experience." (Grundy 190) rather than trying to elevate her characters through a knowledge of the classics. With such intent in mind, she finds ways to avoid imitating any particular style, much less alluding to a particular author directly. When she does make reference to another writer, it is normally hidden within the structure of a woman assessing a man's potential as a husband, either through contemplation of the figure or by something the character actually says. Perhaps it is in response to such contemporary works as Uvedale Price's Essay on Picturesque or Richard Payne Knight's The Landscape, a Didactic Poem, both of which are romantically "advocating roughness at the expense of well-kept lawns and tidy homesteads." (Lane 99) that Austen feels she must respond. When Edward Ferrars first visits the ladies Dashwood at Barton and is asked to regard the beauty of the surrounding countryside, he speculates how dirty they must get during the winter. Marianne wonders at this response, especially considering the splendor of the vista. He states it is because "among the rest of the objects before me, I see a very dirty lane." (Austen 88). Through her characters, the author does show an appreciation of the English countryside, but implies that such admiration should not be blindly excessive, but instead from private and realistic aesthetics. This approach is often a subtle admonishment in all of her description of Devon and Dorset, as when she first describes the environment of the Barton cottage: "The situation of the house was good. High hills rose immediately behind, and at no great distance on each side; some of which were open downs, the others cultivated and woody." (Austen 28-29). With this Austen shows an intellectual appreciation of the surroundings, with the hills being pleasingly balanced and a generous variety of terrain. The fact that the ladies Dashwood acknowledge the beauty of the landscape directly contrasts with their brother's approach back in Norland, in which he cleared land to set up an enclosed greenhouse. In comparison to the country, Austen's dislike of London is revealed in that her "really reprehensible characters embrace London values" (Lane170). The constriction and crowding of the buildings directly parallels the confining pressure of amassed strangers. The few social gatherings the Dashwood sisters attend seem more a source of meaningless distress rather than the bland enjoyment portrayed through the other attendees. While London offers a myriad of venues to waste both time and money - such as Robert Ferrars' self-absorbed shopping at Grays (an actual store on Sackville Street) - it would appear that Austen's distaste hinges more upon the sheer compression of social classes in general. At the time of writing Sense and Sensibility, Austen has had very little exposure to such a mixture, while her upbringing had created in her an ever present sense of class-consciousness. Jane Austen was herself the spinster daughter of a country clergyman and therefore painfully aware of social classes. She rotated her residence between Chawton, where her widowed mother and unwed sister rented a house from her brother, and her brother's estate at Gogmersham although in her adult life she also had access to her brother residence in London. Her unmarried status and relatively low position in the middle class gave her a unique outsider vantage, an observation method honed by the developing eye of a writer. Yet the one unifying vision of the middle class was that it was always pointed up, regarding the upper echelons of the aristocracy and seeking to emulate them. Austen frequently chose to mock these values of her own class but rarely, if ever, addresses high society. While she might not specifically admire the upper class, as exhibited by the buffoonery of Lord Osbourne in her fragmentary work The Watsons (McMaster 116), she had better sense than to attack them directly. Should this border on the realm of speculation, one need only consider how frequently Austen is willing to adopt the structure of the Cinderella archetype. Her female characters almost always seek, and successfully marry, someone of landed gentry with a substantially greater income than they themselves. Were this not necessarily the goal of Austen's life, it was certainly an acceptable goal for most or her female peers. Finances proved to be the driving force in romantic situations all too often. Many readers are surprised to learn that Austen was not herself among the upper echelon's of landed gentry, as it and its income are so often a focus for her novels. Yet this important factor underlies most of her plots, for "The heartbeat of romance lies in a good income." (Copeland 133). A large part of this relates to the lower echelons emulation of the upper classes, since the trapping of objects and attendants can offer the illusion of greater affluence. Marianne Dashwood's estimate of an acceptable household would require such extravagances as "a proper establishment of servants, a carriage, perhaps two, and hunters" (Austen 91), which she quite rightly estimates as affordable on an income of 1,800 to 2,000 pounds a year. Elinor's satisfaction in a projected happiness with a modest yearly budget of 1,000 pounds a year is almost certainly drawn from Austen's own experience, for this amount is roughly the income for a clergyman the standard of living Austen was accustomed to in her father's household. It is no accident that the sisters' aspirations directly influence their eventual choice in husbands, nor is it by accident that Willoughby should prove to be a social pariah. Although he essentially marries for the same Cinderella motives as the Dashwood sisters, his financial squandering and selfish manipulation of various women in society naturally bring disapproval. Thus the social norms affect both individual and community opinions. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the political and religious environment impacted Austen's writing: it certainly affected the popularity of her writing. Austen wrote Sense and Sensibility, along with several other early novels, through the course of the 1790's. Methodist and Evangelical movements were gaining force with the lower working classes; as the upper crust were staunch supporters of the Anglican Church, the middle class chose to follow their superiors. Political Dissenters sought greater religious tolerance through legislative reforms, partially inspired by the early events of the French Revolution happening on the continent. The dissolution of the French Revolution into violence with the Jacobin Terror soon insured that the "term 'Jacobin' was used by counter-revolutionaries in Britain to discredit any kind of reformer, including Dissenters, Methodists, and Evangelicals." (Kelly 150). Austen was writing in a period where the relatively new form of the novel was being attacked by critics of all social levels. 'Modern' novels were considered distinct from 'romance' novels; the former was accused of spreading false decadent values of the extreme upper classes while the latter was suspected of sensationally provocative through its sheer improbability. Both were declared to distract people from the self-discipline required of real life in favor of fantasy. The common opinion regarded the novel form as a product primarily written by and for women, which is true enough as the eighteenth century was beginning to provide a surplus of middle class women. Having some degree of education but little social acceptable work to actually do, it is only natural that women should turn to writing, having already had enough financial flexibility to afford books in the first pace. To whatever extent women were responsible for the novel's development, the fact that women were proving to be a large audience was a point of concern. Women were viewed "as the vulnerable point in class solidarity, the social order, and national and imperial strength." (Kelly 151). Austen's approach and popularity then prove understandable. She did not write 'modern' or 'romance' novels, instead being classified as 'realistic,' despite her early work showing a decided influence by and satiric counterpoint to 'sentimental' novels. 'Sentimental' novels attempted to invoke a sympathetic and emotional connection between the reader and the text, often delivered as alternately trite or saccharine. Austen took the elements and infused the skeleton with life, fleshing the text out with humor, satire, and irony. If Austen address politics at all, it is only in the focus of the individual or local community. This surface level of the mundane was a source of despiteful stability to her readers, a place outside of treacherous current events and recognizable social drama: there was little excitement, no violence, and, in general, only instructions on proper behavior and etiquette. While there were some social admonishments, they were delivered in a soft chiding manner, in which those being mocked frequently laughed hardest, just as Sir John does in Sense and Sensibility. It is within this seemingly safe environment that the author was able to exercise the true elements of her craft perhaps in such a manner to validate all of the general population's fears of the novel, but without ever raising their suspicions. So how did the general population view Jane Austen's work An unsigned review of Sense and Sensibility, appearing in the British Critic in May of 1812, observes that the novel's intent is to" represent the effects on the conduct of life" both "quiet good sense andexcessive susceptibility". Following a general summary, the review recommends this book to female readers for "real benefits, for they may learn from (it) many sober and salutary maxims for the conduct of life." Besides the summary and obtuse reference that the writing is entertaining, the critic whole-heartedly recommends the novel as a sort of guideline for the women of the time, both assuming that it focuses on females primary concerns and that it offers instruction to them (i.e. faith, patience, and perseverance). Some years after Austen was recognized as established literature, the critic G.H. Lewes, expounding on a connection made by T. B. Macaulay between Austen and Shakespeare, coined the reference to Austen as the "Prose Shakespeare. The predominant attitudes to women authors are readily apparent in his back-handed compliments of Austen's writing style, saying that she should not be used as a model of writing because her balance of realistic portrayal of everyday speech and attitudes is a style only she has made successfully. While seeming to write a favorable view of Austen, he becomes rather insulting: We cannot, for our parts, conceive Shakespeare under prosaic conditions, poetry being so essentially involved in the whole structure of his works; but if we divest him, in thought, of his winged attributes - if we set aside his passion, imagination, fancy, and rhythm, there will remain a central power of dramatic creation, the power of constructing and animating character, which may be truly said to find a younger sister in Miss Austen. (Lewes 130) Thus, Lewes conveniently adopts Austen as Shakespeare's foolish younger sister, her writing therefore a sort of diluted genius. He insultingly states that if one removed 80% of Shakespeare's brilliance, the 20% remaining brilliance describes Austen's writing, a comment all the more offensive in it's patronizing intent of compliment, meaning to say that a small amount of brilliance is impressive, particularly for a woman. It is, perhaps, this reference to Austen as a 'Prose Shakespeare' that inspired Virginia Woolf's infamous hypothetical sister of Shakespeare in the essay A Room of One's Own. Can the fact that Woolf dubs the sister Judith be an indirect acknowledgement of Jane Regardless, the fate of Woolf's proposed authoress marks the early days of feminist analysis: in a world where women were allowed virtually no independent legal status, her "genius for fiction" (Room 48) leads ultimately to a frustrated suicide. Yet while Woolf extends this hypothesis to its hyperbolic conclusion, she also focuses on the realities of Austen's writing conditions. Citing the memoir of Jane's nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, Wool observes that because Austen had no study of her own, all or her writing was performed in the sitting-room. She "hid her manuscripts or covered them with a piece of blotting paper." (Room 67); her literary training and analysis had been confined to this room and it was only natural for her writings to therefore focus on character observations she had learned in this environment. In another essay entitled "Jane Austen," Woolf reveals a more direct understanding of these writing circumstances, as the majority of Austen's novels were written at a very early age. It is precisely because of Austen's age at the time of writing that the novels contain such strong satirical elements, "for they (young girls) see that there is something eternally laughable in human nature, some quality that for ever excites our satire." ("Austen" 17). But when lamenting that Austen died at 42, "at the height of her powers," ("Austen" 22), Woolf examines the evolving elements from Persuasion, and it is the expanded perceptions the author has begun to exhibit. It is these elements Woolf focuses upon, speculating what Austen's next six books could have contained. Persuasion was finished in 1816, a year before Austen died and a scant six years after Austen's first novel, Sense and Sensibility, was published. Considering that most of her books were written in the decade or so prior to 1800 and the majority of revisions occurred in the first decade of 1800, what then could Austen have been doing in that time period The reality of her activities does not quite mesh with Woolf's portrayal as a sitting-room confined spinster During Austen's lifetime, "Publishing (one's) own writing could threaten a woman's reputation as well as her social position novels were particularly reprehensible" (Fergus 13). This, in part, explains Austen's brother Henry's objective to always portray Jane as feminine with a disdain for publicity. In reality, it was fairly easy at this point to have something published, and Austen, making use of Henry's location in London, spent a significant portion of the early 1800's learning to act as her own agent. She chose to publish her novels on commission, a process in which she herself covered the paper and publication expenses, as well as any advertising expenditures, while the publisher handled distribution and took a 10% commission per copy sold. Given that publishing offered one of the few possibilities for a lady of the bourgeoisie to earn money, Austen chose this method, for, despite that she could easily wind up owing the publisher money, it offered her the greatest amount of control and direct profit. The choice to first publish Sense and Sensibility indicates her developing marketing sense: and earlier novel, Susan, had already been sold to a publisher and had yet to be printed; Sense and Sensibility was the most socially orthodox of the completed novels she had available. Her professionalism sharpened throughout her first publications. When Emma received a favorable review, Austen sent a quick dispatch, politely commenting that "I cannot but be sorry that so clever a man as the Reviewer of Emma should consider it (her newest book, Mansfield Park) as unworthy of notice." (Fergus 19), proving that she was quite aware of need for publicity when ever possible. This level of feminist progressiveness contrasts sharply with the image promoted by her family and presumed as accurate by such astute literary figures as Virginia Woolf. This unknown struggle against social standards demands a closer examination of her first novel through a feminist analysis. Austen's women, despite their surface level social limitations, prove ultimately to have more power than their male counterparts. From the very onset of the novel this is true, in the ironic scene of Mr. John Dashwood's initial good intentions of caring for the welfare of his step-mother and half-sisters is completely erased by the persuasive logic of his wife. Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. Ferrars are strong matriarchal figures in a patriarchal society, the former of which seeks to control her social environment through a state of constant match-making, the latter using her financial control to direct her children in elevating the family name into upper society. While Mrs. Jennings' only real success is the marriage between Colonel Brandon and Marianne Dashwood, all other matches prove to be foiled primarily to the manipulations of equally strong-willed younger women. In these circumstances, "sensibility" (i.e. emotions) would seem to trump "sense," however, there is an aesthetic balance in which the opposite is also true. It is "sense" that bears Elinor and Marianne through their courting hardships and the key factor in the ultimate marriage of Elinor and Edward Ferrars. Likewise, the feminine power serves justice to the story's nominal villain, Willoughby, who "could not hear of her (Marianne) marriage without a pang." (Austen 379), thus underscoring the impact of female revenge while still scaling the punishment accordingly to his transgression. Yet, while these power dynamics illustrate a sympathy to its female characters and imply a reversal of traditional authority, it is Austen's casual, subtle, and offhand comments upon society that the roots of her feminist rebellion become apparent. Austen does not write in the normal definition of satire, for "Her object is not missionary; it is the more desperate one of merely finding some mode of existence for her attitudes." (Harding 170). She needs to maintain her genuine relationships with her society, but wrote against attributes she found offensive, with the understanding that people could tolerate laughing at themselves so long as the attack is done through gentle caricature and exaggeration. Sense and Sensibility depicts a heroine somewhat isolated in her near perfection in comparison to her surrounding characters; she is elevated in her mental faculties to the point that she must guide her mother and sister, and humor several other characters, through their moral frailties. Even the "prince" to Elinor's "Cinderella" must overcome his personal shortcomings to insure a happy ending. Hidden within such casual observations as Elinor's statement of " I never think of tame and quiet children with any abhorrence." (Austen 123) or, when Mrs. Ferrars honors Lucy Steele to slight Elinor, "she (Elinor) could not reflect on the mean-spirited folly from which it sprung" (Austen 233), the author intimates guiding principles too often lacking from her peerage. This restless dissatisfaction became the driving structure of Austen's novels; the need for personal income became the driving force in her seeking publication. True, Austen has a latent sympathy for her own society; in her hands, the act of satire becomes an act of self-preservation as it lashes out against uglier aspect of human nature. This love of peers but hatred of human foibles proves an underlying theme in all of Austen's work: she attacks what she feels are repugnant aspects of her society with the hopes of elevating everyone into a more thoughtful and caring society. She wishes all of her world to act with both sense and sensibility in equal proportion. Bibliography Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. New York: Random House, Inc., 1992. British Critic. May 1812, XXXIX, 527. Jane Austen The Critical Heritage. Ed. B. C. Southam. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1968. 40. Copeland, Edward. "Money." The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Ed. Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 131-148. Fergus, Jan. "The Professional Women Writer." The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Ed. Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 12-31. Grundy, Isobel. "Jane Austen and literary traditions." The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Ed. Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 189-210. Harding, D. W. "Regulated Hatred: an Aspect of the Work of Jane Austen." Jane Austin a Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Watt. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963. 166-179. Kelly, Gary. "Religion and Politics." The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Ed. Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 149-169. Lane, Maggie. Jane Austen's England. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1986. Lewes, G. H. "Jane Austen as a 'Prose Shakespeare" first published in The Leader November 22, 1851. Jane Austen The Critical Heritage. Ed. B. C. Southam. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1968. 130. McMaster, Juliet. "Class." The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Ed. Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 115-130. Woolf, Virginia. "Jane Austin." Jane Austin a Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Watt. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963. 15-24. Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. First Harvest Edition. New York: Harcourt, Inc. 1989. Read More