Task on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility"

Biographical Information

Jane Austen was one of England's foremost novelists.She was born in 16th December,1775 in the Hampshire village of Steventon. She was the second daughter and seventh child in a family of eight- six boys and two girls. Her father the Reverend George Austen  served as the Oxford educated rector for a nearby Anglican Parish. Her father was a great scholar who always encouraged the love of learning in his children.The children of family grew in an environment that stressed learning and creativity. Her elder sister Cassandra who remained the coolest companion throughout her whole life. Both sisters were never married.In order to acquire more formal education along with her sister, Jane were sent to boarding schools during Jane's pre-adolescence.During this time Jane and her sister caught typhus, with Jane nearly succumbing to the illness. After that due to some financial problem they returned to home and lived with the family from that time forward.

Jane Austen was primarily known for her six major novels,which interpret,critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of 18th century.

She was never publicly acknowledged as a writer during her lifetime.

Literary Works

Jane Austen was mainly known for her six major novels:

Sense and sensibility (1811)

Pride and Prejudice  (1813)

Mansfield Park (1814)

Emma (1815)

Northanger Abbey (1818,posthumous)

Persuasion  (1818,posthumous)

 In her six major novels—Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion—Austen created the comedy of manners of middle-class life in the England of her time, revealing the possibilities of “domestic” literature. Her "Juvenilia" stories and two novels Nprthanger Abbey and Persuasion were published after her death

If there is one striking common theme in Jane Austen's novels, it would be marriage.Romance is central theme in most of her major novels.

Sense and sensibility

Sense and Sensibility novel by Jane Austen was published anonymously in three volumes in 1811 and that became a classic. In this satirical, comic work Jane Austen offers a vivid depiction of 19th century middle class life through  the romantic relationship of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood.

overview of novel

In Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters must survive on a meager allowance. Marianne falls in love with the imprudent Willoughby, who deserts her. Elinor falls in love with her sister-in-law's brother, Edward, a shy man who doesn't express his love until the end of the novel.

• After Mr. Dashwood's death, his son John inherits his estate. John intends to provide for his wife and sisters, but John's wife, Fanny, convinces him to give them next to nothing. Elinor falls in love with Fanny's brother, Edward, but he's engaged.
• Marianne, a romantic and naive girl, falls in love with the dashing Willoughby, whom she meets while he's out riding one day. He plays with her emotions, only to run off suddenly and marry for money.
• Colonel Brandon patiently courts Marianne. Edward, who always loved Elinor, comes to ask for her hand in marriage once he's freed from his engagement. The two couples marry and live happily ever after.

Theme of sense and sensibility

The primary theme of Sense and Sensibility is the use of Sense vs. Sensibility.

. In protest against the romantic literature of her day that praised extreme emotionalism and focused on the needs and wants of self above the common good or community, Jane Austen used Sense and Sensibility as a warning to show just how dangerousviolent, uncontrolled emotions, or sensibilities, really are. Hence, Austen juxtaposes two sisters with two two different philosophies.

There are other themes which can be observed are Money, Inheritance, Gender, Expectations vs.reality,Marriage,Discretion,Appearance vs. reality, Expectation and disappointment, Secrecy, Judgment, Jealousy, Self-sacrifice and selfishness, Hypocrisy and Moderation.

Work cited:
https://www.enotes.com/topics/sense-sensibility
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sense-and-Sensibility