S02E10 Sense and Sensibility, Chapters 47 to 50

06/28/21 • 59 min

In this episode, we read the final chapters of Sense and Sensibility. We talk about Elinor being the ‘moral spokesperson’ for the book, why Marianne marries Colonel Brandon, how Edward is less dashing than both Willoughby and Brandon, the social and financial gap between Elinor and Marianne after their marriages, and Lucy’s marriage to Robert. We also revisit the sense vs sensibility concept, and how the novel is both flawed and wonderful.

We discuss the character of Elinor, then Ellen talks about art, music and writing, and Harriet takes a final look at the popular culture versions.

Things we mention:

References:

Marjorie Theobauld, Knowing Women: Origins of Women’s Education in Nineteenth-Century Australia (1996)
Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life (1997)
Robert Chapman [Editor], Jane Austen’s Letters to her Sister Cassandra and Others (1969)

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women writers:

Married/de facto
- Mary Brunton (1778–1818): Self-Control (1810)
- Fanny Burney (1752–1840): Cecilia (1782 – written before she was married), Camilla (1796 – written after she was married)
- Anna Barbauld (1743–1825)
- Martha Sherwood (1775–1851): The Fairchild Family (1818)
- Mary Shelley (1797–1851)
- Margaret Gatty (1809–1873)
- Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865)
- Anna Lefroy (1793–1872)
- George Eliot (1793–1872)
Single
- Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855)
- Emily Brontë (1818–1848)
- Anne Brontë (1820–1849)
- Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849): Belinda (1801)
- Hannah More (1745–1833): Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1808)
- Susan Ferrier (1782–1854)

Read more: Adaptations of the book, Modernisations of the book, Creative Commons music used.

We discuss the character of Elinor, then Ellen talks about art, music and writing, and Harriet takes a final look at the popular culture versions.

Things we mention:

References:

Marjorie Theobauld, Knowing Women: Origins of Women’s Education in Nineteenth-Century Australia (1996)
Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life (1997)
Robert Chapman [Editor], Jane Austen’s Letters to her Sister Cassandra and Others (1969)

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women writers:

Married/de facto
- Mary Brunton (1778–1818): Self-Control (1810)
- Fanny Burney (1752–1840): Cecilia (1782 – written before she was married), Camilla (1796 – written after she was married)
- Anna Barbauld (1743–1825)
- Martha Sherwood (1775–1851): The Fairchild Family (1818)
- Mary Shelley (1797–1851)
- Margaret Gatty (1809–1873)
- Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865)
- Anna Lefroy (1793–1872)
- George Eliot (1793–1872)
Single
- Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855)
- Emily Brontë (1818–1848)
- Anne Brontë (1820–1849)
- Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849): Belinda (1801)
- Hannah More (1745–1833): Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1808)
- Susan Ferrier (1782–1854)

Read more: Adaptations of the book, Modernisations of the book, Creative Commons music used.

Previous Episode

S02E09 Sense and Sensibility, Chapters 42 to 46

In this episode, we read Chapters 42 to 46 of Sense and Sensibility. We talk about how Marianne’s illness is presented (including the un-dramatic way in which she gets sick, and the lack of emotional response), what Colonel Brandon could be doing all day, how Mrs Dashwood is pushing Colonel Brandon and Marianne together, and Jane Austen’s use of grotesques.

We discuss Willoughby (with a digression onto Miss Grey), and Ellen talks about medical practitioners in the early nineteenth century. Harriet reviews how the popular culture versions deal with some of the key events in these chapters: how Marianne gets sick, Willoughby’s visit, and the development of a relationship between Marianne and Colonel Brandon.

Things we mention:

References:

Edward Copeland [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility (2006)
Helena Kelly, Jane Austen, the Secret Radical (2016)
Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho(1794)
Anthony Trollope, Can you forgive her?(1865)
Walt Disney Pictures, Beauty and the Beast(1991)

Adaptations of the book:

BBC, Sense and Sensibility (1971) – starring Joanna David and Ciaran Madden (4 episodes)
BBC, Sense and Sensibility (1981) – starring Irene Richard and Tracey Childs (7 episodes)
Columbia Pictures, Sense and Sensibility (1995) – starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet
BBC, Sense and Sensibility (2008) – starring Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield (3 episodes)

Modernisations of the book:

Sri Surya Films, Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) – starring Tabu and Aishwarya Rai
MWM Studios, From Prada to Nada (2011) – starring Camilla Belle and Alexa PenaVega
YouTube, Elinor and Marianne Take Barton (2014) – starring Abi Davies and Bonita Trigg

Creative commons music used:

Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.
Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen.

Next Episode

S03E01 Mansfield Park, Chapters 1 to 3

In this episode, we read the first three chapters of Mansfield Park. We give a brief publishing history, and talk about how the opening chapters really prepare the way for the rest of the book, with all of the characters and relationships being set up, how the three Miss Wards come from a not dissimilar background from Pride and Prejudice’s Miss Gardiners (Mrs Bennet and Mrs Phillips), and how the novel’s themes of education and principle are introduced. The character we talk about is Mrs Norris.

In a longer than usual historical segment, Ellen talks about the historical background to Sir Thomas’s estate in Antigua, and the extent to which all members of the gentry were complicit in slavery. We follow this up with a conversation on how discussions of slavery are now part of the discourse on Mansfield Park. Harriet identifies four different approaches:

People who can’t read the book because of the connection with slavery
People who feel that perhaps the estate in Antigua did not use enslaved people
People who feel that the novel is about slavery – and, specifically, that it is an abolitionist novel
People who feel that slavery is part of the context of the novel – one of the aspects of Jane Austen’s society that today we find abhorrent – but it is not a focus. We need to be open to discussing the novel in a post-colonial light, but that does not mean the novel is about slavery.

We would like to thank Damianne Scott, who runs the Facebook page Black Girl Loves Jane, for reviewing the historical segment for us, and providing feedback.

To finish the episode, Harriet gives an overview of various popular culture versions of Mansfield Park.

For a list of references and other links, see this episode on our website.