S02E10 Sense and Sensibility, Chapters 47 to 50

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.