Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Elinor Dashwood and her younger sister Marianne have been invited for
dinner by their half-brother John Dashwood and his wife Fanny (the Master
and the Mistress, and owners of Norland estate), along with their
acquaintances the Steele sisters, the Middletons, Mrs Jennings - Lady
Middleton's mother - and Fanny Dashwood's mother Mrs Ferrars.
The dinner was a grand one, the servants were numerous, and every thing
bespoke the Mistress's inclination for show, and the Master's ability to support
it. In spite of the improvements and additions which were making to the
Norland estate, and in spite of its owner having once been within some
thousand pounds of being obliged to sell out at a loss, nothing gave any
symptom of that indigence which he had tried to infer from it; - no poverty of
any kind, except of conversation, appeared-but there, the deficiency was
considerable. John Dashwood had not much to say for himself that was worth
hearing, and his wife had still less. But there was no peculiar disgrace in this;
for it was very much the case with the chief of their visitors, who almost all
laboured under one or other of these disqualifications for being agreeable-Want
of sense, either natural or improved-want of elegance-want of spirits-or want of
temper.
When the ladies withdrew to the drawing-room after dinner, this poverty
was particularly evident, for the gentlemen had supplied the discourse with
some variety-the variety of politics, inclosing land, and breaking horses-but
then it was all over; and one subject only engaged the ladies till coffee came in,
which was the comparative heights of Harry Dashwood, and Lady Middleton's
second son William, who were nearly of the same age.
Had both the children been there, the affair might have been determined
too easily by measuring them at once; but as Harry only was present, it was all
conjectural assertion on both sides; and every body had a right to be equally
positive in their opinion, and to repeat it over and over again as often as they
liked.
The parties stood thus:
The two mothers, though each really convinced that her own son was the
tallest, politely decided in favour of the other.
The two grandmothers, with not less partiality, but more sincerity, were
equally earnest in support of their own descendant.
Lucy, who was hardly less anxious to please one parent than the other,
thought the boys were both remarkably tall for their age, and could not conceive
that there could be the smallest difference in the world between them; and Miss
, Steele, with yet greater address gave it, as fast as she could, in favour of each.
Elinor, having once delivered her opinion on William's side, by which she
offended Mrs. Ferrars and Fanny still more, did not see the necessity of
enforcing it by any farther assertion; and Marianne, when called on for hers,
offended them all, by declaring that she had no opinion to give, as she had
never thought about it.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, 1811, Vol. I, Chap. XlI
PISTES POUR UN COMMENTAIRE
DE CET EXTRAIT
Introduction :
Lead-in: (to be clearly linked with the analysis of this extract)
- Contextual: Jane Austen writing in a time of social changes; Jane Austen
writing about a specific social class.
- Literary: On Jane Austen's famous biting irony, clearly and cruelly at
work in this extract.
- External reference: Jane Austen described her novels as "pictures of
domestic life in country villages" - here is an example, both as picture and as
evocation of country gentry.
- The title: Is there any "sense" and/or "sensibility" in this extract? This
satirical picture of the country gentry seems to imply that there is no room for
either sense or sensibility in this superficial society.
- Internal reference: "no poverty of any kind, except of conversation,
appeared-but there, the deficiency was considerable."The quotation
encapsulates all the biting irony of the passage and scathingly lambasts the
dichotomy which is particularly the focus of Austen's satire: the material
possession but intellectual destitution of the landed gentry which is the object of
her satirical painting.
Elinor Dashwood and her younger sister Marianne have been invited for
dinner by their half-brother John Dashwood and his wife Fanny (the Master
and the Mistress, and owners of Norland estate), along with their
acquaintances the Steele sisters, the Middletons, Mrs Jennings - Lady
Middleton's mother - and Fanny Dashwood's mother Mrs Ferrars.
The dinner was a grand one, the servants were numerous, and every thing
bespoke the Mistress's inclination for show, and the Master's ability to support
it. In spite of the improvements and additions which were making to the
Norland estate, and in spite of its owner having once been within some
thousand pounds of being obliged to sell out at a loss, nothing gave any
symptom of that indigence which he had tried to infer from it; - no poverty of
any kind, except of conversation, appeared-but there, the deficiency was
considerable. John Dashwood had not much to say for himself that was worth
hearing, and his wife had still less. But there was no peculiar disgrace in this;
for it was very much the case with the chief of their visitors, who almost all
laboured under one or other of these disqualifications for being agreeable-Want
of sense, either natural or improved-want of elegance-want of spirits-or want of
temper.
When the ladies withdrew to the drawing-room after dinner, this poverty
was particularly evident, for the gentlemen had supplied the discourse with
some variety-the variety of politics, inclosing land, and breaking horses-but
then it was all over; and one subject only engaged the ladies till coffee came in,
which was the comparative heights of Harry Dashwood, and Lady Middleton's
second son William, who were nearly of the same age.
Had both the children been there, the affair might have been determined
too easily by measuring them at once; but as Harry only was present, it was all
conjectural assertion on both sides; and every body had a right to be equally
positive in their opinion, and to repeat it over and over again as often as they
liked.
The parties stood thus:
The two mothers, though each really convinced that her own son was the
tallest, politely decided in favour of the other.
The two grandmothers, with not less partiality, but more sincerity, were
equally earnest in support of their own descendant.
Lucy, who was hardly less anxious to please one parent than the other,
thought the boys were both remarkably tall for their age, and could not conceive
that there could be the smallest difference in the world between them; and Miss
, Steele, with yet greater address gave it, as fast as she could, in favour of each.
Elinor, having once delivered her opinion on William's side, by which she
offended Mrs. Ferrars and Fanny still more, did not see the necessity of
enforcing it by any farther assertion; and Marianne, when called on for hers,
offended them all, by declaring that she had no opinion to give, as she had
never thought about it.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, 1811, Vol. I, Chap. XlI
PISTES POUR UN COMMENTAIRE
DE CET EXTRAIT
Introduction :
Lead-in: (to be clearly linked with the analysis of this extract)
- Contextual: Jane Austen writing in a time of social changes; Jane Austen
writing about a specific social class.
- Literary: On Jane Austen's famous biting irony, clearly and cruelly at
work in this extract.
- External reference: Jane Austen described her novels as "pictures of
domestic life in country villages" - here is an example, both as picture and as
evocation of country gentry.
- The title: Is there any "sense" and/or "sensibility" in this extract? This
satirical picture of the country gentry seems to imply that there is no room for
either sense or sensibility in this superficial society.
- Internal reference: "no poverty of any kind, except of conversation,
appeared-but there, the deficiency was considerable."The quotation
encapsulates all the biting irony of the passage and scathingly lambasts the
dichotomy which is particularly the focus of Austen's satire: the material
possession but intellectual destitution of the landed gentry which is the object of
her satirical painting.
