Sense and Sensibilty by Jane Austen - 2297 Words

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen is a satirical clash of the two cultural movements: Romanticism, a movement focused on how imagination and emotion are more important than reason and formal rules, and Classicism, a movement centered on the qualities of formal etiquette, logic, and rationality. Austen focuses on the moral and social attributes of each, mainly their concepts on love. She portrays these traits in all the characters in the book, mainly the two oldest Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, who indirectly embody the title of the novel. They are inverted to each other where one represents Classicism and the other Romanticism. This is important because it provides the necessary dichotomy to create an understanding of the negatives of both movements. If Austen focused purely on one, than she makes the other seem better, which wouldnt be a proper satire on both movements. So by giving the two main characters traits from each and causing them both to have the same negativ e results, she makes a stronger contrast on both movements. One of the sisters, Elinor is the sense of the title and the typical 18th century neo-classical woman with many of the traits from that period, such as insight, perspective, judgment, and most importantly logical loving. However this sense causes her to dictate herself to the social conventions of Classicism like not expressing her true feelings and always looking to please others, especially the men in society. Meanwhile, Marianne,Show MoreRelatedEssay on Jane Austen Novels: Success After Death1679 Words   |  7 PagesJane Austen Novels: Success after Death Chuck Leddy, a notable critic, stated Upon her death in 1817, English novelist Jane Austen was completely unknown in the literary world. Why would someone as brilliant as Jane Austen not be world known? By 1817, Austen had already published one of her masterpieces Sense and Sensibility, and it seemed to not bring in as much success as it would later on in life. But the dry spell would eventually end. Two hundred years after Jane Austens death, her books