Sense and Sensibility

                                                                               Jane Austen

The plot of Sense and Sensibility revolves around marriage. The novel begins with Elinor and Marianne asunmarried but eligible young women and only concludes when both of them settle into marriages.Engagements, possible matches, and marriages are the main concern of most the novel’s characters and thesubject of much of their conversation. Thus, love is also of central importance to the novel, as Marianne andElinor fall in love and seek to marry the men they love.

However, marriage isn’t all about love in the world of Sense and Sensibility. In fact, it’s often more aboutwealth, uniting families, and gaining social standing. Moreover, it’s often families and parents who attempt todecide engagements as much as any individual husband or wife. Mrs. Ferrars, for example, cares only abouther sons marrying wealthy, upperclasswomen. She does not care whether Edward loves Lucy and cuts all tieswith him when she learns of their engagement. For her, the decision of whom her sons will marry is as muchhers as theirs, because their marriages are more about their whole family than about their own individualdesires.

Marriage is an important part of the functioning of the high society in which Austen’s characters live. Itdetermines who will inherit family fortunes and properties, and is of particular importance to women, whosefutures depend almost entirely on the prospects of the men they marry. Nonetheless, while people in the noveloften marry for reasons other than love (Willoughby, for example, marries Miss Grey just for money),Elinorand Marianne ultimately do marry for love. For Marianne, though, this means redefining her notion of loveand allowing herself to develop affections for Colonel Brandon, even though she did not love him at first sight.

The novel is full of many love stories and marriage. They make the plot aswell as bring romantic atmosphere.