I decided to separate this into two posts/thread, because I think that Willoughby and Marianne both have their own agenda as to why they are working so hard to undermine Colonel Brandon's merits. I said in the other thread that I think Willoughby was probably motivated by jealousy.

As for Marianne--well, clearly she is trying to make herself agreeable to W. by agreeing with him and supporting him.

However, I also think it's ironic that Marianne, who prides herself on being able to see and feel and think more deeply than other people, is missing hints about the colonel that truly ought to make him an 'object of interest' to her, as he is to Elinor.

For example, we read that "it was only necessary (for Willoughby) to mention any favourite amusement to engage [Marianne] to talk." Marianne won't give Colonel Brandon the time of day, but he talks intelligently about things like books and travel and ideas--things which properly ought to be of interest to Marianne if she only gave him a chance. I'm not talking about admitting him as a suitor for her hand here--just sitting and having a conversation with him.

Elinor has also come to believe that Colonel Brandon has suffered great injury in disappointed love. Knowing this would appeal to Marianne's romantic nature. As Elinor thinks, "The whole story would have been speedily formed under her active imagination; and [everything] established in the most melancholy order of disastrous love." Doesn't this seem like something Marianne would love to know about and talk about?

What else has Marianne missed about the Colonel so far?