I do not mean to gentle Fanny in any way rather I am forming a new acquaintance with Mrs. Dashwood. (:D) I believe S&S2 bias has colored my view of her as it was my first exposure to JA and still a great favorite. It is interesting that during these first chapters Mrs. Dashwood’s reactions to Fanny are more (what I think of as) Marianne-like than adaptations ever suggested to me before. In Ch. 1 we are told of Marianne and Mrs. Dashwood, “The resemblance between her and her mother was strikingly great” and “They encouraged each other now in the violence of their affliction” but I do not think this is evident in the first scenes of S&S2. We see Marianne playing mournful tunes and her father’s favorite song to cultivate her grief but IIRC we do not see Mrs. Dashwood in any similar occupation or them encouraging each others exhibition of their feelings. Immoveable disgust and earnestly despise seem so much more descriptive of Marianne’s intolerance and her treatment of Fanny in S&S2 that I was surprised to realize that these were Mrs. Dashwood’s thoughts. I hope realizing how much of Marianne’s behavior has been gleamed directly from and approved by her mother will add to my understanding of both characters. (:D)