I had never read anything before this group read about why Jane Austen had specifically chosen Hamlet for the play they left unfinished, although I have often speculated on it, and in that earlier thread I had quoted some lines, both about how Hamlet reacted with the grief of having lost his father, and Polonius and Laertes' attempts to advise Ophelia on her behaviour with Hamlet.

During this read, I found a small critical analysis of S&S, from which I have quoted in other threads.

One of the points made in there is that the 'ghost of Hamlet's father' hangs over the novel, as there are many fatherless characters in the play, and that the circumstances of their fatherlessness influences many aspects of the novel. Consider the following fatherless characters and how the loss of their father affected their life: the 3 Dashwood girls, the Ferrars siblings Edward, Fanny and Robert, Willoughby, Colonel Brandon (and his brother while his brother was alive), Miss Grey, the two Elizas, and Charlotte Palmer and Mary Middleton.