] ] Yes, Marianne's self-censor mode is permanently in the off position, isn't it?

] I had not thought about it, but you are absolutely correct, Marianne's "dramatic" nature seems to give her licence to throw tact to the four winds. She runs over people's feelings willy-nilly without a thought of who she is hurting.

It seems to me that Marianne is the sort of person who prizes unexamined and uncurbed actions that arise directly from present emotions. I believe she would argue for the beauty and purity of raw feelings, unencumbered by social conventions, or other considerations. I do not know if this is entirely due to her youth, it may be. Being about her age myself, and that I believe emotions to be only at best, partial guides for actions in life, I am inclined to think that her personality has more to do with her philosophy than with her age. In my particular copy of S&S the introduction asserts that the readers always prefer Marianne's "unaffected emotiveness" to Elinor's more reserved nature. For myself, I am liking Elinor a great deal more, and admire her desire to temper her feelings and actions.