] On the other hand, I fully understand Marianne's fascination and enchantment with the romantic. I have, all my life, loved fairytales and romance.

] Marianne likes to immerse herself in the dramatics. She seems to savor it, wallow in it. One wave of misery fuels another and another.

I haven't been following the discussion about the 'teenage thing', but this is all very interesting!

I think Marianne was at an age of life where you're just really starting to appreciate the complexity, depth and power of humanity and all its emotions. The late teens is this time of sudden eye-opening, and you're blown away by the world around you, but just the daily comings and goings of your life.

In Marianne's (and other youthful teengaers') case, daily life is this all amazing high, but it gets conditioned into the norm - you move from the delights of the life you have to 'it's all delightful but i've always had that i want more'. You want to explore the all the depths of grief and all the exaltant highs of delight and happiness and love. It's almost like this skewed way of expressing your appreciation for the world around you, but living it all to the full!

In the case after Willoughby's letter, suddenly all the emotion she's been pushing herself to is suddenly all justified, and it hits pretty hard! I think Marianne, without even realising it, does actually believe this the worst that grief and hurt can go.