I agree with your post but it brings another thought to mind concerning Edward and his worth. Obviously, status wise, Edward is more than worthy of Elinor but character wise, I can't help but feel that she is his superior. Other than, perhaps, a slight lack on the side of sensibility, Elinor displays sterling character. And frankly if one must be leaning more toward one way or the other, sense wins out over sensibility in my book. While one may not have enough sensibility I don't see how one can have too much sense, really. :-)

But getting back to Edward, Elinor has reconciled any misgivings she might have about the whole Lucy/Edward thing. While I like Edward, I am not as inclined to let him off so easily. He has engaged Elinor's heart when he shouldn't have. He seems a rather hapless and indecisive young man. I know he's in an unusual position which puts him between a rock and a hard place. But mostly, it's his own actions that have placed him there. If he felt all along that he would stick to his word regarding Lucy (which is an admiral trait), he should have taken himself out of the situation where Elinor is concerned. S&S2 tries to fix this fallibility in Edward by having him, before he leaves the Dashwood estate, confess his situation to Elinor so that ,one, she hears it from him and ,two, she doesn't have to go around needlessly with a hopeful heart. And even though Fanny interrupts him, the audience at least feels he tried to rectify the situation. The irony of it all is that if it wasn't for the horrible mother whom we pity him for having to put up with, he would, most likely, already have had several miserable years of marriage to Lucy.