Which siblings?
Posted by Karen V on July 16, 1998 at 00:04:44:
In response to Brothers and sisters, written by Linden on July 14, 1998 at 19:16:48
] The earlier novels (NA & S&S) seem to show very affectionate relations between siblings: Catherine and James, the Tilneys, Marianne and Elinor.
] The later ones (Emma & Persuasion) show more distant relations: Emma and Isabella are not especially sisterly; Anne doesn't have much in common with either of her sisters.
] The middle ones (P&P, MP) are half way - Elizabeth and Jane are close, but not the other sisters; Fanny and William are close, but that's about all.
I think it depends on which sets of siblings you're looking at. There seem to be good and bad sibling relationships in all of the novels.
In S&S, Elinor and Marianne are close, but their brother is pretty much unconcerned for their welfare. Robert and Edward are poles apart.
In Emma, although we don't see much of their relationship, George and John Knightley have a real affection for each other. When Mr. Knightley and John meet at Christmas, Austen describes them as "in the true English style, burying under a calmness that seemed all but indifference, the real attachment which would have led either of them, if requisite, to do every thing for the good of the other."
I also thought that Capt. Wentworth and his sister were close, but I confess that I'm working more from the movie than from the book on that one. But Louisa and Henrietta Musgrove do appear at one point to both be interested in Capt. Wentworth, while still remaining perfectly cordial to each other. I think that that's the kind of thing that would test sisterly devotion, if anything would.
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