The "tea" in sagacity
Posted by Bob on December 30, 1997 at 16:38:54:
In response to accupatae...( a cup of tea), written by KAREN L on December 29, 1997 at 20:58:41
] And could the tea be considered sense?
What a question to put to an Englishman? (Although I guess you had no way of knowing that!). At a mundane level, everyone else was willing to let the tea go to waste, while Elinor does the sensible thing and drinks it, as Barabar says.
(Interesting to note that the adjective "sensible" can have connotations either of JA's "sense", as I am using it above, or of JA's "sensibility"; or both?)
At a level that connects more deeply with the British spirit, having a cup of tea is an eminently sensible nostrum - to calm the nerves - whereas the rest of the household could be said to be indulging themselves in the sensibility of highly stimulated nerves that do not want to be calmed. Marianne is always inclined to go over the top. In the book (and not so much in the film), mother is depicted as equally volatile. In this case, they take young, impressionable Margaret with them. (As Margaret is depicted in the film, I bet she grows up to be too sensible to indulge in that sort of scene in just a few years.)
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