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Criticism of S&S


 Posted by Stephanie S on August 19, 1998 at 18:25:09:


Back to the Sense and Sensibility boardThe following criticism of S&S was included in the Illustrated Cabinet Edition of Sense and Sensibility that I found on the web.  I thought the comments very interesting since they were included in an edition of S&S.  Except for the fact that Elinor and Marianne personalities' feed off each other, I wholeheartedly disagree with the other comments.  I still thought I'd share it.  Any other comments?
"Sense and Sensibility is on the whole the poorest of Jane Austen's completed novels. The contrast between the two sisters is of course interesting; but they are less individual than the persons in the other tales. The very fact that Elinor stands for Sense and Marianne for Sensibility militates against the reality and charm of their personalities; and the three leading men are less satisfactory than her other heroes. The book is the least original of all her works; and in places sounds as if it were written under the shadow of Richardson's influence. There is of course the same contrast between first impressions and the final reality that appears elsewhere; there is the same endeavour to show that those who have the most ease of manner are not necessarily of the most solid worth. There is in addition the touch of burlesque in the     character of Marianne, where Jane Austen is laughing at the sentimentalists; but while all these characteristics are typical of her art, they appear with less subtlety than in the other novels, indeed one might say there is now and then a suggestion of crudity. Edward Ferrars is spineless, Willoughby is a stage villain, and Colonel Brandon is depressing. On the whole, if we had to part with any one of Jane Austen's works, I imagine that Sense and Sensibility is the one that we should most willingly let die."





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