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Noelle Geniza Dr. Sophie Thomas ENG 610 - Language of Love, Sex and Gender 30 March 2011

Just Settling: An Analysis of Marianne Dashwoods Romantic Idealism and the Nature of Compromise in Sense and Sensibility

There arent enough love songs about just settling, quips Charlie Brooker, the host of BBCs six-parter series entitled How TV Ruined Your Life. The fourth episode, which talked about how television has profoundly skewed our perceptions of romantic relationships and the nature of true love through mass media and advertising. The fateful first meeting, the glorified ensuing passion, the dignified break-up -- these tropes found in mass media are highly entrenched with romantic sensibilities that in turn inform the actual discourse and praxis around romantic relationships. In the episode, Brooker points out how portrayals on television tend to plant highly unrealistic expectations regarding how relationships and attractions work, providing examples accompanied with satirical commentary. In a similar vein, Jane Austen in Sense and Sensibility uses Marianne Dashwood to explore how romantic sensibilities have in turn idealistically skewed perceptions of heterosexual romantic relationships, as well as her perceptions of her ideal partner. This paper will attempt to explore the nature of Mariannes romantic idealism and how it affects her consequent romanticized reactions and relationships with men. It will attempt to dissect Marianne Dashwoods romantic ideals through the comparison of her perception and interaction with various male characters, honing in specifically on how she defines her ideal through

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criticizing Edward Ferrars, the disappointment of these ideals in her doomed relationship with Willoughby, and the tempering and maturing of her sensibilities in her eventual marriage to Colonel Brandon. It will also discuss the nature and degree in which Jane Austen explores compromise as a resolution within the novel, whether it precludes notions of genuine felicity or offer an alternate, perhaps more realistic perspective on the nature of romantic attachments.

The romantic influences of Marianne Dashwood are not as crass and blatantly overblown as of those of contemporary pop culture, but she has them. Her generous, romantic personality, which is everything but prudent, highly resembles that of her mothers, who values it and frequently encourage each other in the violence of their affliction (6). This encouragement is relentlessly renewed during their grief at losing dear, dear Norland (6 ). Austen emphasizes this wretchedness with a contrasting description of Elinors controlled and calm attitude that leaves her to attend to familial duties on her own. Austen gives us a firmer grasp of Marianne Dashwoods romantic sensibilities with the introduction and arrival of Edward Ferrars and the consequential attachment he and Elinor develops. In a particular conversation with her mother, Marianne laments Edwards lack of features. In the telling passage, Marianne presents her own romantic ideal by revealing point-by-point Edwards faults, his wanting characteristics:
His figure is not striking; it has none of that grace his eyes want all that spirit, that fire, which at once announce virtue and intelligence. And besides all this he has no real taste. Music seems scarcely to attract him He admires as a lover, not as a connoisseur (14)

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She then proceeds to outline the rest of her romantic ideals, which emphasise perfect coincidence with her own refined and exacting tastes. Jane Austen slyly pokes at romantic idealism through Mariannes ridiculous lament of her sisters nonchalant composure despite Edwards spiritless reading of Cowper, she seems to scarcely notice it, I could hardly keep my seat (14). Mariannes heightened awareness to these deficiencies and her empathic reaction It would have broke my heart had I loved him paints her as slightly affected (14). She goes on to assert:
Mama, the more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much! He must have all Edwards virtues, and his person and manners must ornament his goodness with every possible charm. (14)

Here Austen stresses Mariannes romantic notions a perfect union and an ideal man, but not without hiding the foreshadowing of Mariannes attachment with Willoughby, who had all the possible charms Edward lacked, but as she was wont to find out later, had none of the virtues that Edward possessed.

Marianne and Willoughbys first meeting has all the elements of a fateful encounter of a romance plot, or what Charles Hinnant terms as the rescue plot (296): the damsel in distress meets the manly hero in the rain who carries her to safety. Austen describes the amazement with which Elinor and their mother perceive him, their eyes fixed on him in evident wonder and secret admiration. However, it is to be noted that at Marianne has not yet fully perceived him, that her romantic rescue, his lifting her up, had confused her, and most importantly, robbed her of her power in regarding him fully (33). One can regard this moment as one that sustains itself throughout the entire narrative

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of their clandestine love affair (Hinnant, 299). What Marianne has seen of Willoughby was enough to gain her admiration: it was equal to her fancy, her ideal. Willougby was the faultless hero of her favourite story(33). Marianne immediately associating Willoughby with her ideals set up their interactions as one injected with much projection and fantasizing on her part. Her imagination was busy from the start that it was all-consuming, and made her forget about her sprained ankle. In addition to his dashing appearance and manners, it pleased Marianne to find that Willoughby was remarkably similar to her own temperament, or which Hinnan referred to as their shared sensibility (304), and that their preferred activities were strikingly alike (36). In other words, she had seen her idealized perfection in Willoughby, who was exactly formed to engage Mariannes heart. Considering how their affair turned out, Austens subtle implication of forming Willoughby to engage Marianne, were one to consider the novels intention as a book of manners, was to teach through her (Marianne), the merits of caution and moderation, a quality which Marianne sorely lacked. Prefaced with her characteristic lack of moderation in entering into an attachment with Willoughby, the profound disappointment and emotional turmoil that tormented her after his desertion was then, in her mind, thoroughly poignant. When she receives his last missive where she is unceremoniously, brutally jilted (Hinnan 298), Marianne throws herself into her own anguish, almost choked with grief. It is to be noted that Austen proceeds to inject a satirical note within Mariannes display of heartbreak with her assertions: I must feel I must be wretched which greatly contrasts with Elinors claims to reason. Mariannes prolonged period of suffering (Hinnan 298) brings to light how much of her romantic idealism infected the narrative of her relationship with

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Willoughby. Much of her pain is derived from sustaining her own torment and frequent giving in to nostalgia, always giving into recollections of the past. She is what Gary Kelly terms as the duped idealistic heroine (232), who has to facilitate her growth through means of a period of adversity. Marianne experiences the socalled trial by fire of her early convictions when she fell violently ill as a result of her walks around the grounds at Cleveland. Her near-death experience was one gave her the leisure to reflect. The culmination of her maturity was her acknowledgement of Willoughbys wrongs and faults for what they were; even more so when she acknowledged the selfishness and single-mindedness of her behaviour towards her family. Her romantic ideals, by then, have flattened out, having recognized her own folly (265).

The nature of compromise in Sense and Sensibility, aside from providing a realistic (one would say dissatisfying) conclusion, also provides a stark irony to Mariannes professed romantic idealism early on in the book. Her eventual marriage to Colonel Brandon, was in all respects, not her initial vision of conjugal bliss. Early on in the book, her dismissal of his age and infirmity and contempt for his flannel waistcoats repudiated any affection that she might have sprung for him (28, 29). However, there is more to the compromise than the renunciation of Mariannes her false opinions. Her marriage to Colonel Brandon was the culmination of general consensus throughout the novel. Instead of the irresistable sacrifice she was wont to indulge her imagination in, her tranquil submission to Colonel Brandon bore an anti-climactic tone, both to her expectations and to the novel itself. Much of the decision to embark on the marriage was based upon general consensus by her friends and social circle rather than her own single-minded

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fancies. Austen approaches compromise in Sense and Sensibility grounded in realism and irony. One might view Mariannes consent in marrying Brandon as a choice made out of resignation, but one that served her (and all parties involved) well. The realism involved in these compromises border on a kind of cheerful bitterness in Willoughbys part, for although her marriage did cause a pang, it did not actually spur on any incarnation of concrete regret (288-9). Colonel Brandons grief over his former attachment to Eliza was assuaged by his marriage to Marianne, however, it is not without painstaking devotion and help does he achieve this. His plight, however tragic, has all the realistic momentum of an actual courtship the novel can afford. It has not the nature of love at first sight as was commanded by Willoughby, but instead it offers perspective as to how one might realistically settle after a long period of tribulation. The peculiar, inconclusive closure that Austen lends to the irony to the courtship plot, contributes to the reflection of the greater spectrum of complexities surrounding relationships.

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Work Cited Austen, Jane, James Kinsley, Margaret Anne Doody, and Claire Lamont. Sense and Sensibility. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print. Hinnant, Charles H. "Jane Austen's "Wild Imagination": Romance and the Courtship Plot in the Six Canonical Novels." Narrative 14.3 (2006): 294-310. Print. Kelly, Gary. "Unbecoming a Heroine: Novel Reading, Romanticism, and Barrett's The Heroine." Nineteenth-Century Literature 45.2 (1990): 220-41. Print.