急需理智与情感的英文书评

急需理智与情感的英文书评
急需理智与情感的英文书评

急需理智与情感的英文书评
Sense and Sensibility is a novel by Jane Austen that was first published in 1811. It was the first of Austen's novels to be published, under the pseudonym "A Lady." The novel has been adapted for film and television a number of times, most notably in Ang Lee's 1995 version.
Plot introduction
The story concerns two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood (Elinor representing "sense" and Marianne "sensibility"). Along with their mother and younger sister Margaret, they are left impoverished after the death of their father, and the family is forced to move to a country cottage, offered to them by a generous relative.
Elinor forms an attachment to the gentle and courteous Edward Ferrars, unaware that he is already secretly engaged. After their move, Marianne meets Willoughby, a dashing young man who leads her into undisciplined behaviour, so that she ignores the attentions of the faithful (but older) Colonel Brandon. The contrast between the sisters' characters is eventually resolved as both find love and lasting happiness.
Plot summary
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, are impoverished after the death of her husband. His estate, Norland, must pass to John Dashwood, his son from his first marriage. Although John promised his father that he would take care of them, his selfish wife Fanny easily dissuades him from giving them their fair share of the inheritance.
Elinor becomes attached to Fanny's brother Edward Ferrars. Edward is a quiet, unassuming young man who does not aspire to be the "fine figure in the world" his mother and sister wish him to be. Elinor admires his intelligence and good sense. Edward's fortune is dependent on the will of his mother. Elinor knows that she would not like her son to marry a woman of as low a rank as she is and does not allow herself to hope for marriage.
Uncomfortable as unwanted guests in their former home, Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters move from Norland to Barton Cottage. Their landlord is Sir John Middleton, who lives in Barton Park. Lady Middleton's mother Mrs. Jennings and Colonel Brandon are staying at Barton Park. Mrs. Jennings, a good-humoured widow, thinks that Colonel Brandon is in love with Marianne and teases them both about it. Marianne disregards her because she pities Colonel Brandon as an old bachelor who has no chance of inspiring love in anyone.
On a walk in the countryside, Marianne falls and sprains her ankle. Willoughby, a dashing and handsome man, carries her back to Barton Cottage. Willoughby begins to visit Marianne every day and they become very close. Margaret sees Willoughby cutting a lock of Marianne's hair to keep with him. Elinor overhears him calling Marianne by her first name and believes that they may be secretly engaged. Willoughby leaves abruptly, telling the Dashwoods that he must go to London and will not return for a year. His departure greatly upsets Marianne.
Edward Ferrars comes to stay at Barton Cottage. However he seems unhappy and is distant towards Elinor, and she fears that he no longer has any feelings for her. However, unlike Marianne, she does not wallow in her sadness. Ann and Lucy Steele, cousins of Lady Middleton, come to visit. Sir John tells Lucy that Elinor is attached to Edward. However, Lucy then reveals to Elinor that she (Lucy) has been secretly engaged to Edward for four years. Shortly before the Dashwoods leave for Barton Cottage, Edward attempts to tell Elinor of his engagement, but because of his inability to tell Elinor quickly, is interrupted by Fanny and is unable to finish. Elinor is overcome with grief, but she keeps the information from her family as a promise to Lucy.
Elinor and Marianne spend the winter at Mrs. Jennings' home in London. Marianne writes to Willoughby, but her letters are unanswered. They meet Willoughby at a party, but he is cold and formal with them. He then sends Marianne a letter in which he denies ever having loved her and telling her that he is engaged to a Miss Grey, a very wealthy woman of inferior birth. Marianne admits to Elinor that they were not engaged, but that she still loved him and that he, while he also loved her and greatly implied it but never actually said it. Colonel Brandon reveals to Elinor that Willoughby seduced his foster daughter Miss Williams and abandoned her when she became pregnant. The Colonel was once in love with Miss Williams's mother, who resembled Marianne in temperament, but whose life was destroyed by an unhappy arranged marriage to the Colonel's brother.
Later, Mrs. Jennings tells Elinor that Mrs. Ferrars has discovered Edward and Lucy's engagement. Edward refuses to end the engagement and his mother, furious because of Lucy's poverty, disinherits him. Elinor and Marianne feel sorry for Edward, and think him honourable for remaining engaged to a woman he will probably not be happy with. Ann Steele tells Elinor that Lucy still intends to marry Edward. Edward intends to take religious orders so that he can support them. Colonel Brandon offers his parish at Delaford to Edward, although he hardly knows him. Elinor meets Edward's boorish brother Robert and is shocked to discover that he has no qualms about claiming his brother's inheritance.
Marianne becomes very ill after a walk in the rain during which she was wallowing in misery because of Willoughby, and Colonel Brandon goes to get Mrs. Dashwood. Willoughby arrives and tells Elinor that he was left with large debts when his benefactress discovered his actions towards Miss Williams and disinherited him. He then decided to marry a wealthy woman. He says that he still loves Marianne. He seeks forgiveness, but has poor excuses for his selfish actions. Meanwhile, Colonel Brandon reveals his love for Marianne to Mrs. Dashwood.
Marianne recovers and the Dashwoods return to Barton Cottage. Mrs. Dashwood wishes for Marianne to marry the Colonel, but Elinor perceives that Marianne still has a lack of regard for him. They learn that Mr. Ferrars has married Lucy. Mrs. Dashwood realises how strong Elinor's feelings for Edward are and is sorry that she did not pay more attention to her unhappiness.
However, the next day Edward arrives and reveals that it was his brother who married Lucy. He says that he was trapped in his engagement with Lucy, "a woman he had long since ceased to love," but that she had broken the engagement to marry the now wealthy Robert. Edward asks Elinor to marry him, and she agrees. Edward reconciles with his mother, and she gives him ten thousand pounds, enough for them to live comfortably. They marry and move into the parsonage at Delaford.
Over the next two years, Mrs. Dashwood, Marianne and Margaret spend most of their time at Delaford. Marianne matures and after growing to love the Colonel, decides to marry Brandon. They marry and live close to Elinor and Edward.
Characters in "Sense and Sensibility"
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Henry Dashwood — A wealthy gentleman who dies at the beginning of the story. The terms of his estate prevent him from leaving anything to his second wife and their children together. He asks John, his son by his first wife, to ensure the financial security of his second wife and their three daughters.
Mrs. Dashwood — The second wife of Henry Dashwood, who is left in difficult financial straits by the death of her husband.
Elinor Dashwood — The sensible and reserved eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She becomes attached to Edward Ferrars, the brother-in-law of her elder half-brother, John.
Marianne Dashwood — The romantically inclined and expressive second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. She is the object of the attentions of Col. Brandon and Mr. Willoughby.
Margaret Dashwood — The youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood.
John Dashwood — The son of Henry Dashwood by his first wife.
Fanny Dashwood — The wife of John Dashwood, and sister to Edward and Robert Ferrars.
Sir John Middleton — a relative of Mrs. Dashwood who, after the death of Henry Dashwood, invites her and her three daughters to live in a cottage on his property. Middleton, his wife, and their children live with his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings. He and Mrs. Jennings are a jolly and gossipy pair, taking an active interest in the romantic affairs of the young people around them and seeking to encourage suitable matches.
Lady Middleton — The genteel and idle wife of Sir John Middleton, she is primarily concerned with mothering her four spoilt children.
Edward Ferrars — The elder of Fanny Dashwood's two brothers. He forms an attachment to Elinor Dashwood. Years before meeting the Dashwoods, Ferrars proposed to Lucy Steele, the niece of his tutor. The engagement has been kept secret owing to the expectation that Ferrars's family would object to his marrying Miss Steele.
Robert Ferrars — the younger brother of Edward Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood.
Col. Christopher Brandon — Close friend of Sir John Middleton. In his youth, Brandon had fallen in love with his father's ward, but was prevented by his family from marrying her. The girl later suffered numerous misfortunes, finally dying penniless and disgraced.
John Willoughby — a nephew of a neighbour of the Middletons, a dashing figure who charms Marianne.
Charlotte Palmer — The daughter of Mrs. Jennings and the younger sister of Lady Middleton, Mrs. Palmer is empty-headed and laughs at inappropriate things, e.g. her husbands continual rudeness to her and to others.
Mr. Palmer — The husband of Charlotte Palmer who is running for a seat in Parliament in spite of his idleness and rudeness.
Lucy Steele — a young relation of Mrs. Jennings, who has for some time been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars. She assiduously cultivates the friendship with Elinor Dashwood and with Mrs. John Dashwood.
Anne/Nancy Steele — Lucy Steele's elder sister.
Miss Grey — a wealthy heiress with whom Mr. Willoughby becomes involved.
Lord Morton — father of Miss Morton
Miss Morton — wealthy woman whom Mrs.Ferrars wants his eldest son, Edward, to marry
Mr. Pratt — uncle of Lucy Steele
Spoilers end here.
Critical appraisal
Austen wrote the first draft of Elinor and Marianne (later retitled Sense and Sensibility) c. 1795, when she was about 19 years old. While she had written a great deal of short fiction in her teens, Elinor and Marianne was her first full-length novel. The plot revolves around a contrast between Elinor's sense and Marianne's emotionalism; the two sisters may have been loosely based on Jane and Cassandra Austen, with Austen casting Cassandra as the restrained and well-judging sister and herself as the emotional one. Austen clearly intended to vindicate Elinor's sense and self-restraint, and on the simplest level, the novel may be read as a parody of the full-blown romanticism and sensibility that was fashionable around the 1790s. Yet Austen's treatment of the two sisters is complex and multi-faceted. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin argues that Sense and Sensibility has a "wobble in its approach," which developed because Austen, in the course of writing the novel, gradually became less certain about whether sense or sensibility should triumph.[1] She endows Marianne with every attractive quality: intelligence, musical talent, frankness, and the capacity to love deeply. She also acknowledges that Willoughby, with all his faults, continues to love and, in some measure, appreciate Marianne. For these reasons, some readers find Marianne's ultimate marriage to Colonel Brandon an unsatisfactory ending.[2] The ending does, however, neatly join the themes of sense and sensibility though having the sensible sister marry her true love after long, romantic obstacles to their union, and the emotional sister find happiness with a man she did not initially love, but who was an eminently sensible choice of a husband.
The novel displays Austen's subtle irony at its best, with many outstanding comic passages about the Middletons, the Palmers, Mrs. Jennings, and Lucy Steele