Gender Differences and the Despair of Women in Art

The Novel “sense” and “sensibility” was mainly about two major characters Elinor Dashwood and Marianne Dashwood and who happened to be sisters, Elinor was the older sister and the author made her represent “sense” referencing to the title ”sense and sensibility” because she was socially responsible, intellectual and prudent, on the other hand her sister Marianne was representing “sensibility” and she was emotional, spontaneous, romantic and affectionate, in the novel Elinor hid her feelings towards Edward ferrars and Marianne openly and unashamedly shows her love for john Willoughby. Their different attitudes towards the man they loved was based on their different personalities which is totally acceptable as we all have different attitudes and our attitudes cannot be the same as the next person.In this essay I will discuss the topic in my own perspective and view of gender. In this novel a woman was ruled in this sense that the author allowed women depend on men for a better life, a woman could not attend a university or get a job or inherit properties and the society has made women often unable to participate in political, authorised or military affairs. It was regarded that only marriage was the only survival for women basically, which they get to perform house chores and be “full housewives” whereas staying home and taking care of the kids was the only job they could engage in. I totally understand how the author wrote in this kind of context, in the past, women were not allowed to involve in these activities, but in sense and sensibility the author( Jane Austen) tried to give a little bit of right to women, taking a look from the beginning of the novel “fanny” could argue with her husband about financial and inheritance affairs, a good example was in the beginning where she persuaded her husband not to give anybody money even his half-sisters, another example is Mrs. Ferrars deciding if her son inherits the family fortune or not, men trusted their abilities to understand and participate in these activities and most of the situations depended on Elinor and her sister.

The author was trying to present the real world in her expression of writing, she did not try to picture the ideal world, Jane Austen(the author) allowed us to know the despair of women in their time, she also let us remember that people quickly forgive men’s foolish and appalling behaviour and that was why Willoughby did what he did and got away with it as he was so lucky to live happily ever after. I respect the author because he accepted both the bad and the good side of the general public, she accepted and did not try to change the world we live in.

Furthermore, I will also discuss about the relationship between women and their search of wealthy husbands in the book, after the death of Mr. henry, the Dashwood sisters had to move to another neighbourhood just for survival to a place different from where they were familiar with, just in search of love and Marianne’s search eventually ended in misery and with Elinor’s help she found her true love at last, in Leroy Watson smith’s “Jane Austen and the drama of women, he stated that “patriarchy is concerned with the disposition of property rules the making of marriage, in the nineteenth century England’s middle and upper class women had no choice but to place themselves on market with the hope of attracting a buyer”, marriage then became like prostitution with the fact that women had to marry them and that was their only ticket to a better life and men needed them to have kids and take care of the household, from my personal opinion there is no true love in this instance, an example was Elinor’s brother persuading her to get married to Colonel Brandon just for his wealth, he is “revolved on seeking an intimacy with that gentleman, and promoting the marriage by every possible attention”, so john Dashwood wanted them engaged because it was a profitable trade. An example of woman that really took marriage as a business in the novel was Lucy, the main reason when she was interested in marriage was for the profit attached to it, when she got to know Edward wont inherit the family’s fortune she immediately switched to Robert, she played her game in such a smart way that she used Elinor to break the relationship, in the book, love was not the main reason for marriage but the benefits attached and the only exception was Elinor and Marianne’s marriage because there was equity and value.

Marianne’s personality of responsiveness, her sensibility was too excess, she was too soft hearted and open compared to her sister, she didn’t hide the fact that she liked and dislike some people and never want to be around the people she does not like, she didn’t like Mrs. Jennings but she decided to travel with her to see Willoughby just because of her sense of too much sensibility after Willoughby ended the relationship, she cried everyday, everything lied on her too much sensitivity if not with the help of her sister, Marianne will have visualized the world as not worth living. referencing on Edward Copeland’s text “the heartbeat of romance lies with a good income” (Copeland 2001 pg132) Marianne believed too much in her spirit of love and if not for her sister she probably will not survive the heartbreak. Elinor on the other hand loved Edward deeply but her own kind of personality will not let her show it out, she is the opposite of her sister in the sense that her temperament helps her defeat her weaknesses, she was thoughtful about Mrs. Jennings and her brothers selfish character.

In conclusion, Jane Austen tried showing us the differences between a man and a woman, women had no right to inherit properties or stay happy at that time unless marriage comes in the picture which I see as a type of prostitution, marriage was their only way to a happy life so they had to involve in that form of prostitution.