Sense and Sensibility

By Jane Austen

Social Hierarchies

The Regency society of Austen's day was rigidly divided by social status and wealth. The social pyramid placed the aristocracy at the top, followed by the landed gentry, followed by the bourgeoisie who have made their money from business rather than from inheritance. Those people who fall beneath these categories do not have a place in Austen's novels; "the poor" may be mentioned in passing, but no poverty- stricken person ever has a proper role in an Austen plot as they would in the work of Dickens. The structure of the social pyramid was changing, however, and Austen was quick to recognise the literary potential of the growing social mobility which she saw taking place around her. She set her novels at the point at which the bourgeoisie were beginning to break into the social sphere usually reserved for the gentry. In Emma, for instance, the Coles do not immediately invite Emma Woodhouse and her father to their dinner-party. Emma knows she should take this as a compliment - her high social status means that she cannot be asked to spend an evening with people from a lower social level than her own - but she is nevertheless discomforted by being excluded. As it turns out, however, the Coles were only waiting to invite the Woodhouses until they had received a screen from London which would protect Mr. Woodhouse from draughts. They offer the invitation in a way which recognises the difference in social position between them and the Woodhouses, and Emma accepts graciously, but nevertheless the fact that representatives of one of the oldest families in the neighbourhood can mix socially with those of a family which has made its money in "trade" is indicative of a crucial shift in the social structure. The same shift is shown in Sense and Sensibility by the willingness of Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. John Dashwood, gentry wives, to receive the Steele girls into their houses: Anne and Lucy Steele are the daughters of a teacher from Plymouth.

Austen introduces another social hierarchy into her novels based on morals and manners: someone who is capable of talking intelligently and behaving considerately is placed above someone who is not. David Monaghan has shown that it was the duty of the upper classes to set an example of polite and sensitive behaviour and especially to be generous to their inferiors. He quotes from Edmund Burke to demonstrate that a belief in the importance of good manners was not exclusive to Austen:

"Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in a great measure, the laws depend. The law touches us but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex and soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarise or refine us... They give their whole form and colour to our lives. According to their quality, they aid morals, they supply them, or they totally destroy them."

Burke was a successful politician and writer who died just as Austen's own literary career was beginning. He would probably have had an influence on her, as the passage above demonstrates. The evidence of the novels is that Austen felt as Burke did, that manners, morality and the successful functioning of society are interdependent. Politeness and considerate behaviour are the foundations on which social ease and personal contentment depend: the unwritten laws of society demand that its members play their own part in maintaining those foundations. Austen's novels examine the moments at which this social code breaks down. In Sense and Sensibility she concentrates on how failing to adhere to the true purpose of manners - to make others more comfortable - can force people into dependency.

Sir John Middleton is acting in accordance with the rule that the upper classes must show benevolence to those who are less fortunate when he offers the Dashwoods a home at Barton Cottage. However, Austen is careful to show that he is also acting out of self-interest. Sir John is incapable of being alone and so is not at all discriminating in his choice of those whom he gathers around him. His passion is for company of any kind, and he judges the success of a party entirely on its size:

"He hoped they would all excuse the smallness of the party, and could assure them that it would never happen so again. He had been to several families that morning in hopes of procuring some addition to their number, but it was moonlight and every body was full of engagements." (p. 66)

The Dashwoods find that in accepting the offer of Barton Cottage they have unknowingly committed themselves to providing company for Sir John whenever he requires it. Their efforts to retain some independence are totally insufficient to resist the torrent of invitations to Barton Park. This would not be a problem even if the company there were more enjoyable. As it is, Elinor and Marianne are subjected to constant teasing from Mrs. Jennings, coldness from Lady Middleton, and a complete absence of any sensible conversation from anyone except Colonel Brandon. While the Dashwoods are below the Middletons in terms of wealth and social status, they are far above them in terms of manners and intelligence. They find themselves in the unpleasant position of being under an obligation to people whose company it is impossible to enjoy. Marianne is less tolerant of the situation than Eleanor: she tells Edward Ferrars when he is visiting them that, "we could not be more unfortunately situated" (p. 114) and remarks pertinently that

"the rent of this cottage is said to be low; but we have it on very hard terms, if we are to dine at the park whenever anyone is staying either with them, or with us." (p. 133)

Sir John's original kind action, then, has placed Elinor and Marianne in a position of dependence from which they do not escape until the very end of the novel. It is notable how often they find themselves having to do things they would rather not do; they are more powerless than any of Austen's other heroines. This is made clear through their relationship with the Miss Steeles. Elinor decides immediately after meeting them that she does not want to know them better; however, she is not able to act on this decision. The Miss Steeles are determined to become "better acquainted" with Elinor and Marianne,

"And to be better acquainted therefore, Elinor soon found was their inevitable lot, for as Sir John was entirely on the side of the Miss Steeles, their party would be too strong for opposition, and that kind of intimacy must be submitted to, which consists of sitting together for an hour or two in the same room almost every day." (p. 146-47)

Similarly, Elinor and Marianne are forced to spend time with Anne and Lucy Steele in London just after Mrs. Palmer has had a baby:

"This event, highly important to Mrs. Jennings' happiness, produced a temporary alteration in the disposal of her time, and influenced, in a like degree, the engagements of her young friends; for as she wished to be as much as possible with Charlotte, she went thither every morning as soon as she was dressed, and did not return until late in the evening; and the Miss Dashwoods, at the particular request of the Middletons, spent the whole of every day in Conduit-street. For their own comfort, they would have much rather remained, at least all the morning, in Mrs. Jennings' house; but it was not a thing to be urged against the wishes of everybody. Their hours were therefore made over to Lady Middleton and the two Miss Steeles... " (p. 250)

Austen then goes on to explain the reasons why none of these people thus thrown together really want to see each other at all. Elinor and Marianne, by being at the top of the hierarchy of manners, are implicitly suffering the most. Their discomfort and lack of control over their own lives finds an apt metaphor in the description of the party at which Marianne is slighted by Willoughby:

"They... entered a room splendidly lit up, quite full of company, and insufferably hot. When they had paid their tribute of politeness by curtsying to the lady of the house, they were permitted to mingle in the crowd, and take their share of the heat and inconvenience, to which their arrival must necessarily add." (p. 189)

The crowded nature of the room and the public nature of the event taking place in it mean that when Willoughby tries to ignore Marianne she cannot move directly to him and demand an explanation. She can move no more easily through a crowded room than she can cut through the complex web of social rules which forbid speaking honestly and acting openly. There is a similar scene in Northanger Abbey, in which Austen emphasises Catherine Morland's nervousness at making her first appearance in Bath society by making the assembly at which she does so extremely crowded and restricting. As well as showing the impact of external factors on her heroines, Austen is making their physical discomfort stand for their mental and emotional discomfort.

The pattern of dependence in Sense and Sensibility is enlarged by Austen's concern with financial dependence. Both Willoughby and Edward Ferrars are dependent for their fortunes on older female relations, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Ferrars. Both women use their influence to interfere in the two men's choice of wives. Mrs. Smith disinherits Willoughby because she has found out about his seduction of Eliza Williams, which forces him to reject Marianne and marry the wealthy Miss Grey. Ironically, she eventually relents; had Willoughby remained loyal to Marianne he would have ended up with money and the woman he loved rather than making an unhappy marriage just for the sake of being rich. Mrs. Ferrars is determined that Edward will marry well and choose a wife whose fortune matches her own. When she discovers that Edward is engaged to Lucy Steele, she disowns him. Elinor, after she and Edward have become engaged, advises him to humble himself to his mother, as a result of which Edward ends up getting exactly what Willoughby was denied: the money and the right wife. There is a neat parallel in their fates: Edward could have married Lucy, but actually marries Elinor as a reward for his virtue while Willoughby could have married Marianne but actually marries Miss Grey as a punishment for his greed.

Elinor and Marianne have inherited a small amount of money and no land from their father; the novel opens with a sharp drop in their fortunes from the eminence of Norland to the lowliness of Barton. They are considerably the poorer for the descent and are dependent on their stepbrother for the extra income to which their father felt they were entitled. John Dashwood, however, is persuaded by his wife not to give them any money. The John Dashwoods have used their position of power to disadvantage others, just as Sir John Middleton, in a much more well-meaning way, has used his to compromise Elinor and Marianne socially. The social code of manners and consideration has been over-ridden by insensitivity and greed. In a battle of manners and wealth, wealth has won. Austen suggests, however, that it is a hollow victory. For manners to triumph in the same battle, as it does in the case of Edward and his mother, is a far worthier victory.

The route offered to the heroines out of social and financial unease and dependency is marriage. This, however, could be seen as a new form of dependency. The examples of the unmarried Miss Bates (Emma) or the widowed Mrs. Smith (Persuasion) are enough to make clear the financial disadvantages of being without male support. The only exception is Emma Woodhouse, who does not have to marry to be materially comfortable. Her own family is sufficiently wealthy to give her a truly free choice over whether she marries or not. Elinor and Marianne receive financial stability from their husbands (though, in the case of Elinor, only with the help of Mrs. Ferrars); equally importantly, they are also assured of good company for the rest of their lives. By choosing well, Austen's heroines can take their place at the top of the hierarchy of manners with other happy couples such as Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner (Pride and Prejudice) and Admiral and Mrs. Croft (Persuasion), and avoid the fate of the novels' much more numerous ill-matched couples. In Sense and Sensibility, Elinor and Marianne and their husbands promise to form the core of good Devon society in their community at Delaford. We are presented with a similar community in Derbyshire at the end of Pride and Prejudice. The Delaford community, however, is completely detached from its opponents in London, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ferrars and Mr. and Mrs. John Dashwood. The characters who are superior in manners and consideration simply remove themselves from inferior society and cease to live in a diverse community. Potentially harmful people, such as Willoughby, Lucy Steele and the John Dashwoods, are no longer a threat to Elinor and Marianne, who have steered a course through all the obstacles between them and the safe harbour of a happy marriage. By the point that this harbour has been reached, all potential for drama in the narratives has been expended and the novels have no choice but to end.

Austen's novels touch on the possibility of disappointment or disaster for the heroines, and in Sense and Sensibility, this possibility is more real than it is elsewhere, but they always end with social and financial rewards equivalent to the positions of the heroines in the hierarchy of manners. This, Austen is clear, is the hierarchy that really matters. Nonetheless, she would not dream of depriving her heroines of the financial stability which, as Elinor observes, is crucial to happiness (p. 117). Austen shares both Elinor's high ideals and her pragmatism. I shall explore the relationship between these two sides of her character and its contribution to the contrast between her and Marianne in the next section.