Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen’s classic romantic comedy dates from the Regency period (early 19th century) and centres on Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, daughters of Mrs Dashwood, who are forced after the death of their father to leave their comfortable Sussex home because it is to pass to their only male relative, John Dashwood, and his snobbish wife Fanny. They move to a cottage in Devon owned by their wealthy cousin Sir John, who lives nearby with his good-natured, talkative mother-in-law, Mrs Jennings. Marianne falls in love with the dashing Willoughby, ignoring the attentions of Sir John’s more modest friend, Colonel Brandon. Elinor hoped she was winning the affections of Edward Ferrars, Fanny’s brother, whilst she was in Sussex, but finds her future happiness under threat from Fanny’s determination he should marry into a rich family. Poor Elinor suffers further heartbreak when she later learns that he is apparently already secretly engaged to Mrs Jennings’s niece, Lucy Steele.