Sense and Sensibility - Week 4 > Likes and Comments

More visitors seemed thrust upon the Dashwoods. First the Palmers who pressure the Dashwoods to go to London for the winter. Then the Steeles. Maryanne does not appear much in these chapters. One can presume she’s still pining for Willoughby. Elinor has some distinct thoughts about the Steeles and bemoans their lack of education. Lucy Steele makes a surprise confidence to Elinor. Lucy has been engaged to Edward (the Edward Elinor seems interested in) for 3 years. I found unexpected humor in some of the small comments in these chapters.

1. During Edward’s visit, Elinor notices some things that disturb her. What has she decided to do about them?

2. As in earlier chapters, peer pressure seems intense. What does Austen mean by this?

3. What is Austen saying about society?

This week’s reading contains two of my least favorite chapters in all of Jane Austen—the chapters where the Palmers appear for no particular reason and then disappear again. It’s one of the few places in the novels where you can hear the machinery of the plot groaning and clanking. The Palmers have an actual role to play later on, but at this point Austen drags them across hundreds of miles of bad road while Mrs. Palmer is heavily pregnant just so she can mock them for a while and send them away again.

The satire about their personalities is so broad as to turn them into caricatures. (Later, Mr. Palmer (view spoiler)[is portrayed as more of a real person. (hide spoiler)]) They’re quite improbable and not very interesting. The scenes with them feel pulled out of a burlesque play.

Things improve greatly when the Steeles come on the scene. The elder Miss Steele is gloriously vulgar but there’s a point to her communications; and I love the passage at the beginning of chapter 22 where Austen reveals her gift for portraying the fine shades of a personality:

“Lucy was naturally clever; her remarks were often just and amusing; and as a companion for half an hour Elinor frequently found her agreeable; but her powers had received no aid from education, she was ignorant and illiterate [in JA’s terms this means not well read, not that she can’t read at all], and her deficiency of all mental improvement, her want of information in the most common particulars, could not be concealed from Miss Dashwood, in spite of her constant endeavour to appear to advantage. Elinor saw, and pitied her for, the neglact of abilities which education might have rendered so respectable; but she saw, with less tenderness of feeling, the thorough want of delicacy, of rectitude, and integrity of mind, which her attentions, her assiduities, her flatteries at the Park betrayed; and she could have no lasting satisfaction in the company of a person who joined insincerity with ignorance; whose want of instruction prevented their meeting in conversation on terms of equality, and whose conduct towards others, made every shew of attention and deference towards herself perfectly valueless.”

Says so much about both characters! In general, I find Lucy one of Austen’s most interesting characters; the subtlety of her scheming conversations with Elinor is just devastating, and her slips of grammar are much less frequent than her sister’s, keeping us from seeing them as too much alike.

In this section I also like the way Austen (in chapter 19) conveys a sense of unease about what might be going on with Edward. Elinor notes his inconsistent behavior but tries to make excuses for it, blaming everything on his mother (whom she claims not to know anything about when Lucy asks about her a few chapters later). Austen prepares us for revelations while allowing us to go along with Elinor’s mistaken ideas, giving no hint of the real state of affairs.

My first thoughts on the Palmers were that Jane Austen was basing her ‘study’ of them on a particularly obnoxious couple she knew from real life. But as the blatant rudeness of the husband and inane affability of the wife increased every time they appeared, I came to the conclusion that the author knew many wedded couples totally unsuited to each other and wanted to parody them. This comment clinched it for me….

‘ His temper might perhaps be a little soured by finding, like many others of his sex, that through some unaccountable bias in favour of beauty, he was the husband of a very silly woman -- but she (Elinor) knew that this kind of blunder was too common for any sensible man to be lastingly hurt by it.’

Jane Austen’s exaggerated portraits of the couple boiled down to ‘insults’ v ‘compliments’ both of which quickly became repulsive to Elinor and the rest of the family. It didn’t help that Elinor had increasing concerns of her own when trying to fend off Charlotte.

Elinor asking Charlotte about Willoughby’s character was perhaps not her cleverest moment, but she was clutching at straws in the great mystery of his sudden departure. Her own despondency, because of the demeanour of Edward, tested her resilience to the limit, a resilience which seemed to be at breaking point when Lucy Steele shattered all her reasoning for Edward’s unhappiness.

Elinor’s battle with Lucy to contradict her professed engagement to Edward was short, sharp and extremely painful. Lucy out-manoeuvred her on all fronts with the hair ring delivering the decisive blow from which Elinor could not recover.

Bruised, battered and bewildered………

’ Elinor was then at liberty to think and be wretched’

Love the last quote you used, Trev! Classic Jane Austen—conveying strong emotions backhandedly, using placid language.

As for the previous quote, I notice that Mr. Palmer is referred to as “a sensible man.” This is “sensible” in the modern sense of being reasonable or having common sense. But Jane Austen also often uses the word in a more traditional way: “she/he was sensible of”—meaning aware of, perceiving. That older sense of the word harks back toward sensibility, an openness to feeling. So it’s possible that Austen here is signaling that Mr. Palmer is not just a thinking but also a feeling man, opening the way for a kinder interpretation of his personality than his behavior in these scenes would lead the reader to believe.

Well, as I previously alluded to, I was starting to get a bit bored with this novel, (not helped by the fact that I have been reading Virginia Woolf simultaneously); however, the twist in the tail regarding the lock of hair ring awoke my interest. I could’ve cried for poor Eleanor.

The Palmer family is indeed a test of patience, for the readers as well as for the Dashwood women. I was simply tired of them until Elinor was presented with the news of Edward's engagement and the mention of the hair ring (what a yucky thing that is!). There is a sense of unreality about the scene, although it certainly explains some of Edward's inconsistent behavior. I wonder if the engagement will turn out to be real, thereby freeing Elinor to look elsewhere (maybe toward the Colonel when he returns?).

Abigail…Look away now….I don’t want to give you nightmares!

Now I am able to post a link to that article about hair in jewellery which includes a reference to Jane Austen’s own family having some.

https://www.bondandgrace.com/lit-talk...

Thanks for the trigger warning! 😂 I have enough nightmares all on my own, without hair.

The Palmers are funny caricatures. If you look at them with humour you can tolerate them despite being rather stupid, but somehow they are all a bit of a carcicature. Mrs Jennings is definitely not a bit better.
I loved that quote that Trev mentioned above about Mr Palmer finding out that his wife is silly. Charles Dickens demonstrates this with David Copperfield and his beloved Dora, as well.