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Victorianism in Sense and Sensibility and The Scarlet Letter
Questions:
1. Compare and contrast between the female protagonists in the novel “Sense and Sensibility and “The Scarlet Letter.”
2. How do you access the quality of Victorianism in the novels “Sense and Sensibility” and “The Scarlet Letter.”
1. Compare and contrast between the female protagonists in the novel “Sense and Sensibility and “The ScarletLetter.”
2. How do you access the quality of Victorianism in the novels “Sense and Sensibility” and “The ScarletLetter.”
John Dasharod Mrs. Dasharod
Fanny Dashwood Elinor
Marianne
Margaret
The victory of the reason and the defeat of the facility of emotion is the same in the case of the novels “Sense and Sensibility” and “The ScarletLetter.” Where apart from sane of the similarities these novels also share some of the differences.
In both novels the characters who support the reason are victorious, and at the same time the use of emotion causes the degradation in the life of the female characters. In “Sense and Sensibility”, Elinor is in love with her cousin Edward but her love is not guided by the emotion and over sentimentality, Rather she is capable to control her emotions. Time and again Edwards activity tortures her but she does not give anyone the hint that she is tortured. Even in the conversation with adward she does not exceed over the liminality of the situation. In other words when she is in with contact of Edward she presents herself as a rational character. Her action to console Marianne in the time of Willoughby’s betrayal, her auctions of maintaining the balance between the pre-occupation of Colonel Brandon towards Marianne and Marianne’s direct rejection of Brandon, and at the same time her behave with her mother and her dialogues present that she is a rational character who does not exceed the limit of rationality. The news of Edward’s massage with Lucy stale is the situation of heart rending. In this situation she might have been suffered from that anxiety but she does not let her anxiety manifest on the level of surface. In the anxiety manifest on the level of surface. In the situation she becomes repressive towards her internal feelings only to prove her rational character.
But in contrast to Etinor, Marianne is a girl to passes to the faculty of sensibility or emotion. She gives free rein to her emotion which makes her surrender to the sexuality of John Willoughby. Her emotionality and sentimentality emerges from her reading of romantic novels which makes her, what to entice man. Her first meeting with Willoughby immediately changing in the love, her direct rejection to the Colonel Brandon, her criticizing of her sister for not choosing a romantic her and her flirting nature with her male partner are the sinister (o men) to show her dark future. Because of her lack of reasoning faculty se fails to choose the appropriate male partner which becomes a matter of trageoly for her. After Willoughby’s betrayal she is compelled to choose the fellow whom she had rejected in the past. Her failure is the failure of emotion and sentimentality.
Likewise, Hester Prynne in “The ScarletLetter” is a female of male dominated society to counter the male dominated ideology. When her husband Roger Chillingworth becomes old and bookish to fulfill her passion, she comes to the conclusion to rank Roger Chillingworth as a criminal because his out of avoiding himself from the duties that he has to perform upon her. Because of this decision, She is deterred to choose another male partner, where Arthur Dimondale becomes the victim from whom Hester Prynne conceiver Pearl. The strict Puritan society cannot digest her revolutionary struggle which makes her climb on the Scaffold and wear the ScarletLetter ‘A’ which is the symbol of public defaces. But the physical isolation from the society does not make her weak because she is psychologically bold and she determines that one day she will be successful to the worn out rule and regulations a patriarchy. her act of involving n the public warfare finally regains her lost fame. In The Scarletletter also becomes the symbol of prestige. Her action to protect the lover, her activities to use the faculty of reasoning and her determination make her the heroin of the novel.
In contrast to the per-marital love relationship of “Sense and Sensibility”, “The ScarletLetter” exposes the extra-marital love relationship. The character of Elinor and Hester Prynne in the novels “Sense and Sensibility” and “The ScarletLetter” respectively show how a person psychologically strong and mentally capable becomes victorious at the end despite the several ups and dorwns. But the character of Marianne in the “Sense and Sensibility” shows what will be the situation of a teenier girl if she gives free rein to her emotion and sentimentality. In the novel “Sense and Sensibility” we do not have any implication of sexual relationship but we have it in the context of “The ScarletLetter.”
In conclusion, the demination upon the female character, the reification of them, the vitorian setting, the female heroine and the victory of the uses of the mind and the defeat of the people of sensibility are the common elements in the novels “Sense and Sensibility” and “The ScarletLetter”, but in contrast to the pre-marital level relationship having multiple heroines without any implication of sexual relationship in “Sense and Sensibility” and “The ScarletLetter” is an epitome -vDjf_ of the extra-marital love relationship having a single heroine where the love relationship is coloured by sensuality and passionate afffairs.
Sense and Sensibility
Mr. Dashuood Mrs. Dashuood
John Dashuood Elinor
Fanny Dashuood Margaret
Middleton Willoughby
Lady Middleton Sophia Grey colonel
sir John Middleton manages the Barton cottage. They were living in northern part before they got Barton cottage
1. Victorian Novel 2. Narrative technique
3. Delineation of female 4. Irony 5. Topic tracking
6. Compassion between the female character. Money Romance hierocracy
7. Role of females in the novel
8. Compressions between the Victorian life seen in the novel and present post-modern life.
1800
i. Women not allowed to work Now (Pomo)
i. Equality
ii. domination, not economic freedom ii. Individual family
iii. Joint family iii. Individuation (Sarah)
iv. The love and marriage were controlled by the experior members iv. Disruption of the hierarhy by the help of cultural indistry.
v. Division of the social class high, medium, law v. No chastity
Victorian Novel (Social Realism) in sense and sensibility.
- Industrialism leading to the money minded rationality focusing upon the utilitarianism
- Search for money good spouse, Christianity.
- Victorian optimism (due to industrialism)
- Victorian pessimism (due to industrialism)
- Protective husband, submissive life, obedient child
i. Edward’s betrayal of Elinor
ii. John Dashuood betrayal of his step mother an half sister
iii. Willoughby betrayal of Marianne
iv. Lucy’s betrayal of Edward.
Narrative technique
- It is written in 3rd person paint of view
- Elinor is the pivotal element on which must all the incidents veer.
- Though the novel exposes the third person paint of view all the actions and incidents veer around the character of Elinor who combine sense and sensibility.
- Tracking the novels into
- Money Romance HyporacyThe story of “Sense and Sensibility” is told from the third person point of view especially concentrating in the character of Elinor where the novelist at the sometime evokes the story of money, romance and hypocracy by bifurcation the Victorian society into the sense and sensibility through the presentation of the victory of those characters who combine the element of sensibility and sense with the rein of the former by the latter.
Though the novel is produced in the cursor line between the Neo-classicism and romanticism, it’s confirmation of the Victorian values developed between 1837-1901. In the whole story of the novel we find the novelist’s sympathy as well as empathy in the character of Elinor. Elinor behaviour to balance between emotion and reason proves her to have what Schiller calls the “Play drive” or she is proved to be the “Superman” in her combination of sensuality of emotion and rationality of mind. The secret behind the writer’s faith in Elinor is to advocate for the combination of the sense and sensibility which will heal the human beings from what Schiller call “The Sickness of Modern Science and Civilization”. This character of Elinor serves as the antidote to save the human beings from being mechanical without the emotional capabilities. This tendency leads Jane Austen to rack her narrative in the modes of monody, romance and hypocracy.
There parallel stories are being told at the same time which is also one of the narrative techniques in the novel. The story of money, the story of romance and the story of hypocarcy forwai together in the novel with crisis-crossing each other John Dashuood’s betrayals of his step-mother and half sister, Willoughby’s deception of Marianne and is being deceived by Sophia Grey in the marital life and the relationship between Edward, Robert, their mothers and luck Steele being dismantled are the examples of the story of money minded rationality which is an infection for the wealthy and Elinor and Brandon and Marianne constitute a reparator story of love and Romance, Likewise, the snobbish nature of John Dashuood, lady Middleton and Mr. Palmer in saying one thing but doing another thing also constitute a separate story of hypocracy.
Finally, though these are reversal stories and several characters, the main narrative focus of the novel lies in the constitution of the separate ideologies of sense and sensibility. The valorizers of sense and sensibility are the victor where as the persons to emphasize the sensibility over the sense are the vanquished though Edward ultimately achieves the heart of Elinor, and though Marianne and Willoughby ultimately united with colonel Willoughby are ultimately united with colonel Brandon and Sophia Grey respectively, they are proved to be vanquished because they either have to compromise at the last or they have to suffer ether their marriage. This defeat in the characters of Edward, Marianne and Willoughby is the result of the emotion they valorize. Counterpart to the story of sensibility, the narrative mode moves along with the story of the victory of sense. The self command, self restraint and the emphasis to control the emotionality using the weapons of sense or reason found in the character of Elinor and colonel Brandon is victorious in the novel. As a result of this Eliner’s will and Colonl’s desir eto be bounded in the matrimonial alliances with Edward and Marianne respectively gets fulfilled.
In conclusion, the narrative mode of “Sense and Sensibility” in reconciling the Neo-Classical rigidity upon the reason and Romantic over emphasize upon the emotion with the cross-crossing parallel stories of money, Romance and Hypocarcy ultimately, are bifurcated into the sense and sensibility where the characters having the capacity to control the emotionality with reason are the victors and others are vanquished who promoted or give free play to their senses, in which the satire and irony are prominent in the development of the story having the characters with one intention but achieving the another.