Feministerity In Elinor's Sense And Sensibility

Elinor’s verbal dexterity is apparent at the meetings at Barton Park with the Exeter-hailed Miss Steeles. Though the elder Miss Steele’s obnoxiousness stems from her vulgarity, the young Lucy Steele’s unattractiveness comes from her shrewdness and her strategic confession to Elinor of her engagement to Edward Ferrars. Lucy appears to be the victor of the confrontation and the societal superior: her “superior claims on Edward” forces Elinor into a “silent amazement” while securing her future alliance with a man with the wealth and status that Elinor lacks (Sense and Sensibility 112, 104). Elinor’s perception of Lucy’s underlying motive and her straight-laced sense of decorum leads to her forfeit in the form of silence and false propriety. Yet, …show more content…
Marianne’s interaction in the social setting is used as a saturation of these restrictive values by displaying feminist tendencies. In a flagrant defiance of the standards of female behavior of her time, Marianne embraces in the pleasures of the outdoors and “her skin was very brown”, rejecting the Georgian ideals of sheltered women. In addition, Marianne’s usage of unrestrained speech and emotional expressiveness at soirees is Austen’s manner of countering the societal proselytization of an imbalanced power system. When she expresses interest in Willoughby following their encounter on her walk, Sir John teases her: “You will be setting your cap at him now” he says in jest (36). However, Marianne condemns this view of women as superficial seekers of wealth, as well as reduction of women the “conquest” of a man (36). To her, these statements are” the most odious of all” for they reduce women to inferior beings without the capabilities of thought and passion (36). Her daring to criticize a man—one in possession of a far greater wealth, position, and age than she—further supports the critique of Georgian