Similar to the theme of money, relationships in Sense and Sensibility were often used to further cement ones social status. This is an important theme in the novel because to have interest in someone often signified that they had something of advantage to offer. For example, when Austen describes the blossoming relationship of Edward Ferrars and Elinor Dashwood she states: “Some mothers might have encouraged the intimacy from motives of interest, for Edward Ferrars was the eldest son of a man who had died very rich” (Austen 14). In this particular scene, Austen describes that this relationship is advantageous for Elinor as she has more to gain; further highlighting this definition of interest. The theme of a relationship of interest is further exemplified towards the end of the novel with the relationship of Lucy Steele and Robert Ferrars: “in which she soon betrayed an interest even equal to his own” (Austen 266). The sole reason for this relationship having blossomed is that the couple gain something from the other. The theme of interest as advantageous relationship is intertwined throughout the novel as what can permit a relationship to continue following the societal
Similar to the theme of money, relationships in Sense and Sensibility were often used to further cement ones social status. This is an important theme in the novel because to have interest in someone often signified that they had something of advantage to offer. For example, when Austen describes the blossoming relationship of Edward Ferrars and Elinor Dashwood she states: “Some mothers might have encouraged the intimacy from motives of interest, for Edward Ferrars was the eldest son of a man who had died very rich” (Austen 14). In this particular scene, Austen describes that this relationship is advantageous for Elinor as she has more to gain; further highlighting this definition of interest. The theme of a relationship of interest is further exemplified towards the end of the novel with the relationship of Lucy Steele and Robert Ferrars: “in which she soon betrayed an interest even equal to his own” (Austen 266). The sole reason for this relationship having blossomed is that the couple gain something from the other. The theme of interest as advantageous relationship is intertwined throughout the novel as what can permit a relationship to continue following the societal