Sense And Sensibility - Tumblr Posts - Page 2

I am a hoe for period dramas.

And sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them in.

— Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Trick or treat! 🍁🎃

You get a drawing of Norland by Elinor Dashwood (from Sense and Sensibility 2008)!

Say "trick-or-treat" in taciturn-nerd's asks anytime from now til Oct 31, 2023 and I'll reply with a picture of a Jane Austen-themed "treat".

The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it's conformity.

Rollo May

i think there’s also something to be said about the action that occurs around/as a consequence of said proposal which demonstrates a couple’s affection:

Pride and Prejudice -- “They walked on without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.”

Sense and Sensibility -- “the change was openly spoken in such a genuine, flowing, grateful cheerfulness, as his friends had never witnessed in him before.”

Persuasion -- “He joined them; but, as if irresolute whether to join or to pass on, said nothing, only looked. Anne could command herself enough to receive that look, and not repulsively. The cheeks which had been pale now glowed, and the movements which had hesitated were decided.”

in regency society that requires so much decorum, what is often said cannot be trusted to be sincere (see collins/caroline bingley for proof), so perhaps the lack of words can signal sincerity of emotion? actions speak louder than words sorta thing? heck, in Pride and Prejudice, elizabeth is noted to actively blush when she is embarrassed because she can’t really express her discomfort (see netherfield ball scene with her mother, or the conversation about the countryside with mr darcy and...her mother again)

Proposals in Jane Austen

So I started making a chart of all the proposals in Jane Austen’s collected works, just to prove that proposals can be accepted indoors (common myth, despite the fact that Bingley’s is accepted and indoors), but then I started looking at the speech. Is a person quoted or just described? Some have both, like Darcy for whom we get an opening line and then “he spoke well” but others are completely quoted or completely described:

If we look in at just the on-page proposals (Bingley’s basically is off-page) and those accepted and rejected, we can see a pattern:

Women are only described when they accept proposals (She spoke then, on being so entreated.—What did she say?—Just what she ought, of course.), but they are very much speaking aloud when they refuse. Which I think goes into a theme of Jane Austen’s, the most important agency a woman can have is the power to say “No” (man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal). And yet when these women say no, they often have to repeat themselves, and explain, and explain again, and be called irrational… But the point is they CAN speak, they can KNOW THEIR HEARTS, and the men and everyone else should LISTEN.

Because these men are trying to take away the only right these women have.

As for why we don’t see quoted speech with acceptance, I read a very interesting paper that theorized that Jane Austen gives their characters privacy when they are actually in love. Which fits to this pattern, as we know that most of the women accepting are in love. Also, Henry Crawford, who is only quoted, we know was in love. Now does it follow that the described Mr. Elton actually was in love? Who knows. Emma certainly doesn’t think he is.

It makes me think of a line from Mansfield Park: there were emotions of tenderness that could not be clothed in words. Jane Austen is able to get around writing sappy proposals because she gives us some great opening lines:

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

You pierce my soul.

And then she lets us imagine for ourselves how the rest of the conversation went. And you don’t really feel that cheated because with the journey we have experienced we do kind of know what they would say.

The one proposal I do feel a little cheated on is Darcy #1 because I really want to hear just how much he insulted her family.

Note: John Thorpe and Mr. Elliot I classed as semi-proposals. Mr. Elliot I barely think counts because he made a vague comment in public, but many people have argued to me that it is a proposal. I disagree, but it’s on the chart. I think his comment about Anne not changing her name is very obvious flirting. John Thorpe’s proposal is so vague Catherine doesn’t understand that he is proposing!

I panicked || Via @downtonabbeyhumor on Instagram

“You want nothing but patience—or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”

“Shall we continue tomorrow?”

“No, for I must away.”

“Away? Where?”

“That I cannot tell you. It is a secret.”

Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995). 

(Second tentative attempt at a proper digital drawing, using a Wacom tablet and Autodesk Sketchbook.)

Rewatched Sense and Sensibility the other night. I love Hugh Grant so much. Sure the story is more tragic than Pride and Prejudice, but I mean there are other things that make it worthwhile

Anyone else’s idea of a fun night in sitting on the couch, eating Chex mix, and watching Sense and Sensibility? Because I was left home alone for a couple days and that was the most eventful thing I did. It was honestly amazing, loved the silence of an empty house.

sense and sensibility and fifty shades of green (1995) dir. ang lee + stills that look like paintings

👀

Mr Dekarios - Sense and Sensibility ✨

"Have you heard of Mr Dekarios? He is an esteemed archmage, holds a tower in the city of Waterdeep and has an income of 1000 gold coins every year!”

Just me realizing that Gale has the soul of a Jane Austen’s heroes. Any other fans out there? ❤️

(PRINT AVAILABLE IN MY SHOP, LINK IN BIO)