Reason and Emotion

Author: Ying
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2001-01-01
Features: Although Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen's novel, the writing technique is already quite skilled. Every plot in the story, after the author's ingenious design, the apparent cause-and-effect relationships and the underlying essential reasons are natural and reasonable. The heroine forms reasonable conjectures and judgments based on the surface phenomena. Although the careful reader occasionally has various doubts, their thoughts naturally develop along good observations, waiting for the final result to appear, which is completely different from the surface phenomena, creating an unexpected comedic effect. If read again in reverse, one will find the factors leading to the inevitable result are seen in the text. The plot of the novel revolves around the courtship activities of the two heroines, focusing on revealing the prevailing social trend at the time where women sought economic security and improved social status through marriage, as well as the ugly fashion of prioritizing lineage over women's emotions and personal rights. The heroines in the novel pursue equal emotional communication and connection with men, demand equal rights in social status, and the freedom to independently observe, analyze, and choose men. In the England of that time, this was almost a call for rebellion. As reflected in the title, the story primarily portrays the conflict between "sense" and "sensibility." Those represented by Marianne lack sense but have an excess of emotion; those represented by John and Fanny Dashwood have more sense but lack emotion; while Willoughby, in terms of emotion, is extremely hypocritical—on the surface, he seems very emotional, but in reality, he is cold and selfish, to the core. The author praises those who value emotions in the story, although they occasionally mock these people's lack of sense. However, the author shows disdain towards those who lack emotions but have only sense, or who are hypocritical in their emotions. In the end, the author admires the heroine Elinor, because she values both emotions and sense. Here, the author expresses their ideal on this issue: that people cannot be without emotions, but emotions should be restrained by reason.