Reason and Emotion (Full Translation with Illustrations)

Author: (English) Austen
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Mr. Henry Dashwood of Sussex has passed away. According to the law, his entire assets will be inherited by his son from his first marriage, John Dashwood. This is undoubtedly a terrible blow for his present wife, Mrs. Dashwood, and her three daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret: they will be forced out of the house and left with only ￡500 a year in living expenses. John Dashwood is a selfish, hypocritical, and hen-pecked man. Originally, he had planned to provide financial support for his sisters-in-law as per his father's last wishes, but under the persuasion of his sharp-tongued, selfish, and stingy wife, he only decided to give them a few pounds occasionally to fulfill his father's. With this done, Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters, driven by their sense of pride, had no choice but to move into the Barton Cottage of Sir John Middleton, her cousin. Before leaving for Barton, the mother and daughter quartet met Edward Farnes, the brother of Fanny, and both Elinor and he developed mutual affections. When Fanny discovered this, she went to great lengths to prevent them from seeing each other, sending Edward to London. At Barton Cottage, the warm-hearted Mrs. Jennings introduced Colonel Brandon to Marianne, hoping to arrange a marriage between them. Colonel Brandon had once had a tragic love affair with his childhood sweetheart, Eliza, who was forced by her family to marry the colonel's older brother. After leaving him, she ran away and became a prostitute, leaving behind a bastard child with the colonel before ultimately passing away. However, at this time, Marianne was deeply in love with the handsome John Willoughby, showing little warmth toward the much older colonel. Later, the colonel suddenly left for London, and Willoughby, who had always been hostile to him, also left London shortly after on a pretext. Just then, Miss Lucy Steele and her sister suddenly appeared, and Lucy herself confessed to Elinor that she and Edward had already been secretly engaged. The two sisters, tormented by their emotions, were taken to London by Mrs. Jennings. At a gathering, Marianne saw Willoughby, but he treated her with extreme coldness. Colonel Brandon told Elinor that Willoughby was frivolous and despicable, having abandoned Eliza after making her pregnant, and as a result, his aunt had cut off his financial support to punish him. Therefore, Willoughby would never marry Marianne, a girl without status or money. Heartbroken and despondent, Marianne fell ill. Fortunately, with the full care and assistance of Elinor, Colonel Brandon, and Mrs. Jennings, she managed to pull through. After the engagement between Edward and Lucy was exposed, it was strongly opposed by Edward's mother, Mrs. Farnes, and her sister, Fanny. Edward was even stripped of his inheritance rights for refusing to break the engagement, and was even thrown out of the house by Mrs. Farnes. However, Lucy, who had sworn to be faithful to Edward, took advantage of the moment when Edward's brother Robert persuaded her to give up the engagement, and cunningly secured the inheritance of the Farnes family for herself. Upon learning of this, Edward was not greatly upset. Already dissatisfied with Lucy, he no longer felt obligated to take responsibility and rushed to Elinor's side at Barton, where he proposed and received a positive reply. Edward accepted the clergy position recommended by Colonel Brandon, though the income was meager, but his marriage to Elinor brought him great happiness, and they both worked tirelessly to arrange Marianne's marriage to Colonel Brandon. In the end, Marianne abandoned her long-held notions of love and married the honest and upright Colonel Brandon, which caused the heartbroken Willoughby to despise himself and often use Marianne as the standard of a perfect woman.