Welcome to the beta version of Shelfari’s new Book Detail pages!
These pages are editable by the community, so please contribute! Click here to learn more about this feature. We’d love to hear your feedback.
Description
'Young women who have no economic or political power must attend to the serious business of contriving material security'. Jane Austen's sardonic humour lays bare the stratagems, the hypocrisy and the poignancy inherent in the struggle of two very different sisters to achieve respectability.... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis
Summary
When Mr. Dashwood dies, his estate - Norland Park - passes to John, his only son, and child of his first wife. Mrs. Dashwood, his second wife, and their daughters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, are left only a small income.
On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood had asked John to promise to take... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Cast of Characters/Important People
- Elinor Dashwood: Level-headed, reserved daughter of Henry and Mrs. Dashwood; sister to Marianne.
- Marianne Dashwood: Irrepressible romantic, sister to Elinor.
- Margaret Dashwood: Largely clueless younger sister of Marianne and Elinor.
- Mrs. Dashwood: Nervous mother to the Dashwood girls and Henry's second wife.
- Henry Dashwood: Father to the Dashwood girls; dies at the beginning of the book, leaving his girls in perilous financial situations.
- John Dashwood: Son of Henry Dashwood and his first wife; half-brother to the Dashwood girls. Inherits his father's estate.
- Fanny Dashwood: John's ambitious wife.
- Sir John Middleton: Henry Dashwood's cousin who offers the Dashwood ladies a cottage on his estate.
- Edward Ferrars: Romantic interest to Elinor, and older brother of Fanny.
- Lady Middleton: Sir John Middleton's wife.
- Mrs. Jennings: Sir John Middleton's mother-in-law.
- John Willoughby: Dashingly handsome, roguish romantic interest to Marianne.
- Colonel Brandon: Admirer of Marianne's who doesn't stand a chance with Willoughby around.
- Lucy Steele: Prior romantic interest to Edward Ferrars.
- Mrs. Ferrars: Add a description of this character.
- Charlotte Palmer
- Thomas Palmer
- Anne Steele
- Robert Ferrars: Edward's younger brother.
Memorable Quotes
-
“That is what I like; that is what a young man ought to be. Whatever be his pursuits, his eagerness in them should know no moderation, and leave him no sense of fatigue.”
Marianne Dashwood -
“She was stronger alone; and her own good sense so well supported her, that her firmness was as unshaken, her appearance of cheerfulness as invariable, as, with regrets so poignant and so fresh, it was possible for them to be.”
-
“To your sister I wish all imaginable happiness; to Willoughby that he may endeavour to deserve her.”
Colonel Brandon -
“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”
Marianne Dashwood -
“Death...a melancholy and shocking extremity.”
-
“Elinor was to be the comforter of others in her own distresses, no less than in theirs.”
First Sentence
The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex.
Table of Contents
Popular Tags
See all 50 tags
If you have any suggestions for how we can improve this page or if there are sections that you would like us to add, please let us know.
