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Logan Mathis
English 301
Dr. Gurfinkel
December 8, 2011
Give Me Power and Give Me Strength!
Just as artifacts in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Austen’s novels show twenty
first century readers the oppression of women in a patriarchal society. In her novel Sense and
Sensibility, Elinor and Marianne play different roles. Elinor plays the role of an “angel” and is
doing what she is told whereas Marianne is plays a “monster” going against her social norms.
Despite the contrast of these two characters, our narrator prefers Elinor, an angelic figure to
show that the novel is patriarchal women are powerless and dependent on the masculine
ideology.
Feminist theory examines the inequality of women in a variety of fields. In literature,
feminist theory explores women under a patriarchal society and the traditional gender roles
within it. According to Gilbert and Gubar, there are two types of women that male writers
generated in literature: “angels” and “monsters”(R and R 812). “Angels in the house” is a term
for the traditional woman with “feminine” gender roles that are accepted by a patriarchal
society. These roles include house hold roles such as cooking, cleaning, and their propriety. This
type of woman is generally modest, chaste, domestic, and obedient. In contrast, the term
“monster” is used to describe women who are entirely different than the “angel”. These
women are viewed as more sexual, defiant, and selfish as they fight against the norms of
patriarchy.
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In Sense and Sensibility, our narrator believes women have no power in a patriarchal
society. The conflicts bring out the “monster” in Marianne which causes her to rebel against the
patriarchal norms that limit women. Her first rebellious act is when she goes off to a cottage
with Willoughby with the acquaintance of nobody else which causes Elinor to be upset:
“I am afraid,” replied Elinor, “that the pleasantness of an employment does not always
evince its propriety
(Austen 69).
Elinor plays the angelic role that our narrator agrees with in this battle of morals
between angel and monster. As the angel, Elinor acts proper to the social norms and remains
obedient and modest. Her outlook as an angel has her worried for her sister who in a gentry
class, may be looked down upon by society for her spontaneous acts. Her own sister found it
hard to believe that Marianne and Willoughby would go to the cottage without the consent of
anyone (Austen 68). As she confronts Marianne, Marianne is angry that her sister for not
believing this would be true:
Why do you imagine, Elinor, that we did not go there, or that we did not see the house?
Is it not what often wished to do yourself
(Austen 69).
It is obvious that the Marianne and Elinor have different views on what is socially
accepted. This is not surprising due to the different roles they play. Marianne is a monster and
becomes selfish and defiant when she is being oppressed. This causes her to rebel because of
her dependency and infatuation for Willoughby. Throughout the story, Marianne’s dependency
on Willoughby brings out this monster. An example of this is when she becomes bed ridden
after he breaks her heart:
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Elinor advised her to lie down again, and for a moment she did so; but no attitude could
give her ease; and her restless pain of mind and body she moved from on posture to
another, till growing more and more hysterical, he sister could with difficulty keep her
on the bed at all
(Austen 181).
Not only does Marianne play the monster, but the passage gives her a possessed
description as if she cannot control her own thoughts or functions because of her dependence
on Willoughby. Feminist theory explores inequality in women’s role in a patriarchal society.
Marianne fits the part as she is powerless over her feelings for him. Even other characters in
the story such as Mrs. Jennings saw the emotional dependency Marianne had on Willoughby as
she mentions “I never saw a young woman so desperately in love in my life” (Austen 171). For
Mrs. Jennings to use the word “desperately” makes Marianne sound hopeless. This shows the
weak mind and character of women portrayed in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. From
the story, the narrator makes women seem more emotional and complicated as Marianne
dwells on her emotions. This shows the novel as patriarchal because Willoughby is given
complete control as Marianne obsesses over him throughout the novel. This point is further
proven through the character of Willoughby by giving him a masculine role as he is viewed as
strong and non-emotional in his encounters with Marianne. This isn’t the first scenario
Marianne was dependent on Willoughby. From the beginning of the story Marianne needed
physical assistance from him:
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She raised her self from the ground, but her foot had been twisted in the fall, and she
was scarcely unable to stand. The gentlemen offered his services…and carried her down
a hill
(Austen 43-4).
Marianne’s helplessness shows her dependency on Willoughby. Marianne’s clumsiness
to external conflicts shows women cannot perform simple roles to the same degree as men.
Willoughby on the other hand, was presented as a masculine character “carrying a gun”
creating as masculine setting as he came to help her(Austen 43). Willoughby helping Marianne
follows traditional patterns in literature where the heroine is in need of a hero. It is this plot in
eighteenth and nineteenth century literature, that is—women dependency on men that shapes
the outcome of women as they either obey (angel) or act out (monster) in a patriarchal society.
Throughout the story Elinor plays the angelic role of Marianne’s older sister. She also
gives her moral guidance trying to provide sensible advice on her relations with Willoughby.
Marianne is young and naïve and doesn’t use logic to the extent of Elinor. When they are
having a discussion about Willoughby, Marianne comes off as the monster being selfish and
defiant with her actions as she wants to move things forward with Willoughby in haste:
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 some people
(Austen 61).
Elinor argues with her sister’s lack of experience due to her youth and obsession. Elinor
however, plays the role of an angel using common sense to keep her sister obedient:
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Elinor thought it was wisest to touch that point no more. She knew her sister’s temper.
Opposition on so tender a subject would only attach her more to her own opinion
(Austen 61).
This shows the obedient side of Elinor as she stays within social standards when it
comes to escalating with opposite sex. Unlike her and Edward, Marianne wants to move as fast
as possible only caring about Willoughby and herself. Elinor looks out for her sister and tries to
make her a more proper woman in a patriarchal society. However, the youth and oppression of
Marianne causes her to rebel. By showing Elinor as angelic and Marianne as a monster yet
giving her no power, she becomes hopeless and powerless giving the novel a more patriarchal
setting.
Another example of Elinor being angelic is when she finds out Lucy was engaged to
Edward, the man she was seeing (Austen 126). To compare her to Marianne, she handles the
situation well as her “security sunk; but her self-command didn’t sink with it” (Austen 126). A
monster would have acted out as Marianne did with Willoughby. Marriage is one of the things
women partake within their feminine and domestic roles with patriarchy. This adds tension to
Elinor’s problem as Lucy slips right between her and Edward with this surprise. Despite the
surprise, Elinor was mature with the situation and acted proper as if there was nothing wrong
even though she was upset. She doesn’t rebel like Marianne giving strength to the author’s
view of the novel being patriarchy.
Feminist theory is still used today in a wide variety of fields. In literature, Feminist
theory is used to show how the language and roles of women are portrayed in a masculine
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dominant society. Austen’s Sense and Sensibility gives twenty-first century readers a look on
the oppression of women in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. As readers read the story
today, we see the historical leaps women made over the centuries which makes Austen’s
novels fascinating in the fact that we are growing as a society.