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Sense and Sensibility: study guide
By Jane Austen. A spoiler-light guide with themes, characters, vocabulary and questions to discuss.
Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen · 1811 · public domain
The story
After their father’s death, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood and their mother are left with little money. Elinor hides her feelings and keeps control, while Marianne gives hers free rein, and each sister’s approach is tested by disappointment in love.
This summary avoids the ending, but later sections of a guide can spoil details.
Main themes
- Reason versus emotion
- Money and marriage
- Reputation and gossip
- Sisterhood
Characters
- Elinor Dashwood
- The sensible elder sister who keeps her feelings private.
- Marianne Dashwood
- Passionate, romantic and open about everything she feels.
- Edward Ferrars and Colonel Brandon
- Two quiet, steady men, set against the dashing Willoughby.
- John Willoughby
- A charming young man whose behavior forces Marianne to grow.
Words worth knowing
- sensibility
- a tendency to be moved by emotion; here the opposite of “sense”.
- prudence
- careful, sensible judgment.
- constancy
- faithfulness; staying the same in feeling or loyalty.
- imprudent
- unwise, not thinking about consequences.
Questions to discuss
- Is the novel really on the side of sense? Do the sisters end up closer together than at the start?
- How do inheritance rules shape the Dashwoods’ lives?
- Why do Elinor and Marianne handle heartbreak so differently, and which approach works?
- What does Austen suggest about the gap between how people appear and who they are?