理智与情感 (天平的两端) 读书报告 读后感 英文

第一篇：理智与情感 (天平的两端) 读书报告 读后感 英文

+《理智与情感》读书报告

——理智与情感的天平

《理智与情感》是简·奥斯汀的处女作，她生于英国乡村小镇斯蒂文顿，没有上过正规学校，但受到较好的家庭教育。因此，我们可以发现，她的作品人物多是乡村生活的平凡人物，她的作品内容多是关于乡村中绅士淑女在通过婚姻道路上发生的爱恋故事，没有重大的社会矛盾。《理智与情感》这部小说仍然注重日常生活的细节描写，格调轻松诙谐，富有喜剧性冲突。这部小说引发了读者对亲情、友情和爱情的思考。它通过描写埃莉诺与玛丽安如何把握天平的两端——理智与情感，展示了作者奥斯汀所倡导的理智与情感相抗衡的生活观以及爱情、金钱和道德三合一婚姻观。

这是一本关于理智与情感相碰撞的书，它将爱情，亲情和友情置于碰撞之中，重点围绕埃莉诺与玛丽安两姐妹各自的“三角”爱情故事。姐姐埃莉诺爱慕爱德华，爱德华却与露西订婚。布兰顿上校倾心于玛丽安，玛丽安却盲目地爱上威洛比。面对生活和对爱情，她们所持天平的平衡度不同。玛丽安情感丰富但欠缺理智，埃莉诺常常用理智抑制了自己的情感。最终，喜剧收场，玛丽安的理智战胜了情感，埃莉诺的情感与理智达到更好的平衡状态，两人的天平都达到前所未有的均衡。

生活观里的理智与情感

简·奥斯汀在第一章就已经写明姐妹两个人的性格特征“She was sensible and clever;but eager in every thing;her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation.She was generous, amiable, interesting : she was every thing but prudent.The resemblance between her and her mother was strikingly great.”妹妹玛丽安是聪明的，但她的忧伤和快乐都是毫无节制的，她和她们的母亲达什伍德太太的性格很相同。“She had an excellent heart;—her

disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong;but she knew how to govern them.”姐姐埃莉诺机灵善良，懂得克制情感。埃莉诺比她的母亲和妹妹更加理智。

在生活上，埃莉诺始终保持清醒冷静的头脑。她们一家离开诺兰庄园后，在德文郡一座乡间别墅内安家，姐姐便努力肩负起照顾家庭的责任。在玛丽安和大家一致称赞“高富帅”威洛比时，她没有人云亦云，没有像母亲和妹妹一样听凭自己的情感摆布，她一直在冷静观察威洛比的人品。她也没有因爱德华的不善言谈，行为呆板嫌弃他。在社交观上，两姐妹也不同。玛丽安对待自己喜欢的人十分热情，如威洛比；对待不喜欢的人总是给予一副冷漠的面孔，如布兰顿上校和斯蒂尔小姐。“你没有昕过他有风湿病吗？难道这不是最常见的衰老症么？但是到了35岁就不应该考虑结婚。”玛丽安总是对她的追求者布兰顿上校进行冷嘲热讽，她从来没有赞扬布兰顿上校的优点。

爱情观里的理智与情感

在爱人面前，两姐妹都有强烈的情感，但两人的表达方式不同。埃莉诺表纵使内心已有很大的波澜，但表面上却可以克制自己。为了不让母亲和妹妹担心，她把相思的痛苦隐藏起来。而妹妹玛丽安则情感丰富，一有点情绪就表露无遗，她爱威洛比，就会把她的爱说出来，表现出来，她认为爱情一定要轰轰烈烈。

在爱人的离别时，她们两姐妹的态度差别很大。埃莉诺离开诺兰庄园，与爱德华分离时，她意识到自己与爱德华的感情注定要受到他姐姐范妮和他母亲的阻碍，所以她没有表现出更多的忧虑，自己默默承担那份伤心。而威洛比离开时，玛丽安精神大受刺激，她伤心难过，丢了魂似的。

在得知自己所爱之人与其他女子暧昧或者订婚时，两姐妹的态度也说不相同的。露西告诉埃莉诺自己与爱德华早已订婚，埃莉诺没有告诉任何人，用冷漠平静的态度来反击露西的攻击。而玛丽安看到威洛比与另一位小姐挽手后，回到住处就病倒了。

随着小说发展，玛丽安的理性与情感的天平慢慢持衡。布兰顿上校来访，玛丽安在得知了威洛比的丑事之后终于有些醒悟，逐步归于平静。经过沉痛的教训，她终于用理智的头脑审视自己身边的人，并决定嫁给不年轻不浪漫但稳重有责任感的布兰登上校。

天平的两端

如同书名展现的那样，整个故事集中表现了“理智”与“情感”的矛盾冲突。理智与情感就是天平的两端。刚开始时，玛丽安的天平失衡，她追求轰轰烈烈的爱情，最后却被威洛比抛弃，她已爱得无法自拔，受到极大的精神创伤，差一点丢掉性命，这就是天平倒向情感那一边的苦果，也就是天平失衡的苦果。当然，把如果生活处处靠理智约束，完全没有情感的冲动与激情，那么生活会失去很多乐趣。这就是天平倒向理智这一边的悲剧。

人人心中都有一架衡量理智与情感的天平。倘若像获得真正的幸福，就必须在面对生活，面对爱情时既有自己独特的情感与个性，又有必要的理智加以制约。处于平稳状态下的天平，才是最美的。

参考文献：朱虹《奥斯丁研究》，北京，中国文联出版公司，1985年版

英语学习大书虫研究室《理智与情感》，伊犁人民出版社，2003年版

第二篇：理智与情感英文读后感

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

The story on Sense and Sensibility happened in the late eighteenth century, telling us that two sisters of Dashwood's pursued their love and marriage.The elder sister Elinor is full of sense and could deal with everything with calm thinking.However, his younger sister Marianne always attempt to understand the world with an excess of sensibility.They had a little sister who was too young to completely understand the passion and the pursuit of love of her two sisters.Their mother Mrs, Dashwood regarded everything as sentimentality who is very much like her daughter Marianne.Mrs.Dash wood married Mr, Dashwood after his first wife passed away.His ex-wife left a son called John Dashwood.After many years, Mr.Dashwood died of the acute disease and he left his estates and most of the money to his son.Mrs.Dashwood and her daughters didn't inherit anything.Although his son promised to take good care of his step mother and younger sisters, he didn't keep his word because of the selfness of his wife.Sense and Sensibility build a series of diverse characters, however, for me, the most and powerful figure is Elinor.Elinor, the elder daughter of the Dashwoods, was a rational and emotional girl.At the very start, Elinor showed more sense and intelligence than her mother and younger sister.She worked carefully and considerately.She was always polite and graceful no matter who she faced.Moreover, she could permanently keep

calm and sensible when she talked with others no matter the topic they talked about.It seemed that she could do anything discreetly.In addition, Elinor is also a beautiful kind girl who was clever at discovering merit of other people.For Mrs.Jennings, Elinor always mentioned her warmth, generosity and justice, although the behavior of Mrs.Jennings showed that she was a silly woman.In order that Mrs.Jennings could enjoy herself at home in London but not receive the ridicule and indifference from Marianne, and that Marianne didn't hurt herself by overdoing anything, she accepted the invitation and headed for London with her younger sister.I think, all of these showed that she is a sane person but not showed that she lacked sensibility.By contrast, Elinor was full of emotion like her younger sister, however, she was better at controlling this kind of emotion.She lost her heart to Edward and never changed her mind no matter what happened to him.She didn't abandon Edward,regardless of the fact that he wasn't good at conversation and his behavior was prim.She loved himthanks to his integrity and tolerance.Her feeling of Edward was faithful and changeless, which proved that Elinor was rational as well as emotional.She owed a clear and lucid mind to control some unnecessary emotional impulse.Sense and kindness are the proper charm of Elinor.After reading this novel, I think, we should have unhealthy emotion but that doesn't mean emotional reasoning.As a person, if we owed the proper

emotion and personality, and at the same time we can control it with reason and sense, we could get the true happiness.Another two novles:

GONE WITH THE WINDthe author:Margaret Mitchell

ROBINSON CRUSOE

the author:Daniel Defoe

班级：10英语教育 学号：201013061140 姓名：蔡加涵

第三篇：《理智与情感》英文读后感

Sense and Sensibility was the first Jane Austen published.Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason.The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne.Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion.Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she “loves him tenderly,” she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister.Soon however, Marianne meets a man who measures up to her ideal: Mr.Willoughby, a new neighbor.So swept away by passion is Marianne that her behavior begins to border on the scandalous.Then Willoughby abandons her;meanwhile, Elinor's growing affection for Edward suffers a check when he admits he is secretly engaged to a childhood sweetheart.How each of the sisters reacts to their romantic misfortunes, and the lessons they draw before coming finally to the requisite happy ending forms the heart of the novel.Though Marianne's disregard for social conventions and willingness to consider the world well-lost for love may appeal to modern readers, it is Elinor whom Austen herself most evidently admired;a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure.

第四篇：理智与情感读书报告

The Survey and Analysis of Sense and Sensibility

Once I was not interested in this kind of famous but old works.Perhaps it is because I think the story happened in a time which is very far from me and I can‟t read it calmly.But for an excellent actor named Alan Rickman I would not read this work at all.Sense and Sensibility was screened in 1995.I knew it after I began to worship Alan Rickman.He had a role, Colonel Brandon.Then I decided to watch this movie for him.What surprised me that I totally fell in love with the story and characters in it and I read the work.Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen„s first work.After reading it I feel it is full of intelligence and emotions, and gives a substantial feeling mind, like Jane Austen‟s other works or herself more.Sense and Sensibility is filled with spice and humor.It twists and turns of two sisters‟ complex love story as the main line to express the relationship between sense and sensibility, and in many cases, the reason should be more than emotional claims.In Jane Austen's day, praise of the emotional content was the mainstream literature, and many people think that no restraint of strong feelings is the best character performance, and neglect whether such feelings will bring their owns or their family members pain or not.If you want to restraint or hidden it, that is wrong.But Jane expressed a different opinion through the two sisters‟ stories.It can be seen from the book.She thought sincerity and warmth are important and valuable, but still need to adjust and control with reason.After all, emotion is perceptual;any unreasonable development may bring much unnecessary suffering to both themselves and their family members.Only if a rational mind and thinking coexist with it, such damage can be reduced to the minimum.And there is no doubt that it is profitable to everyone.Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason.The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne.Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion.Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she “loves him tenderly,” she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister.Soon however, Marianne meets a man who measures up to her ideal: Mr.Willoughby, a new neighbor.So swept away by passion is Marianne that her behavior begins to border on the scandalous.Then Willoughby abandons her;meanwhile, Elinor's growing affection for Edward suffers a check when he admits he is secretly engaged to a childhood sweetheart.Jane Austen has often been considered a woman who led a narrow, inhibited life and who rarely traveled.These assertions are far from the truth.Jane Austen traveled more than most women of her time and was quite involved in the lives of her brothers，1 so much that it often interfered with her writing.Like most writers, Jane drew on her experiences and her dreams for the future and incorporated them into her writing.Her characters reflect the people around her;the main characters reflect parts of herself.In Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park, Elinor Dashwood, Elizabeth Bennet, and Fanny Price all reflect aspects of Jane Austen and dreams she had that were never fulfilled.Jane can also be considered the backbone of her family.After she dies, the family is not as close as they were during her lifetime.Jane became very close with two of her nieces, Fanny Austen and Anna Austen.She counseled them on men and marriage when they reached the age of choosing a suitor.She often helped with delivering her sister-in-law's babies.During her thirties, she lived with her brother Frank for several weeks.She cooked the meals for his family and cared for his children while his wife was confined to her bed.After several weeks of such a life, she felt she needed a break and solitude, but she continued to help her brother and his family until her services were no longer needed.Like the character she creates in Elinor, she sticks by her family and helps them when they need her.Austen's life closely parallels that of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.Austen begins the novel with the line, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”.This statement reflects the opinion of the time that a woman had to be married or else she had no social standing.Just as Elizabeth and her sisters feel immense pressure to get married and procure a good match, so too did Jane.Until she was twenty-five she still retained a small spark of hope that she would one day marry and have children.In Jane Austen‟s Sense and Sensibility there is a theme that runs along with males in the novel.The first born sons are forced to deal with the promotions and abilities that come along with the laws of primogeniture, yet even with all they get they do not lead an altogether happy life.The men that are first-born are in fact too swayed by the power and obligation that comes with their estates.In the novel the first sons are viewed in a negative light, yet the second-born sons have less responsibility to be what society wants them to be and are allowed to be his own.Although Edward Ferrars, is a firstborn, his mother disinherits him because of his lack of focus and ability to be all she wants him to be;as John Dashwood remarks Robert will now to all intents and purposes be considered as the eldest son.We know that Colonel Brandon is a second son because he has an older brother who married his old sweetheart, Eliza, many years before the novel's plot begins.And whereas these characters are the heroes of the novel, all the eldest sons are cast in a negative light, including John Dashwood, Robert Ferrars, and Colonel Brandon's older brother.In Austen's day, the eldest sons were the ones who inherited all the family property according to the laws of male primogeniture.However, in spite of these inheritance laws, it is the second sons who ultimately find happiness in the novel;thus they make content lives for themselves despite societal and financial constraints.This conflict starts at the beginning of the novel, but to his son and his son‟s son with John Dashwood‟s acquisition of the Norland estate.After John receives the inheritance and the estate, he is from then on viewed in a negative manner.He is a weak man and is

constantly influenced by his petty, greedy and mean wife.He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather coldhearted and rather selfish to be ill disposed.Had he married a more amiable woman, he might have been more respectable than he was: he might even have been made amiable himself.But Mrs.John Dashwood was a strong caricature of himself: more narrow-minded and selfish.His choice of wife, a systematic marriage for money and social stature affects his ability to be viewed as a decent character and he is viewed as a whole with his wife, which degrades him even more so.As far as the Ferrars Brothers are concerned, Edward is the first-born son who seemed to be a second Willoughby but loses his position when he refuses to marry Lucy Steele a rich heiress and wanting to in turn marry Elinor.Mr.Ferrars has suffered from his family;he has been entirely cast off by them for persevering in his engagement with a very deserving young woman.All of Jane's female characters end up happily married, a state Jane herself never felt.A woman was defined in terms of her husband;if she did not marry, she had nothing.Jane's aunt traveled to India in order to find a husband.Well into her twenties, Jane still had dreams of getting married.When she was twenty-five, Harris Bigg, a brother of her good friends, proposed marriage to Jane.At first she accepted: she would become mistress of a large estate, and “be able to ensure the comfort of her parents to the end of their days”.Most importantly, she would have children and raise a family of her own.The next day, however, Jane reneged the proposal.She did not love him and did not want a “marriage based on nothing but money”.After this proposal, Jane gave up all hopes of ever having a family of her own.Instead, she fulfilled her dreams through her characters and found “passion” through them.All her characters marry for love.They make Jane's dreams become a reality within her imagination.Sense and Sensibility created a series of characters and each has unique personality.However, most of the readers want to focus on are Dashwood family‟s two sisters.Elinor is Dashwood family's eldest daughter, an affectionate girl who is ever intellectual.From the beginning, the story showed her more thoughtful and rational mind than her mother and sister.Elinor worked carefully, thoughtfully, and intelligently.Either his love, Edward or hate, Lucy, she can treat them with respect.Besides, when people were discussing, whether Elinor like the topic or not, she wouldn‟t show much more curiosities or make others think she was boring.She could always maintain a certain degree of calm and thinking mind.Anything, Elinor always drew the line in anything.In addition, she was a kind girl, good at finding others advantages, and considerate to others.For Mrs.Jennings, though her behavior proved that she is stupid, but Elinor always talked about her enthusiasm, generosity and justice in front of her friends and sister.For Mrs.Jennings having a comfortable time in her home without Marianne‟s sarcasm and indifference and made Marianne not hurt by doing some overacting things, Elinor received the invitation and went with her sister even if she did this unwillingly.In my view, Elinor is so sober and reserved that she refuses to express her emotions even on her face and nearly loses her true love.When she knew the truth of Edward‟s engagement and Edward‟s love, she eventually

couldn‟t help crying because she oppressed herself so long.All above showed Elinor‟s rational mind, but it doesn‟t mean she is lack of emotion.On the contrary, as her sister, Elinor has an emotional heart, but she is more adept at controlling this emotion.No matter what happened in Edward‟s case have been changed, Elinor didn‟t change her heart.She did not abandon him because of Edward's untalkativity, dull depression, and charges from everyone.She liked his integrity, honesty, loyalty, generosity and felt unfair to his treatment at home and thought about him anytime to try her best to make his situation better.Even if she heard the news of Edward‟s engagement, Elinor was still in love with him.Even after hearing that she was trying to cover up, it was not difficult to see the news damaged her much.It can be seen that her affection to Edward is strong, faithful, realistic, loyal and eternal.This proves that Elinor is not only rational, but also has an emotional heart.And there is a clear and rational mind to remind her to restrict unnecessary emotional impulse.Sense, kindness, wittiness are her proper charms.Comparing with Elinor‟s sense, her sister Marianne is much more emotional.She is bright, but overly sentimental.On the contrary, Marianne is too emotional, always follows her feelings and never covers them.This is a kind of innocent but without thought it can make a person naive and ruined like Marianne.She committed suicide.After trying to killing herself, Marianne realized what true love was and learnt to be rational.Marianne always holds a romantic fantasy in treating love and dreamt to marry an “outstanding character, charming manners” man.She always seeks to deal with feelings of sensation, and romance.She is direct and clear in expressing feelings so that many times Mrs.Jennings made fun of her.Different from Elinor, Marian behaved in society is similar to her feelings of view.She treated people she liked warmly but indifferently and rudely to people shi didn‟t like and gave them a cold face.Perhaps this feeling was the feeling of that time's most respected concept, but Jane accounted for its unseemliness fully through Marian.A real contrast can be seen between the two women when Marianne comes to see Elinor in her bedroom one night.It is the same evening in which Edward has read to the family upon Marianne's incistant urging.Edward lacks the emotion that Marianne thrives on while reading to the women and she has no qualms about sharing this with him.When talking to her sister, Marianne states that she finds Edward to be an “amiable” man, but lacking a certain spark.When Elinor says that his disposition suits her just fine, Marianne is appalled.Her immediate reaction is one of question.Would Elinor rather love a dull, amiable man or the kind of man she would choose? Marianne would settle for no less than a prince on a white stallion, ready to rescue her from the confines of her little cottage.Her man must possess “spirit, wit, and feeling.” Marianne was finally abandoned by Willoughby, fell deep in their emotional outlook of the dominant lower into the abyss of suffering, and could not get away.She almost lost her life, and brought pain to her friends and family.This is the disadvantage of overacting emotion.Except for Marianne‟s “more sensibility, less sense”, she is a very great girl.Marianne is wise, fair, loves reading and thoughtful.Marianne loves her mother and sister very much.No matter she was too emotional at

first, or learnt to be rational at last, Marianne is not willing to hurt her friends and families especially.In addition, she made her effort to make up the damage brought by her sensibility.As the story said, once Marianne realized she was wrong, she would do anything to make up it.She is really an excellent girl, isn‟t she?

In the male role, Edward is the ideal type of women but not brave enough.Edward Ferrars, the object of Elinor's affection is quoted as saying Miss Dashwoods friendship the most important of his life.This is a considerable compliment coming from a man as highly esteemed as Mr.Ferrars.Elinor is viewed by her mother and her two sisters as a saving grace, someone to depend on.To a certain extent this is true, but Elinor also has problems and she doesn't quite know how to let people know about them.Even when Lucy Steele confides in Elinor that she has been secretly engaged to Edward for four years, she tells no one, and bears the burden of a broken heart on her own.At the outset he controlled his affection to Elinor and behaved as a gentleman.He was not rude but always hesitant.It was his attitude that made Elinor blowing hot and cold and didn‟t believe they would be together.I think Colonel Brandon is a complex with both sense and sensibility even though he has also done a choice between reason and emotion.But I still think he is the only one of several main characters who puts the emotion to the first place.Although he exited on his own initiative when he knew the relationship between Marianne and Willoughby, after all his original intention is that he hopes Marianne can be happy.As for Willoughby, a playboy, I only say I‟m sorry.His essence is not bad, and I believe he really loves Marianne, but not enough, in other words, he loves money more, or just himself.The topic of this paper is to distinguish the differences between sense and sensibility.Represented in Jane Austin's novel by two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, the disposition of the two girls can be seen quite vividly.The two girls are accompanied by a mother, and many other well developed characters.One character questionable to the theme of the story is the youngest sister Margaret.Her personality if described would be more like that of her sister Marianne.People can possess rich emotion, but not emotional.Jane thought taking heed in dealing with a matter and inner urge should be balanced.She showed respect to “Money can buy an elegant life”, but the feelings between people are much more important.Being and individual and having the ability to do so is a prevalent theme in this novel.It applies the men who do not have to pressure and obligation to laws of primogeniture who can choose their own path.It also applies to the women who are viewed by society as poor but in fact will become rich because they do not have to bow down to society‟s rules and systems.Despite the way people dealt with life in that time had to constrict to these rules to feel successful yet, the most successful characters in the novel are the ones who were brave enough to break away from the conformity.How each of the sisters reacts to their romantic misfortunes, and the lessons they draw before coming finally to the requisite happy ending forms the heart of the novel.Though Marianne's disregard for social conventions and willingness to consider the

world well-lost for love may appeal to modern readers, it is Elinor whom Austen herself most evidently admired;a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure.Experienced the baptism of life and death, Marianne found the balance point of sense and sensibility.After a long period of repression, Elinor‟s emotions burst out and push the fight of sense and sensibility in her heart to the ultimate.Without dreams, without sentiments, what do we have sense for?

“Sense prevails sensibility, reality exceeds dream”, this is still an inconclusive war.You and me can find ourselves point according to our characters.As Shakespeare said, the course of true love never did run smooth.Of course, the world can not be without love, but not only love.

第五篇：理智与情感读书报告

{'elino:]

Novel Report of Sense and Sensibility

Sense and sensibility is a novel written by Jane Austen that was first

published in 1811.She was an English novelist whose works of romantic fictions,and earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, In her short and glorious life, she wrote about dozens of famous novels, such as sense and sensibility, pride and prejudice, Mansfield park, Emma and so on.When I was in primary school, I had once read the Chinese version of pride and prejudice, through this novel, I have a first understanding of Jane Austen’s vision of love, and realize the life of British girl in that period, but not deep,after reading more and wathed every movieadapted by herworks, I totally love her.Sense and Sensibility is The story about two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood(Elinor represents the “sense” and Marianne represents the“sensibility”)along with their mother and younger sister Margaret, they are left impoverished after the death of their father, and the family is forced to move to a country cottage.Elinor forms an attachment to the gentle Edward Ferrars, unaware that he is already secretly engaged.Edward is a quiet, unassuming young man who does not aspire to be the “fine figure in the world”which his mother and sister wished him to be.Edward's fortune is dependent on the will of his mother.Elinor knows that she would not like her son to marry a woman of as a low rank as she is and does not allow herself to hope for marriage.Mrs.Jennings, a good-humored widow, thinks that Brandon is in love with Marianne and teases them both about it.Marianne dislikes him in fact.in the countryside, Marianne falls and breaks her ankle.Willoughby, a dashing and handsome man, carries her back to Barton Cottage.Willoughby begins to visit Marianne every day and they become very close.Elinor overhears him calling Marianne by her first name and believes that they may be secretly engaged.Willoughby leaves abruptly one day telling the Dashwoods that he must go to London and will not return for a year.His departure greatly upsets Marianne.Edward comes to stay at Barton Cottage near one day.However he seems unhappy and is distant towards Elinor, and she fears that he no longer has any feelings for her.Ann and Lucy , cousins of Lady Middleton, come to visit.soon.However, Lucy then reveals to Elinor that she(Lucy)has been secretly engaged to Edward for four years..Elinor is overcome with grief, but she keeps the information from her family as a promise to Lucy.Elinor and Marianne spend the winter at Mrs.Jennings' home in London.Marianne writes to Willoughby, but her letters are unanswered.They meet Willoughby at a party, but he is cold and formal with them.He then sends

Marianne a letter in which he denies ever having loved her and telling her that he is engaged to a Miss Grey, a very wealthy woman.Brandon reveals to Elinor that Willoughby seduced his foster daughter Miss Williams and abandoned her when she became pregnant.Later, Mrs.Jennings tells Elinor that Edward’mother has discovered Edward and Lucy's engagement.Edward refuses to end the

engagement and his mother, furious because of Lucy's poverty, disinherits him.Marianne becomes very ill after a walk in the rain during which she was wallowing in misery because of Willoughby, andBrandon goes to get Mrs.Dashwood.Meanwhile,he reveals his love for Marianne to Mrs.Dashwood..Mrs.Dashwood wishes for Marianne to marry him too, but Elinor perceives that Marianne still has a lack of regard for him.They learn that Mr.Ferrars has

married Lucy.Mrs.Dashwood realizes how strong Elinor's feelings for Edward are and is sorry that she did not pay more attention to her unhappiness.However, the next day Edward arrives and reveals that it was his brother who married Lucy.He says that he was trapped in his engagement with Lucy, “a woman he had long since ceased to love,” but that she had broken the engagement to marry the now wealthy Robert.Edward asks Elinor to marry him, and she agrees.Over the next two years, Mrs.Dashwood, Marianne matures and after growing to love brandonl, decides to marry Brandon.They marry and live close to Elinor and Edward.The plot revolves around a contrast between Elinor's sense and Marianne's emotionalism;Yet Austen's treatment of the two sisters is complex and

multi-faceted.The ending does, however, neatly join the themes of sense and sensibility though having the sensible sister marry her true love after long,romantic obstacles to their union, and the emotional sister find happiness with a man she did not initially love, but who was an eminently sensible choice of a husband.a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure。The most remarkable characteristic of Jane Austen as a novelist is her recognition of the limits of her knowledge of life and her determination never to go beyond these limits in her books.She describes her own class, in the part of the country with which she was acquainted;and both the types of character and the events are such as she knew from first-hand observation and experience.