1.Look in detail at chapter II, what is the significance of wills, inheritance and entailment in Sense and Sensibility?
2.Can you identify the type of of verb Jane Austen generally uses in the dialogue between Mrs John Dashwood and her husband? What is the effect?
- Note and comment on the movement within the extract. What are John Dashwood’s intentions regarding looking after his half-sisters and stepmother at the end, and at the start, of the chapter?
4.There are several mothers within the novel (Mrs Dashwood, Mrs John Dashwood, Mrs Jennings, Mrs Ferrars). How does this extract present maternal motivations?
5.Do some research on why eminent literary critic F R Leavis includes Jane Austen in his ‘big 5’ great writers of English literature.
6.Note Austen’s mode of speaking about her novel as if it is a child, it is reminiscent of the words used by Mary Shelley with regards to Frankenstein, her ‘strange progeny’. In your own words comment on this mode of articulating literary creativity.
7.An omniscient narrator and Elinor’s consciousness dominate the text but can you tell when the reader is being guided into what to think? (See introductory descriptions of Mrs Jennings and Mr Palmer).
8.In the nineteenth century social mobility was becoming increasingly possible. Is there any evidence for social mobility within the text?
9.What we know about Jane Austen seems to exemplify the antitheses or opposites of the title Sense and Sensibility. Have you found anything that strikes you as contradictory concerning Austen’s reputation?
10.The novel can be read as a simple romance. In your view what else is under scrutiny?
11.There is considerable emphasis on etiquette in Jane Austen’s novels. In your opinion, who does, and who does not, displays good manners in Sense and Sensibility?
12.‘Jane Austen moves […] between two plots, which can be crudely characterized as the Heroine who is Right, and the Heroine who is Wrong’ (Marilyn Butler). Do you agree?
13.In what ways do you consider Jane Austen to be a true representative of an Augustan writer?
14.In what ways could Sense and Sensibility be a problematic text for feminist critics?