Sense and Sensibility Questions

Miss Georgiana Darcy hosted some questions on S&S this week. Here are my answers.

1: When did you first read Sense and Sensibility? About four years ago, when I was fourteen. Have you read it since? Yes, I've listened to it as an unabridged audiobook several times and reread it this year for the bicentennial.

2: When did you first watch Sense and Sensibility? I'd seen the trailer for the movie on the A Man for All Seasons DVD and that interested me. I watched the film soon after reading the novel.
Which adaptation was it? Emma Thompson's.

3: If you have watched/heard of more than one adaptation which one was your favorite? (Rants allowed) I've watched the 1981 BBC miniseries, Emma Thompson's film, and Andrew Davies' miniseries. Emma Thompson's version remains my favorite, partially because she is my favorite actress and I've seen this one the most. But my reviews of each version will be posted soon to explain my opinions at greater length.

4: Which three S&S characters drive you crazy? Obviously this answer implies no disrespect to Jane. It's the glory of her craft that her characters can be so real that they drive you crazy.

First and foremost: “Uncle” Dashwood who was so charmed by “such attractions as are by no means unusual in children of two or three years old- an imperfect articulation, an earnest desire of having his own way, many cunning tricks, and a great deal of noise -” as to entail Norland away from our heroines.

Obviously Lucifer... Viz. Lucy (Steele) Ferrars who “may be held forth as a most encouraging instance of what an earnest, an unceasing attention to self-interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience.”

It's a little too hard to fill in the third place. Robert Ferrars or Fanny Dashwood could easily fill it. But there are moments when Edward Ferrars or Marianne Dashwood are driving those around them crazy too.

5: Which heroine are you most like: Elinor or Marianne? I used to prefer Elinor (thanks to Emma Thompson playing her) and yet think I was more like Marianne. Reading and Romantic poetry has guided my love of nature, so that I would ask, “'Is there any felicity in the world superior' to a wild storm?” I'm passionate about music and sympathize with Marianne in the desire Edward attributes to her of wanting to buy up all her favorite books and music, that they might not fall into unworthy hands. I'm also very idealistic about relationships. But, like Elinor I'm very reserved about my feelings – I don't easily communicate them even to the people closest to me. And partly due to being a Janeite, I'm highly ironic, I'm easily disgusted by helplessness and emotional self-indulgence and value character over charm and “romantic” qualities.

6: Who would be most enjoyable: (or bearable) Mr. Palmer or Mrs. Palmer? Well, if we're talking about Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton as the actors, they're really too perfect together to separate. However, Mr Palmer's continual presence would be merely disconcerting, while, like Emma with Miss Bates, I'd probably eventually descend to mocking Mrs Palmer in public.

7: What would be your reaction if you saw a re-write of Sense and Sensibility where it was Elinor who married Colonel Brandon? The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced of Jane Austen's almost incomparable wisdom and that she can do no wrong. In her other novels she matches her characters perfectly, so that their relationships will develop their characters. (Who can imagine Emma, Anne, Catherine or Fanny ever suiting Mr Darcy so well as Elizabeth?) Elinor and Colonel Brandon are probably too much alike to develop a marriage relationship after Austen's ideal. They both help to balance the less steady minds of the spouses they eventually marry.

8: Where does Sense and Sensibility rank in your list of favorite Austen novels?
That's simply too hard a question. All that I ever know about ranking my favorites is that Emma is always my book of books, except when I'm reading Persuasion.