Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen's first published work Sense and Sensibility which she fastidiously constructed and is sparkling with her unique witFor Elinor Dashwood, sensible and sensitive, and her romantic impulsive younger sister Marianne, the prospect of marrying the men they love appears remote. In a world ruled by money and self-interest, the Dashwood sisters have neither fortune nor connections. Concerned for others and for social politeness, Elinor is ill-equipped to compete with self-centred fortune-hunters like Lucy Steele. Meanwhile Marianne's unswerving belief in the truth of her own feelings makes her more dangerously vulnerable to the designs of unscrupulous men.Through her heroines' similar experiences of love, loss, and hope, Jane Austen offers a powerful analysis of the ways in which women's lives were shaped by the suffocating society in which they had to survive.