The Coronel Brandon

On chapter 7th, we can spend a good time by reading all the funny and sometimes vulgar comments coming from Mrs. Jennings sense of humor. Due to her big experience in love dates and all kinds of stuff related with love themes. In fact we can notice, that three centuries later, in our years those sarcastic and awkward phrases still exist. The Dashwoods are extremely well welcomed to Barton Park by their hosts.

In this evening, a very close friend of Sir John Middleton also comes to dinner; he is the Coronel Brandon, a very silent and serious man, but his physical appearance is not that bad at all. He looks like 35 years old, with such good manners that all gentlemen could possess and maybe with his bachelorhood as his most valuable attribute.

Since the first moment, Mrs. Jennings suggests the idea of a soon marriage between the most famous single man of the County (Coronel Brandon) and one of the Dashwood sisters. 

From Norland to Barton Park

In the following two chapters, we can imagine how the sisters Dashwood have done the house moving, because once Mr. Dashwood had died all the properties are now part of Fanny’s and John´s Dashwood heritage so the three ladies are obligated to move on and they must leave their previous house immediately.

Besides we can visualize in our minds, how they were installed in their new home, a smaller one than Norland´s, I mean at the Barton Cottage. Thus, new characters are integrated to the plot of Sense and Sensibility. Firstly we have the lord of the House, Sir John Middleton, a 40 year old man whose personality is so amiable, and I could say enchanting and a gentleman in all sense of words. We can also find Lady Middleton, and Mr. Jennings (Sir John´s Middleton mother in law), a very funny lady who is the typical gossiping neighbor we all familiarized with. Both are so kind that once the Dashwoods are installed, they extend them an invitation for visiting Barton Park to dinner.

Is in this dinner where Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, Marianne and little Margaret could meet another character that could change their lives for good. 

Sir John Middleton Offer

On chapter IV of this book, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood express their contrasting points of view about Edward Ferrars.  For the eldest Sister, Edward Ferrars was close to be her ideal man, good-looking and with well-informed mind. Despite his disability of drawing or playing some musical instrument, he had great pleasure in seeing, appreciating and evaluating performances of other people, so that he was “by no means” deficient in natural taste, he only had not the opportunities of learning to make some kind of art. Otherwise for Marianne, Edward´s character was only amiable and worthy indeed but with completely lack of taste and opinion in a lot of things. We could assume the compatibility of characters between Ferrars and Elinor Dashwood, both have similar tastes, and they do not show their feelings openly because of the external pressures and the economic and social situation of sisters Dashwood.

At the end of the chapter, Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters received an offer of a small house to live, a cottage at Barton Park, owned by a gentleman named Sir John Middleton. This is one of the places where the story will be developed from now on. 

Meeting Edward Ferrars

During the 2^nd and 3^rd Chapter of Sense and Sensibility, we can meet a new character. He is Edward Ferrars, the eldest brother of Mrs. John Dashwood. He stayed several weeks in the house of Norland Park, maintaining a friendly relationship with either the Dashwood sisters or Mrs. Dashwood. Hence we can notice that little by little more than a simple esteem is arising beneath Edward Ferrars and Elinor Dashwood, and is precisely Mrs. Dashwood who realizes this tentative love firstly. It is important to mention that even though the lovely couple do barely demonstrate their afflections, Mrs. Dashwood, considered their serious attachment as a certain fact, and looked forward for a soon marriage.

Although, I can comment how wrong was Mrs. Dashwood to think and wait for a convenient marriage soon. Like many other good prospects in that time, Edward Ferrars was born in a family who only expected and wished his interest in political concerns like get into Parliament and be connected with some of the richest men of the time, and an arranged marriage, which could guarantee his economic stability. Therefore a marriage with Elinor Dashwood could be intolerable and non-approved by their relatives. 

Some of the hardest words to understand during my Sense and Sensibility Reading:

Because the Sense and Sensibility novel is written in an Ancient British English, some words could represent a big deal by the time we are reading it, so I consider that is important to find those definitions in a Dictionary in order to get a better understanding,  for instance:

To remain: To continue in the same place, state or position.

Beyond: After or later than

                -Farther along or away

Impoverishing: To reduce, to poverty.

To neglect: To pay little or no attention to.

Indeed: Without a doubt

                -Certainly

Afterwards: After an earlier event or time

                      -Subsequently

Claims: A demand for something as rightful of due

Acquaintance:  Knowledge of a person acquired by a relationship less intimate than friendship. 

Trifling: Frivolous or idle.

Grandeur: The quality or condition of being grand; magnificence

Unanimous: Sharing the same opinions of views.

All the previous definitions were retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com

Brief Description of Dashwood´s Sisters Personality Part II

Marianne:  She is the second one of Dashwood sisters, whose personality is well characterized by Kate Winslet on Sense and Sensibility´s Movie. By reading the book we can notice she is a very young and inexpert woman with a still childish and immature personality. Her day to day living way is both spontaneous and with none moderation. Because of that, she is involved in so many love affairs with the idealistic Mr. Willoughby and the amiable Coronel Brandon. 


Margaret: She is the youngest member of the Dashwood family. Her greatest concerns about life are the reading of Geographical Atlases and expeditions to Africa. Her personality is very funny, like any girl of the age of thirteen. Besides all the bad experiences, she always has a joke to bring joy to the moment.