Reis 1 Simone Cristina Motta Reis Sandra Regina Goulart Almeida Womens Writings 16th to 19th Centuries 11 June

e 2008 Elinor: Traces of an Eighteenth-Century Woman on a Nineteenth Century Novel. Although this novel was written on the nineteenth century, Elinor still carries , with her, traces of pre-Victorian women as they were praised for their emotional sensitivity as well as their purity and passivity (Gilbert and Gubar 52). Elinor represents the characteristics associated with eighteenth-century, including rationality, moderation, and balance. She never loses sight and perspective of her place in society, as she constantly reminds her sister Marianne of her inappropriate behavior. In this essay I intend to address two important features of eighteenth century women found in Elinor. The first feature that I intend to study is Elinors conformity to social rules, the second her interpersonal relationships, especially with Marianne and Edward. The view of women in the eighteenth-century represented a shift in the history of literature. It was when the virtuous and obedient woman was praised (LeGates 23), and when women were portrayed as morally superior, innocent, sensible, devoted to family, to religion, but subordinate ultimately to male authority (LeGates 30). It is interesting to see that Elinor, despite being a character written on the nineteenth century, as someone that is always kind, considerate, and that never does things out of her own mind, contrary to Marianne. As Deborah Kaplan mentioned Sensibility not only makes Marianne uncivil but also reveals the extent to which good manners are gestured between men and woman (542). Elinor respects the rules of society as cruel as they might seem, and accepts her fate, even when it does not seem to be the way that she would like it to be. A tender, virginal, understanding, and accomplished woman is

Reis 2 the way that we see her in the novel. Elinor does lack some accomplishments that Marianne has. According to Langdon Elsbree, on the article Jane Austen and the Dance of Fidelity and
Complaisance, One's motives reveal one's sense or sensibility, one's vitality or weariness.

Marianne's excess of sensibility is implicit in her readiness to dance, sing, or play the pianoforte whenever she so wishes. Elinor's sense is manifested in her discreet reluctance to dance, play or listen; she is unmusical and will not simulate. (116). Nevertheless, Elinors sense of civility is very strong and that characteristic could fit her to the eighteenth century the stereotype of womanhood. In the novel we can see, what seems to be, an attempt to portrait the two sisters representing two different centuries: Elinor as the one that is conformed with societys rules and Marianne the Victorian woman, she is always breaking the rules while her older sister tries with all of her strength to conform and adjust to them. One example of such personality is when Elinor describes her doctrine as one that has never aimed at the subjection of the understanding" (94) and her only qualification is that "it is my wish to be candid in my judgment of every body" (79). While Marianne never cared for social lies and anything that stopped her to do what she wanted. Her boldness and un-attachment to social rules are certainly traits of women of the nineteenth century. Of course that these differences were not that clear when Austen published the novel for it was only at the beginning of the Victorian age but I would argue that by contrasting the personalities of the two heroines of the novel the difference between those ages becomes clearer for the reader nowadays. We can also see the traces of a pre-Victorian woman in Elinor when we take a closer look on her relationship with Edward Ferrars. One of example of such is when Marianne reprehends Elinor for the cold way she talks about her feelings for Edward:

Reis 3 "Excuse me," said she; "and be assured that I meant no offence to you, by speaking, in so quiet a way, of my own feelings. Believe them to be stronger than I have declared; believe them, in short, to be such as his merit, and the suspicion--the hope of his affection for me may warrant, without imprudence or folly. But farther than this you must not believe. I am by no means assured of his regard for me. There are moments when the extent of it seems doubtful; and till his sentiments are fully known, you cannot wonder at my wishing to avoid any encouragement of my own partiality, by believing or calling it more than it is. In my heart I feel little--scarcely any doubt of his preference. But there are other points to be considered besides his inclination. (Austen 19) Although she loves him very much, she still constrains her feeling towards him and never inquires the nature of Edwards feelings towards her. She also states that love alone is not enough to secure their relationship. Elinor understands that a relationship is more than two people falling in love it is a social contract especially in her case, being from a family that shared less social advantages and earned less money than the Farrars family. I would argue that this trait is also a vestige of pre-Victorian women because Elinor is very clear of her chances to get married with Edward Ferrars, she knows that his feelings might be true but she also knows that the choice for a spouse is not entirely on Edwards hands. Because she knew that that choise was not solely Edwards, she conformed to the circumstances, even when Lucy Steele declared in secrecy to be engaged to Edward. Elinor conformity to the social rules and her strong sense of civility allows her to treat everyone with the kindness and courtesy that society requires of people and especially of women. Distinguished early on for the "coolness of [her] judgment" (4), Elinor spends much of the narrative engaged in activities like "doubting," "gathering

Reis 4 evidence," "acquitting," and "condoning." (Nazar). Elinor she knows the dangers of trusting men with their lives (when devoting their love), as she proved to be right when Marianne was disappointed by Willoughby and as she was disappointed by Edward.
Jane Austen tells us in the first chapter that Elinor "had an excellent heart; her

disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them" (6). (Morgan 189), and by that we can see that although Elinor was a character created on the nineteenth-century, she still carries with her some aspects of pre-Victorian women because she is always very controlled and aware of her place in society; that does not happens with Marianne. I would argue that Jane Austen wanted to contrast the personalities of both Elinor and Marianne to portrait some differences of attitude towards societys rules. The first had a very strong notion of social civility and the second never bothered about breaking such rules. Another difference pointed out on this essay was the difference regarding their interpersonal relationships, while Elinor always kept her feelings for Edward Ferrars to herself, Marianne was outspoken with hers. As we saw in the passage on the second page, Elinor was cautious with her feelings because she understood the rules of society. Because of that she dealt better with the supposed engagement of Edward and Lucy. On the contrary to Marianne, who fell into deep illness after finding out that Willoughby was soon to be married to Sophia Grey. The portrayal of Elinor can be seen the remaining ideal of the Eighteenth-Century view of women, one that still survived during the beginning the Victorian age. Even though it represented a big step to the way society, controlled by a male point o view, saw the roles of women. Elinor is the personification of such women, one that should not as resilient, that refuses changes, but rather as a woman that is in-between both centuries and that carries features of preVictorian women. As we know the book was written in the beginning of the nineteenth-century

Reis 5 and I would argue that the character of Elinor might be that way that Jane Austen found to bring light to the issues of what it meant to be a woman in her time, pointing out that both stereotypes of women still need the balance between sense and sensibility to reach true happiness.

Reis 6 Works Cited Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale UP, 1979.

Kaplan Deborah. Jane Austens First Published Novel. Nineteenth-century Fiction 37 (1983): 531-51. JSTOR. University of California Press Stable URL. 18 April 2008 < http://www.jstor.org/stable/3044682> LeGates, Marlene. The Cult of Womanhood in Eighteenth-Century Thought. EighteenthCentury Studies 10 (1976): 21-39. JSTOR. The John Hopkins University Press Stable URL. 07 May 2008. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2737815> Morgan, Susan. Polite Lies: The Veiled Heroine of Sense and Sensibility. NineteenthCentury Fiction 31 (1976): 188-205. JSTOR. University of California Press Stable URL. 18 April 2008. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2933501> Nazar, Hina. The Imagination Goes Visiting: Jane Austen, Judgment and the Social. Nineteenth-Century Literature 59 (2004): 145-78. JSTOR. University of California Press Stable URL. 16 April 2008. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4141990>