Question

How does Elinor respond to Colonel Brandon’s gift to Edward Ferrars? Is she willing to forego her own love and facilitate Edward’s marriage to Lucy? What theme does this characteristic within Elinor prompt? Your answer should be at least 250 words.

Answer 1

The gift in question is the parson's freehold, an ecclesiastic benefit that will allow Elinor’s Romantic interest, Edward Ferrars to have a steady source of income that will make him a suitable choice for Lucy Steele. He had secretly promised to wed her when he was younger and although he does not love her he intends to marry her out of respect and moral principles. Edward is not too handsome and quite shy but Elinor knows that behind such characteristics he is a loving, moral person who deeply cares for others and is loyal to them, at the expense of his own welfare. She loves him deeply though secretly and is quite dismayed and shocked when she learn Colonel Brandon’s gesture. The situation is quite a conundrum, since Colonel Brandon loves Marianne, who loves the young, handsome, charming and dashing John Willoughby and Elinor loves Edward Ferrars. She is in the middle of the whole ordeal and she is tasked with announcing the “good news” to Ferrars which makes it even more, painful for her. This is a pivotal moment in the plot as it forces Elinor to question her own inflexible adherence to sense. Even though she is willing to avoid a confrontation and to remain neutral and polite her love, that is to say her sensibility will force her to display her feelings. In other words, just as much as Marianne’s Romantic disappointments have forced her to have more sense, Elinor’s impossible situation will force her to have more sensibility (as they will also force Edward, who is very much like her though due to different reasons).