Sense & Sensibility, chapter 47: Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now

In where we’ve come full circle with Mama Dashwood.

This chapter begins and ends with Mama Dashwood facing new (to her) revelations about her daughters’ love lives and admitting her own culpability in her daughters’ pain. It’s incredibly refreshing in an Austen novel when a parent figure acknowledges their mistakes and tries to learn from them (Sir Thomas in Mansfield Park is the shining example). What distinguishes Mama is that she reacts differently to both Marianne and Elinor in a conscious and deliberate way.

We start with Mama’s reaction to what Elinor relays to her re: Willoughby. Though relieved to hear that he’s “cleared from some part of his imputed guilt,” she accepts that “[n]othing could restore him with a faith unbroken—a character unblemished, to Marianne [...] nor remove the guilt of his conduct towards Eliza.” MA admits that she could not be happy with Willoughby as a husband, to which Mama agrees: “her sensitive conscience” couldn’t have borne Willoughby’s moral defects (and the pain he inflicted on Eliza the Younger). They both listen to—and implicitly agree with—Elinor’s conclusive thoughts*: Willoughby would’ve been an irresponsible husband not just because of what he did to Eliza, but also because of his bad financial habits and his “selfish” core. MA has accepted that “[her] happiness was never his object” and only regrets “[her] own folly.”

Mama Dashwood immediately adds that “[I] must be answerable” as to her own “imprudence” in blithely encouraging the match. She doesn’t add any specific details, but one can imagine she’s reflecting on the brazenness of Willoughby and MA visiting Allenham and her harsh words in response to Elinor’s pondering about the secrecy surrounding Willoughby. Mama also focuses a lot on “Colonel Brandon’s injuries and merits,” showing that she still has a tendency to jump the gun when it comes to MA’s love life. Whether or not she thinks MA is aware of Col. Brandon’s feelings is left ambiguous, but we’ll return to this later.

Here we take a U-turn as Elinor, “impatient for some tidings of Edward,” gets an answer to a question she doesn’t entirely wish to know. One day, the manservant jovially informs them that he saw “Mrs. Ferrars,” née “Miss Steele,” in a parked chaise at Exeter. This is interrupted by MA’s “violent” reaction to the news, which seems to be held up as an example of MA’s never-ending immaturity and love for drama. But I’d like to posit that this is not a test for MA. Rather, this is a test for Mama Dashwood—and she passes it. As MA has her “hysterics,” Mama  “perceive[s] by Elinor’s countenance how much she really suffered.” Mama extracts more information from the manservant for the benefit of her eldest daughter, confirming (as much as she can) that Edward is for sure married. Which he is. Wink.

I really think we underestimate the importance of MA’s “hysterics” here, because her reaction serves multiple purposes. For one, it emphasizes the depth of Elinor’s true feelings for Edward, which her “careful, the considerate attention” disguised, successfully, from Mama Dashwood. So MA’s reaction can be interpreted as a metaphorical representation of the heartbreak Elinor has silently endured (who denied herself, to a nearly inhuman degree, an outlet for her emotions). Remember, it is MA who has seen first-hand Elinor’s damage, who has listened to Elinor’s confession and the lengths to which she’s gone to hide her feelings from others. Perhaps part of the reason for MA’s extreme “hysterics” may be that she has been reminded, during a weakened state, of the suffering that her sister has undergone. In any case, Mama Dashwood reads in both of her daughters’ reactions the pain that Elinor feels.

That Mama handles this revelation better (it’s not clear that she was aware of Edward’s engagement even after going public) speaks to her newfound humility and maturity. She realizes that “she had erred in relying on Elinor’s representation of herself” and, accordingly, “had been unjust, inattentive—nay, almost unkind, to her Elinor.” Though Elinor’s secrecy has had the desired effect of “spar[ing] her from an increase of unhappiness,” this isn’t an excuse for Mama Dashwood’s behavior. At the end of this chapter, unsure of how to comfort Elinor, she consciously gives her daughter emotional space. It’s not a lot, but it’s the best she can do as she reflects on all the disappointments Elinor has “suffer[ed] almost as much, certainly with less self-provocation, and greater fortitude.”

Next time, a misunderstanding is cleared up.

Credit for the above illustration goes Himmapaan.

*Far from harboring a wish to portray him sympathetically, “[r]eflection had given calmness to [Elinor’s] judgment, and sobered her own opinion of Willoughby’s deserts.” Shapard suggests that Willoughby’s “external charms” have a temporary power over those in his presence and would explain MA’s intense attraction to him.