Sense and Sensibility

How does the novel present the cult of sensibility? What relationship does sensibility have to real feeling?

Why is the spoiled child an important motif in the novel? How does Austen show that the spoiling of children is destructive?

How does Austen present women’s access to power in a patriarchal society? Refer to at least three characters in your answer, comparing and contrasting their means of empowerment.

To what extent is Colonel Brandon a sympathetic figure? How might the attitudes of Austen’s contemporary readers and modern readers differ?

How and why does Austen show that her characters’ first choice of partner is often the wrong one? To what extent does she sentimentalize a doomed first love?

Discuss the novel’s attitude to character development and the influence of one character on another. To what extent does Austen present character as a fixed or fluid phenomenon?

Which two types of narration does Austen employ? Why is free indirect discourse especially valuable for making the reader intimate with a heroine like Elinor?

How and to what effect does Austen use irony? Which characters receive the greatest share of ironic treatment and why?