#but elinor and edward don't care
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In Defense of Edward Ferrars
Edward, much like some of the most disliked Jane Austen heroines, can seem very unheroic and passive. But like Fanny Price, he is admirable and his strength is in his moral principles and his ability to stay constant despite opposition.
At nineteen, Edward was bored, because his family wanted him to go into a profession he didn’t want, or just live as a gentleman. But they are also awful and so he stayed with the people he liked from school. Lucy was nice to him. That’s it. She didn’t have to try that hard as far as we know because Edward was so starved for love and affirmation. So he thinks he’s in love and proposes, as young men are wont to do.
Now he has a dilemma, he wants to provide for Lucy, but he discovers, or knows, that his mother will never accept the match. He tries to obtain a profession and eventually goes to university. But he needs his mother if he ever wants to provide for a wife. Without influence in the church, he could be stuck as a curate making 50 pounds per year (like Charles Hayter). So he needs to maintain his relationship with his mother, he is too poor otherwise.
Years go on and Edward falls out of love with Lucy, but he believes that she loves him. She is smart, as far as we know she always professes very strongly to love him. And we can imagine that he tries to get out, he tells Lucy his mother will never allow it and yet she holds on. He is trapped. A man of less moral character would walk away, but Edward made a promise and he keeps it.
Then he is visiting his sister and he meet Elinor. Now he’s in love, now he has more reason to get rid of Lucy than ever, but even though he tires by any fair means (Wentworth-esq), Lucy will not let him go. She gives him her hair ring as a sign of her devotion to him.
It all comes out and Mrs. Ferrars demands that he jilts Lucy. Edward doesn’t love her anymore, he loves someone else, but still believing that Lucy loves him and upholding his honour, he resists. He loses his inheritance for a woman he doesn’t even love.
He’s the only man in Austen who actually loses something for love. Henry Tilney, Darcy, Bingley, Colonel Brandon, and Wentworth all lose the potential to marry someone richer and better connected, but none of them actually suffers financially (Knightley doesn’t even lose that!). Edward gives up wealth for principles. He stands as Elizabeth Bennet or Fanny Price, unwilling to be mercenary whatever the cost.
So yes, he seems passive, but it’s because Jane Austen made him a dependant. A firstborn son with no inheritance. And the fact that he never regrets giving up his fortune, and proposes to Elinor no matter the price, is why I appreciate him.
#sense and sensibility#jane austen#edward ferrars#lucy steele#Edward is a sad panda#but he's been trapped for 4 years in an impossible engagement#his ending is great#going low contact with his mother is a good happy ending#also she gave him the same amount of money as his sister#which is a huge slap in the face#but elinor and edward don't care#because that's enough for them
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I've been thinking about the fact that some readers of Sense and Sensibility don't believe Willoughby truly loved Marianne, even though everyone in the book believes it and the narrator makes it clear how much he cared for her, at the end. And I think this reading of him takes away from one of the messages of the book, which is that love is not enough.
Willoughby loves Marianne, but that's not enough to stop him from hurting her, it's not enough to make him give up his cushy lifestyle and marry her, and it wouldn't have been enough to keep him happy with her long-term. Marianne loves Willoughby, but it wouldn't have been enough for her to be happy with him long-term either.
Edward loves Elinor, but that's not a good enough reason to break his promise to Lucy, because integrity and honor and responsibility are just as important to him. Brandon loves Marianne, but that's not reason enough to court her, because he knows her feelings lie elsewhere and she doesn't respect and esteem him yet.
Love is important to all these characters, and is a vital part in making the marriages that they ultimately end up in strong and happy, but it's not the only thing that makes them work.
Of course, Sense and Sensibility is hardly the only Austen novel to make the point that you need more than love or romance or passion to make a relationship work. But I think it's interesting how we get to see this play out in the villain of the novel. Willoughby does some truly horrific things, but his character shows that even really bad guys are capable of feeling love and guilt and remorse. But none of these feelings are ultimately strong enough to change him. Because love is not enough.
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What characters made you feel seen?
A lot of the time, I don't care to look for characters I relate to. I mostly look at them and think of them as friends and different than me. I prefer that I think. I think I'm terrified of seeing myself in a bad way in a character. I think I'd rather see what I wish I was than what I am in characters. I'd rather aspire than be like.
I'm even more affected in seeing in characters what I think I could be. That's why Sadie from I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang, Jude Duarte from TCP, and Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility affect me a lot. Sadie and Elinor are people pleasers and suppressors of emotion. I feel like I could have been them. I could still be them. Hide my own feelings. Live for others. Always try to please and be liked. Then, Jude is upsetting because she was what I was worried that I would become if I did break out of those patterns while the others are if I didn't. What if ceasing to try to make people like me turned into me being evil?
There are other characters that I've related to, and it terrified me. For example, for the first bit of Heartless, I related to Cath. I felt for her. I felt seen, but then she turned evil. She turned bad.
I still see myself in these characters but not the current version. The same really goes for Celia a lot of the time. Especially her during TVD. I also do see a bit of myself in Orion, probably because he is a bit of a people pleaser sometimes and always feels like he has to help. I do also see myself in characters like Jo March. When I first watched Greta Gerwig's version and she declares that the "world will not forget the name Jo March," I felt that. I realized that I did not want people to forget my name. I wanted to be remembered. I was horrified of being forgotten. I've recovered from that facet of myself a bit though. I also want to live a simple life, but I also want to be great. I see myself in Edward Ferras, saying greatness isn't for him. I might just be one great paradox.
I do see myself a lot in people's fears. I love Kell Maresh so much because he shares one of mine. He fears death. He fears it just being the end. He fears ceasing to exist. He fears being forgotten. That was me. That was me as a child, not able to fall asleep at night out of fear I'd been lied to. Out of fear that neither Heaven or Hell existed. That's why I hung so greatly to the wish to be great. To not be forgotten even if I was gone. I've gotten over this for the most part, but it was hard.
Like Peeta, I fear that the world will change me. I fear being evil. I fear my own possibly fall into evil more than people around me turning against me I think. So yeah. I feel seen in that. This may have slightly turned into a post about my fear that I'm a horrible person or will become one.
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E7. Marianne's on the mend and Mrs. Dashwood has arrived. I can't help but wonder if she would have been equally distressed if it had been Elinor who was deathly ill instead of (her obvious favorite) Marianne.
Brandon needs a shave. It's a nice way of showing how single-minded he's been.
"That terrible business with Willoughby," eh, Mrs. D? You seemed to like the man well enough while it was happening. What is it with these mothers of unmarried daughters who are so fickle when it comes to which suitor they prefer? She and Mrs. Bennet can start a club.
"But worthy men are so uninteresting, especially men of his age." Oh, I cannot WAIT for you to eat those words, Marianne, you arrogant little twit. Have you learned NOTHING from all of this?
"My skin looks terrible." Well, maybe if you had eaten regularly while you were pining after that moron Willoughby, you wouldn't be in this state. You've got no one to blame for your condition but yourself, Marianne.
Back at Barton Cottage, she plays what I think is the song she and Willoughby sang together then bursts into tears. There are only 13 minutes left in this episode, how much longer are they going to drag this out? Get over him, girl.
Marianne and Elinor are outside and that stupid mesh is back. Couldn't anyone in the production team see how visible it was? Or maybe they could and they just didn't care.
"I brought my illness on myself" FUCKING FINALLY! She actually does have a brain, I'm glad to see she's put it to good use.
Can they PLEASE put Willoughby behind them now? STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM, for fuck's sake!
Marianne called Mrs. D "Mother." Nope, she's "Mama" to you, Marianne. Only sons used "Mother."
Tom tells them "Mr. Ferrars" (the subtitles spell it "Ferris") has married Lucy. Marianne starts crying and runs out of the room. Fucking hell, girl, stop that. You've officially crossed the line between "sensitive" and "ninny."
Mrs. D's saying she's only been thinking of Marianne. Yeah, we know. "But unlike (Marianne), we're brave." "We"? There's no "we" here, Mrs. Dashwood. Elinor has been the brave one. All you've done is cry over and with Marianne and complain about not being the mistress of Norland Park anymore. You don't get to claim any sort of camaraderie with Elinor after all that.
Edward explains his brother is the one who's married and Mrs. D and Marianne burst into giggles. Yes, they're happy and relieved but it's pretty ridiculous, especially from Edward's POV. And they just don't stop. Elinor borrows one of Marianne's moves and just leaves the house entirely. Now Edward's insulted and Elinor has run off into the woods. WTF? Can I hit the screenwriter, please?
I still hate his haircut. :P
What I'll never understand is why Mrs. F making Robert her heir cannot be revoked now that he's married the universally despised Lucy. Mrs. F hasn't died, so she should be able to change her will as often as she wants.
That's it? We get Elinor and Edward engaged but all we get for Marianne and Brandon is him giving her a bunch of books, and decidedly unromantic ones at that? Bah. He might as well be her tutor, not a man desperately in love with her.
1995 is still the best S&S, this one is after 2008, and possibly after 2024, I'd have to watch that one again to be sure.
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have you seen the 2008 Sense and Sensibility? (and if so is it any good, I just sumbled upon it today)
Hi!!! :D
I have seen it 2 or 3 times. The short of it is that I didn't like it. There are a few things I like about it (most of the casting and a few selected scenes), but in general I think it is heavy handed, solemn and sad to the exclusion of most of the humor that is in the book... it has Andrew Davies' concept of the macho man all over it, coupled with a certain level of indifference from him (I get the sense he just... doesn't care about the book, proposes several ideas and then drops them, etc, etc. Lines like "she's damaged goods now, you know" seem like placeholders that were never replaced with proper dialogue.)
But there's also a lot of people that swear by it. In general it has to do with a) they do prefer the more somber tone or the more somber tone opens a new perspective of the book for them b) they are really in it for the Elinor/Edward storyline and don't care much or at all for the Marianne/Brandon storyline (which is the one I feel is the most botched by the adaptation.)
I wrote about an interview with Andrew Davies on the series here.
Here, here and here are my last watch-through posts for the miniseries.
Bottom line: a lot of people dislike it and a lot of people love it (although you'd be pressed to find a person who doesn't think the opening scene is a mistake). I didn't, but you may!
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Lately I can't stop thinking about Elinor Dashwood.
People tend to not like S&S as much as P&P or Persuasion or even Emma, and I get it. I can't claim that S&S is my favorite or even second-favorite Austen novel. But God. Elinor.
Elinor spends the entire fucking novel having to put aside what she wants in order to do what's best for the people she loves. She is "the comforter of others in her own distress, no less than theirs." She chooses to give counsel in a gentle way, and often bites her tongue because she knows the person in question won't listen to her, choosing instead to be a supportive, safe place.
The big contrast, I think, between Elinor and Marianne when we view them through the modern lens (that is, if one were to update S&S for an adaptation that took place in the 21st century) would be that Marianne says and does what she wants in the moment and Elinor doesn't, because Elinor doesn't just think about her anger, or her desire, or her pain, or her joy, in that moment. She thinks about what happens the moment after that. And the day after that. And the week after that.
Elinor wants to tell Edward she loves him. She wants to do it more than anything, especially since she has reason to suspect he returns her feelings. But she also knows that whatever relief comes from telling him in the moment, the next day and the day after and the day after that are going to be painful for him and for her. She might cause Edward to break off his engagement to Lucy, which would financially ruin Lucy (remember, in those days a marriage was an economical decision as well as an emotional one), ruin Lucy's reputation, ruin Edward's, and probably cause resentment between all three in time. Elinor is aware of the consequences of her actions and the potential pitfalls in a way that Marianne isn't.
Elinor's just. She's so fucking responsible, and she's so fucking loving. She's the mom friend in your group who makes sure everyone has what they need and gets home safe at night. She's the friend who is always there to pick up the phone when you call. She's the friend who bails you out of jail, who holds your hair while you vomit your hangover into the toilet, and firmly but lovingly calls you out when you fuck up.
And she gets shit for it.
She gets her own sister calling her "cold" and "heartless." She's told she's "without feeling" by the person who should know her best. She sticks up for Marianne through all of Marianne's mistakes (that nearly ruin not only Marianne but their whole family). In the 21st century I'd say Marianne did the equivalent of nearly having an affair with her married boss. Sure, it wouldn't necessarily be Elinor's fault if Marianne had gone ahead and done it, but people would probably judge Elinor anyway (thinking Elinor was the same or Elinor should've stopped her) and at the very least would've gossiped about it in every room Elinor was in for the next decade.
And when Elinor finally has enough, and tells her sister this behavior isn't okay and she needs to fix it, Marianne tells her she thinks Elinor doesn't have a heart. Elinor who has spent the whole novel taking care of everyone except herself, Elinor who has been kind to people who don't deserve it (Lucy Steele, arguably Miss Jennings), Elinor who has been beating herself up constantly for not just any behavior that falls short of her own ideals for herself but for her very thoughts in her head.
Elinor is SO hard on herself guys, she's constantly berating herself. She calls it her "self-command" but really it's an endless litany of self-scrutiny where she more often than not finds herself coming up short, and criticizes herself as a result.
I can't stop thinking about the quote from the 1995 film, which was paraphrased from Ch. 37 in the novel. It's when Marianne tells her sister she's without feeling and is shocked that Elinor reveals how she's been grieving for months over her inability to marry the man she loves. In the book the quote goes,
"Then, if I had not been bound to silence, perhaps nothing could have kept me entirely--not even what I owed to my dearest friends--from openly shewing that I was very unhappy."
In the movie it became:
"Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you."
Elinor's hurting. She's hurting badly, she's actively in grief and she can't even talk about it with anyone because if she does, she's breaking someone's trust and confidence. Elinor is the friend who gets in trouble with her parents because she won't say where she was, since it'll reveal things about a friend she promised to keep secret. Elinor is the person who stays silent and lets people think the worst of her rather than badmouth someone. Her integrity, and her principle of honoring the feelings of others, means more to her than her own happiness, or even her own reputation.
I don't know, guys. I think we tend to value Marianne more, and behave more like Marianne - we value "sensibility." The person who shows the most emotion is the person whose opinion is most valuable. Especially in this age of social media where we're trained to bare it all, and the person who performs their hurt the best is the person whose pain is the most valid, I can't stop thinking about Elinor. Elinor's privacy, her sense of honor, and her selfessness are written off as coldness and a lack of caring, when the novel takes pains to show us she feels more than Marianne or anyone else in the story.
I just really love her, guys. I really love Elinor Dashwood, and I think she's a lot more relatable than many of us give her credit for being.
#mads rants#sorry I just had to word vomit this#so it could stop taking over my brain#I just have that one scene between Marianne and Elinor playing on a loop in my head#I'm not the best of Jane Austen scholars and this is just me yeeting my first draft into the void#so please keep that in mind#put behind a read more to spare your dashes
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Turns out that Sense and Sensibility and superheroes offers a lot of opportunities for thematic exploration, because there are a lot of paired characters whose perspectives parallel or contrast each other. And I do not want to write the story because nothing is settling into, you know, actual concrete details, and trying to do so would be complicated, but that's not going to stop me from making a post about all the potential themes in play here.
Self-expression vs. self-control. Marianne believes that to be their full selves, superhumans should be able to use their powers to the fullest possible extent. Elinor, who has actual hero experience, has seen that this belief leads people to go on supervillain sprees that hurt a lot of people, so she values control. As Elinor's powers are growing and she's getting into situations that spark wilder displays of power, she fears losing control, and that's secretly a big reason she steps aside from hero work. Marianne has to learn that controlling herself isn't repression, but being her fullest, mature self, while Elinor has to learn that hiding her talents isn't the answer, and she has to trust herself to use her powers to help other people.
The response to grief. If we imagine that Mr. Dashwood died in an accident or supervillain attack that the girls failed to prevent, it could explain why Marianne is so eager to get into superhero work. She couldn't save her father, so she wants to make sure that she never fails to save anyone again. It could also explain why Elinor draws into herself and wants to stay close to her family--she lost her father and doesn't want to lose any time with the rest of them/wants to protect them by staying close. Maybe she thinks that her hero work is what endangered her father. And both girls have to learn not to go to extremes in taking blame or responsibility upon themselves and figure out how to respond to their grief in a healthy way.
Glory-seeking heroism vs. humble goodness. Brandon abandoned a career as a beloved superhero in favor of a life of obscurity. Marianne can't see why he'd walk away from that, and much prefers Willoughby's flashier superheroics. But as Willoughby reveals his true colors, Marianne sees that he was never a hero--he just wanted glory for himself and doesn't care about how it hurts others. Which leads her to realize that a lot of her supposed drive to save others was actually seeking glory for herself, and that there are a lot of ways to do good that don't involve becoming a well-known superhero. And Brandon helping her during her final recovery helps her to understand that, and she settles into a quieter life using her powers in humbler but more effective ways.
Adding to the above theme: I had cast Edward Ferrars as coming from a Northanger superhuman family that scorns superheroics, but what if he comes from an established family of Netherfield superhumans? His mother wants him to become a famed superhero, living up to the family legacy, and he accommodates her, but he'd prefer living a humbler life doing good in quieter ways. Elinor, in her time as his superhero partner, largely supports that wish, but by the time their character arcs are complete, Elinor and Edward wind up being in more of an active superhero role than Marianne and Brandon are. They probably work with the Mansfield students most of the time, but also have public roles helping out as superheroes, though in a lower-key Highbury first-responder-rescue way.
Superhero as warrior vs. defender. Willoughby believes that a hero is someone who defeats the bad guys and Marianne agrees with this. But Willoughby is so concerned with winning a battle that he causes a lot of collateral damage. Brandon, with his greater experience, knows that a true hero's first priority is defending the innocent, and is willing to let a villain get away for the sake of rescuing civilians. And I'd like to just generally explore the idea that a person isn't a hero because they fight, but because they defend something worth defending, and then nurture growth in the community. Debunking the action-movie idea of heroism with the Tolkien-esque heroism of characters like, say, Faramir or Din Djarin.
#powers and prejudice#sense and sensibility#jane austen#jane austen superhero au#things i thought about while gardening yesterday#the weeds were pulled my skin was scorched and thematic binaries were explored
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Rewatched "Primum Non Nocere".
When do you think Serena finally saw Bernie as family?
(I think that when Serena finally change her priorities, she sees Bernie as family. but, where in the timeline it is? in your opinion)
Hi!! Okay, so we've spoken about this before a bit privately, and our thoughts kind of match up on this. But I'll tell the few people who will read this answer, shall I?
I'm pretty confident, in my own head, at least, that this only happens when Bernie is missing. It probably happened before that, subconsciously, when Serena couldn't go five minutes without asking Cam about his mother, but the moment it hits her is when she's declared MIA. All of her actions tell me this:
"We've not heard any more from the Army." - we is key here. It's probably subconscious. Serena's not been sleeping, she's still in a stage of hope. As soon as that soldier turns up, it's Serena's story just as much as Cam's. There's not even a question. Which, normally, if it's about your ex of a good six months... you'd be sad but you wouldn't be willing to throw yourself in front of a bus for them. Just me? And of course, the bus here is Alex.
Cam treats her like family. Forget about Serena seeing Bernie as family. The fact of the matter is, Cameron leans on her like a mother now. It's not a mentor relationship or a supportive boss. It's unspoken and maternal. The certainty with which it's all done (there's no awkwardness, no wondering ifs he should be this close to it all or step back etc) - this is only further expanded on as we go through the storyline. I mean, for goodness sake, Cam assumes Serena is going to have half of Bernie's ashes.
Another major thing is the way she grieves. Serena has grieved for friends and family alike. She's grieved for Arthur, for Raf, who were dear friends. One died rapidly when there was nothing she could do to help. The other died violently and suddenly in a senseless attack. Serena mourned them healthily, and despite beign distraught, was able to keep going.
The two family deaths she's gone through were Adrienne and Elinor. And for those, she fell apart. With her mother, she attempted to carry on at work, acted normally, did all the normal arrangements, got her cremated etc etc. And then she fell apart because suddenly her life without this woman marked a great change. She had to go to Paris for a long weekend to find herself. It was an overwhelming grief. The same with Elinor, as I'm sure we all know and don't need to rehash: she lost herself.
Now, if we compare her reactions, say: Arthur to Elinor? And then put Bernie's death on that scale? It's far closer to her reaction to Elinor. Family. I mean, it's not quite Elinor levels of grief, but it's bloody close. And even time off, or vocal confirmation of the love they had, from Alex... I think it still was a part of why she had to leave Holby. Bernie's not just someone she loved. It's constant. It's not changed by the break up or even by death.
Whereas, whilst you could call Edward her family, she probably doesn't consider him such because any love she had for him withered and died years ago. They had a child together, were married for decades, but as soon as that's gone... it's gone. Bernie's different. She's permanent in her heart, which isn't something Serena expected or foresaw. I don't know if I'm explaining that clearly, but... yeah. Bernie's become a part of her as a person, as surely as her mother and daughter were.
But why don't I think she thought of Bernie as family before then?
I think she wanted to. I think perhaps she even told herself that she did. But if Serena had truly thought of Bernie as family... she never would have broken up with her or let her go. We know Serena. We know the way she acts with her family is that she is loathe to let them go.
It's how she loves. She does it fiercely, and at a very close range. She cared for her mother on her own, and privately. She was very, very protective of Jason once she had him in her life. She tried to have that closeness with Elinor as well. With Greta and Guinevere, once accepted, she's the same: overbearing, interfering and very eager to show her love. If Bernie had ever had that, then Serena wouldn't have let her go, because there's a different bond with family and she has a different idea of it.
That's what we get when we see them return to our screen. Bernie is her family, her partner and her team. And eventually... her wife.
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Sense and Sensibility- Jean-Luc Picard x Fem!Reader
Plot {requested by @groovy-lady}: Oooh I’ve thought of another one: Jean-Luc and his wife (along with the rest of the Enterprise crew) getting stuck in a holodeck of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility!
Words: 1144
A/N: Listen, yes I could've done better but I needed to get it out. I just wasn't expecting to be bombarded with work as soon as I came back from spring break so I closed requests until things begin to calm down
You never understood why these situations always happened, but at least you were only stuck in the Holodeck and not a goddamn planet.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Beverly asked.
"It appears if we have to act out the scenario we are in before the Holodeck can let us out," Data stated.
"Great," you sighed. "I swear to God if this happens again I'm going to request shore leave for a month. I guess we have to choose who's who."
"Computer, what program is this?" Geordi asked.
"The program is Sense and Sensibility, a novel written by author Jane Austen-"
You groaned over the computer's voice. You just wanted to return to your quarters, and you were sure that everyone else was the same.
"Captain Picard is Edward Ferrars," the computer said, making everybody look at the captain whos uniform changed into an outfit from the 18th century.
"Lieutenant Commander Picard is Elinor Dashwood. Lieutenant Commander Data is Colonel Brandon, Counselor Troi is Margaret, Doctor Crusher is Mrs. Dashwood, and Lieutenant Yar is Marianne Dashwood."
You didn't pay attention to the computer listing who was who. You were too enthralled by watching everyone's uniform change into period appropriate clothing.
~
Jean-Luc went missing for some time now. The only thing that kept you distracted was the story you had to act out.
You were pulling weeds out of your little cottage garden while Tasha played the piano, Beverly was sitting next to you, working on a dress, and Deanna was playing in a tree.
Beverly noticed someone coming up the path. "Look, it's Colonel Brandon. Marianne!"
Everyone came to watch as the person continued to ride their horse up the dirt path towards the cottage.
"I don't think that's the Colonel," you stated while dusting your hands off your apron.
"It must be. He said that he would arrive today. You must play him your new song, Marianne."
Tasha and Beverly talked about something when Deanna let out a yell and almost fell out of her tree.
"Edward! It's Edward!"
You felt your heart in your throat as you looked at everyone. Beverly shot you a nervous look because she didn't know how you would react, especially after learning that he got married to Lucy.
"We must be calm," Beverly spoke before leading everyone inside. You all began to act busy and like you didn't care, but as you began to sew something, the thread and needle in your hand began to tremble. Whether it was from excitement, anger, or sadness you didn't know.
One of the maids walked in with Jean-Luc behind her. "Mr. Ferrars for you, ma'am."
Everyone looked over at him and noticed how white he looked. Like he was scared or nervous of something.
"Edward! What a pleasure," Beverly smiled.
"Mrs. Dashwood." A bow. "Miss Marianne." Another bow. "Margaret." Yet another bow. "Miss Dashwood."
Jean-Luc's look and bow lingered longer than the others. You only stared at your lap, not really knowing how to play this out. You knew Jean-Luc wouldn't go marry another woman, he was your husband after all, but your character was like that.
"I hope I find you all well."
"Thank you, Edward, we are doing very well," Tasha said, trying to break the tension in the room.
"We have been enjoying very fine weather," Deanna said, Tasha shooting her a glare. "What? We have been."
"Yes, the roads-the roads have been very dry." Jean-Luc nodded.
More silence and tension filled the room. Nobody knew what to do or what to say.
"May I wish you great joy, Edward," Beverly spoke up again, grabbing Jean-Luc's hand. He looked confused as she offered him a seat.
"I hope you have left Mrs. Ferrars well," Tasha said.
"Tolerably, thank you."
There was another pause. The silence was replaced by your heart thumping in your ears. You just wanted to be back in your quarters already.
"I-" Jean-Luc started but he quickly stopped, like someone who has forgotten his line.
"Is Mrs. Ferrars at the new parish?" Beverly asked.
Jean-Luc furrowed his brows in confusion. "No-my mother is in town."
"No, I mean Mrs. Edward Ferrars."
You felt Jean-Luc's gaze on you as his wife was brought up. You sat their calmly, but you felt tears beginning to well up in your eyes. It's an act, you reminded yourself. It's an act.
"Then you not yet heard. I think you mean my brother, you mean Mrs. Robert Ferrars?"
You finally looked at him and so did everyone else. He wasn't married? You still had a chance?
"Mrs. Robert Ferrars?"
You watched as Jean-Luc got up and walked over to the window. "I have received a letter from Miss Steele-Mrs. Ferrars, I mean- communicating about the transfer of her affection from me to my brother. They were much thrown together in London, I believe, and-and in my view of the change in my circumstances, I felt it only fair that Miss Steele be released from our engagement. They were married last week."
You rose up and walked over to him. "Then you are not married."
"No."
You let out a sob and quickly covered your face with your hands to muffle your sobs. Beverly took the other women outside and left you and Jean-Luc inside the cottage. He walked over to you.
"Elinor! I met Lucy when I was very young. Had I had an active profession, I should never have felt such an idle, foolish inclination. At Norland my behavior was very wrong. But I convinced myself you felt only friendship for me and it was my heart alone that I was risking."
Jean-Luc paused. You tried to wipe your tears away but they kept on coming. He cupped your face with his hands and wiped your tears away with his thumbs. "I've come with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is, and always will be, yours," Jean-Luc said.
You smiled through your tears. "Stupid romantic man."
~
You and Jean-Luc walked down the dirt path, deep in conversation about how the rumour was that you and Data were to be married.
"I shall not forget attempting to thank him for making it possible for me to marry the woman I did not love while convinced he had designs upon the woman I did-do-love."
You were too busy giggling about you and Data being married when you didn't realized that Jean-Luc had stop walking. He looked at you and he knew that he couldn't wait. He'd spent too long in this damned holodeck program.
"Would you-can you-excuse me-"
He quickly cupped your face and kissed you. You smiled into the kiss, missing the way his lips fitted yours. You heard the computer archway appear next to you and Jean-Luc pulled away.
"A few more minutes," you smiled before kissing him again.
#jean-luc picard#picard#star trek#star trek imagines#star trek tng#star trek the next generation#star trek tng imagines#jean-luc picard x reader#jean-luc picard imagine
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Hiii, I hope this haven't been asked before, but I've been reading Sense and Sensibility and there is a scene where Margaret tells Elinor that she has seen Willoughby cutting a strand of Marianne's hair and taking it with him, and for that she was sure they would get married soon. Why is that? I tried looking for it online but I couldnt find anything lol (btw sorry for my bad english)
I don't think this has been asked before! But here is a related question.
Hair jewelry was a common gift between lovers in the Regency era. You will notice that Edward later wears a hair ring made for him by Lucy. Here is a post about hair jewelry. The way Willoughby asked and then kissed the lock of hair is very intimate and implies that there is an understanding between the two of them.
When this is added to everything else:
When he was present she had no eyes for any one else. Every thing he did, was right. Every thing he said, was clever. If their evenings at the park were concluded with cards, he cheated himself and all the rest of the party to get her a good hand. If dancing formed the amusement of the night, they were partners for half the time; and when obliged to separate for a couple of dances, were careful to stand together and scarcely spoke a word to any body else. Such conduct made them of course most exceedingly laughed at; but ridicule could not shame, and seemed hardly to provoke them. (Ch 11)
it seems to confirm that Willoughby and Marianne were in fact engaged. If Willoughby was an honourable man, he ought to have honoured that expectation.
#sense and sensibility#willoughby#marianne dashwood#hair#question response#but instead he was a greedy jerk
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petition for a mashup of Elinor zooming her car away to hit Edward when he’s holding that bouquet flowers after stalking Serena at work
#Elinor mentioned for ts#i mainly just Edward to get hit by a car tbh#i don't actually care who's driving#anyone will do#also my boi buttons has arrived!!!#bless i love him so much#holby city
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Hi, so I read a post from the tirades blog arguing that zeki is not star crossed and nothing like Romeo Juliet. Since zeki get to live together for a long time, therefore it's nothing like r&j. I'm sorry I don't remember all the points.
I’m perhaps the wrong person to ask about the RxJ topic, gentle anon. I personally don’t think any of the pairings in VK truly fit the RxJ-style of star-crossed lovers. I’d recommend checking in with some of the other Zekis who have discussed this topic; quite a few of them have tackled the matter very eloquently in previous posts.
But, since you asked, I’ll address where I do stand on the topic. =)
To start with Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet are two people who actively want to be together who are held apart by their feuding families (external circumstances). Their tragedy is entirely external, it has nothing to do with their internal journeys. For this reason, neither Kaname/Yuuki nor Zero/Yuuki fit the RxJ trope, IMO. Both pairings in VK are predominantly forced to grapple with internal issues.
Here’s where I believe the two pairings of VK fall as far as classic comparisons go (potential spoilers for anyone who doesn’t know the plots of Hamlet and Sense and Sensibility lol):
Kaname and Yuuki are closer to Hamlet’s Hamlet and Ophelia than they are to Romeo and Juliet. Ophelia is drawn into Hamlet’s insanity, and Hamlet’s flaws deny him happiness with her. Both come to miserable ends. You can see this replicated fairly strongly in Yuuki and Kaname. Kaname is consumed with a vendetta from the past (and jealousy over Zero), which draws Yuuki into despair because of their betrothal. Kaname and Hamlet both take Yuuki’s/Ophelia’s innocence and abandon them in the end. Both women are driven to suicide. Fortunately for Yuuki, (unlike the tragic Ophelia), she has a champion to rescue her and give her a happier end.
Zero and Yuuki are closer to Sense and Sensibility’s Marianne and Colonel Brandon or Elinor and Edward, take your pick. With the Marianne/Colonel Brandon parallel, you have Marianne (Yuuki) spending most of the story in love with another man only to be abandoned by him and turning to Brandon (Zero) after she “comes to her senses,” which is fairly close to what I fondly call the “surface-level read” of VK. With the Elinor/Edward parallel, you have Elinor (Zero) falling in love with a compromised Edward (Yuuki) who is duty bound to a woman he promised to marry in his childhood and is unable to accept Elinor in spite of preferring her until the woman he was originally bound to releases him of his obligation. This variant is closer to the “subtext-level read” of VK.
As you can see above, Zeki’s larger romantic arc isn’t truly “tragic”–Yuuki has the opportunity to overcome her flaws in the Zeki arc, which usually leads to a happier conclusion. However, Zeki does require tragedy in general in order to come to the happy conclusion, which is why Zero and Yuuki still have “elements” of tragedy in their story in order to create “dramaz,” just like the two pairings from Sense and Sensibility.
Zeki does have some elements of “forbidden love,” but IMO these elements are downplayed in favor of the Kaname/Hamlet themes. Zeki is only tragic because of Kaname’s interference in the romance and because Zero and Yuuki make a big hairy deal out of their differing positions even when no one else who matters cares (unlike RxJ whose families cared a lot), whereas Kaname’s side of the story is legitimately a tragedy because of his fatal character flaws of arrogance, greed, and envy, much like Hamlet. Yuuki’s tragic story is aligned with Kaname’s because she is duty bound to him, thus she shares his fate. Zero is actually the person who rescues her from the Ophelia tragic fate, which puts Zero’s (and Zeki’s) narrative trajectory “outside” the bounds of tragedy. (This is ultimately why VKM, which is Zero-focused, will likely have a happier ending than VK.)
All this being said, you certainly don’t have to agree with me, and I’d encourage you to reach out to some of the other Zekis who have spoken about this topic if you’re still concerned. =) My personal opinion is just that Hino downplayed the tragic side of Zeki’s relationship (which was at its height in Night 46 and dropped soon after in favor of the Kaname tragic arc in Arc 2) and played up Kaname’s tragic trajectory instead. This alters my view of how important the star-crossed elements of Zeki actually are, and have caused me to seek a different answer for the narrative trajectories. =)
Thanks for dropping by, my friend!
#vampire knight#zeki#vk#yeah that's right zeki's from jane austen#because jane austen is the best of the best and who doesn't want an HEA for the best man in manga existence?
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E5. Right off the bat, Mrs. Ferrars is a huge bitch. Who cares which kid is taller? They're both growing so their current heights won't matter in about a month or two. Talking down to the young women like that is poor, poor manners on Mrs. F's part. Lady, the only reason anyone, and I do mean anyone, puts up with you is because of your money. If you were as poor as the Dashwood ladies, no one would give you the time of day.
Robert's a Karen. He takes after his mother. I'd feel sorry for Lucy but he's exactly what she deserves.
Lucy hanging on Mrs. Ferrars' every word like she's the Queen or something. Lucy, dear, do something about your nose -- it's awfully brown. Mrs. F is acting like she's interviewing governesses. Wow. No manners and no class either. It's amazing that no one has ever slapped this woman.
Lucy can't tell the difference between a genuine cough and covering a laugh with a cough. She's manipulative and conniving, but not very bright. It's quite a feat.
"Your brother's old wife." Old? Lucy, bite your fucking tongue, Fanny is probably in her late twenties, certainly not older than mid-thirties. Old, my ass.
Lucy saying she's to "look after" John and Fanny's kid. So she IS going to be a governess, just apparently an unpaid one? (Or maybe "au pair" is a better term here.) Lucy, open your damn eyes.
Ooo, Lucy's hinting that Mrs. F doesn't like Elinor and there's no hope for her. Bitch. You'd think she'd learn that you catch more flies with honey, but I guess she's emulating Mrs. F in all things.
Edward drops in, now he's facing the woman he loves and the woman he's engaged to. I'd feel sorry for you, dude, but you brought this on yourself.
I'm surprised Lucy isn't picking up on the UTTER DISDAIN Elinor feels for her and is barely disguising. But then, Lucy doesn't see below the surface of anyone.
"Some ladies do age quickly." Good God, you're hopeless, Lucy. Elinor is 19 and looks it. You are incapable of speaking about another woman, even ones who aren't your rivals, without insulting them, aren't you?
I'd wager that this Lucy is worse than all the versions that come after her. A truly unpleasant woman. Even when she's supposed to be friendly, she fails miserably.
She really doesn't get that Edward is inching away from her emotionally. Edward, just rip the bandage off, this is ridiculous.
Marianne has joined them. The actress is overenunciating every line. Honestly, I don't think she's a good actress. She's also deepened her voice to sound more serious or whatever but it just sounds fake.
Between Marianne staring him down and Lucy's simpering, I'm surprised Edward hasn't run yet. "I really must go." Ha! I knew it!
Lucy's ridiculously huge white muff and Marianne's ugly brown dress make me wonder what drugs the costume designer was on. Whatever they were, they weren't good enough.
"Goodbye, Edward." Elinor's treating him like one of the family instead of a suitor. She's truly given up.
"the lady of Henry Palmer, Esquire" Proof that whoever wrote this screenplay didn't pay close attention to the book -- that very line in the book has Mr. Palmer's first name as THOMAS, not Henry. WTF?
"Mrs. Jennings, a grandmother." Um, Fanny, Mrs. Jennings already has grandkids by her daughter Lady Middleton. Seriously, this screenwriter is full of shit.
Anne's as talkative as Charlotte and Mrs. Jennings but she needs to learn when to shut up.
Fanny's having the mother of all conniptions. She actually called the Steele girls sluts. That's definitely NOT in the book. I doubt Ms. Austen ever used that word. It existed in her time but she had more class than that. Somebody get me the screenwriter, I just want to talk. I definitely prefer Fanny '95's freak out over this woman's guttural screeching.
Marianne finally realizing what Elinor has been going through while she was too busy moaning about Willoughby. I hope this reality check hurts, girl. It's high time you realized the world does not revolve around you and your mood swings.
"Lucy does not want sense" Elinor, have you MET Lucy?
"You've made me hate myself forever." Finally, a fucking breakthrough. Shut up, Marianne.
Does John really think that just because he's married into the Ferrars family, that means his half-sisters have to kowtow to Mrs. F too? He's so full of shit and the girls call him on it, thankfully.
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Lady Susan Readthrough: Character Analysis, Lady Susan
Words like 'narcissist' and 'psychopath' get thrown around a lot when discussing characters, Lady Susan is the only Jane Austen character who might actually be one. She seems to be entirely void of guilt: specifically remorse for hurting other people. Lady Susan only regrets not winning and getting her way.
However, she does have attachments, which I think is important to point out because everyone is capable of love. Lady Susan is devoted to her friend, even forgiving her for the loss of Reginald. She is also clearly in love with Mr. Mainwaring, or lust; something. Now this is of course problematic because he's married, but she does have strong emotions, she's just entirely missing a moral compass and pity.
Lady Susan is adept at manipulation and very intelligent, the way we see her manipulate Reginald is masterful. Catherine, who is prejudiced against her (rightly) from the beginning, is amazed by how hard it is to believe what she knows to be true. We know from the letters that Lady Susan gets extremely angry during the book but she never lets it show without motive. She is an excellent liar and has very good self command.
Many of these traits are shared with one of Austen's later 'bad' women, Lucy Steele. Lucy is sugar and cream around Lady Middleton and Edward, but shows her true colours to Elinor. (Elinor, like Catherine, is able, even without forewarning, to see that Lucy's pandering is all a façade.) However, I would argue that Lady Susan's powers of persuasion are second to none, Lucy "seduced" a lonely and bored nineteen-year-old and later the very Sir James-esq Robert Ferrars. Lady Susan managed to seduce to proposal a man who had good information against her, and who from his style of writing is pretty intelligent (if passionate).
The one thing we don't see in Lucy Steele, and why I'm hesitant to call her a psychopath, is a complete lack of remorse and cruelty towards her own family. Lady Susan does not love or care for her daughter at all; she feels no guilt about forcing her to marry. Wickham might be the closest in that way to Lady Susan, never showing any remorse for his actions and behaving with that same ease of manner which disgusts both Elizabeth Bennet and Catherine Vernon.
One of the reasons I begrudgingly respect (to a point) both Lucy Steele and Lady Susan is because they are fighting a stupid system with the tools given to them, namely beauty, intelligence, and a complete lack of shame. I probably should feel less sorry for Lady Susan given that she is implied to have recklessly spent all her husband's (and maybe her own) money, but man she's fun! She is the ultimate Gaslight Girlboss. She's got three men wrapped around her finger simultaneously! But to the point, both of these women must marry, and I kind of admire them for trying for the very best deal they can get.
Whether Alicia is a double agent or not, Lady Susan's ultimate failure to capture Reginald is based on her own weakness, she can't get over Mainwaring. The master manipulator is defeated by her own feelings, as much as she despises the weakness of feeling in others. I really wish we knew more about Mainwaring because I want to know what makes him so awesome!
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I do have to apologize for this, but I just discovered your Powers and Prejudice AU. Now I can't stop imagining Colonel Brandon as a retired patriotic superhero, been off the scene for years but still very widely respected, Elinor Dashwood as ending a promising superhero career to take care of her family, and Marianne as wanting desperately to be a superhero but never getting the chance. So yeah, sorry.
Please don't apologize, because Sense and Sensibility is the Austen novel I'm having the most trouble fitting into this universe, so I'm thrilled that you have ideas. And they're great ones. If you don't mind, I'm going to riff on it and see how it fits within the Powers and Prejudice universe I've established so far.
I had toyed with making Elinor and Marianne normal people, making them more vulnerable in this world, less acceptable to the Northanger crowd Edward was born into, and setting them up for dramatic rescues by the various heroes of the novel. But really, if any Austen characters are going to have superpowers, it should be Elinor and Marianne. So thank you so much for figuring out a way they can be superheroes and still fit the S&S plot.
Elinor giving up a superhero career for her family is genius. As is Marianne losing the chance to start one. But the real stroke of brilliance is Brandon as retired superhero. It makes him seem old and decrepit to Marianne, even though there are tons of good reasons he'd give up the work relatively young. The Captain America vibes are intriguing. Fits well with his canon military service, and I have established that superhumans can get involved with the military. Perhaps he's the result of a supersoldier program meant to help regular people combat rogue superhumans? Though in that case I don't think he'd be beloved by the community--he wouldn't fit in with either side. Even if I can't work out the details yet, I still love the concept.
So, sketching out the plot. Elinor and family live in Netherfield and Elinor starts a promising superhero career, partnered with Edward. Edward keeps his superhero work secret from his Northanger family, who disapprove of superhero theatrics.
When Mr. Dashwood dies, the family is in financial straits, and superheroing doesn't pay the bills. Elinor gives up her career to support her mother and sisters as they move to Highbury--her mother's been offered a job with the Mansfield Institute--leaving Edward behind.
Mrs. Jennings introduces them to Brandon and makes a big deal out of knowing his secret identity, even though it hasn't really been secret in years. She urges Marianne--who's made it no secret that she's eager to try a bit of superheroing in Highbury--to be a sidekick to Brandon, using him as a mentor to learn the ropes. Marianne sees him as outdated and old-fashioned and wants to start out on her own.
A rescue attempt gone wrong leads to Marianne being rescued by another hero--the dashing Willoughby. They hit it off right away and Marianne joins him in some successful superheroing.
Elinor learns that Edward once attended Mansfield with Lucy Steele--he was a Northanger elite while she was a poor scholarship student--and she lured him into the type of troublesome superheroing typical of Mansfield students. She has since gotten into a bit of villainy since and needs Edward's help out of a tight spot, which soft-hearted Edward is eager to give, until he realizes the woman she's become is nothing like the girl he knew.
Willoughby, desperate for money, eventually betrays Marianne and turns to villainy. Brandon helps her bring him to justice and recover from the betrayal.
Involvement with Lucy betrays Edward's secret superhero identity to his family and/or gets him accused of Lucy's crimes. Thankfully, Elinor is able to uncover the truth and get him exonerated, but he's still cast out of his family.
Edward stays in Highbury with Elinor and they probably get involved with the school while Marianne and Brandon work together as a really effective superhero team.
It's a patchy outline (and really highlights the age difference between Brandon and Marianne, which could make difficulties for the romance plot), but it kind of holds up. I'm totally open to other ideas, though.
#powers and prejudice#jane austen superhero au#jane austen#sense and sensibility#answered asks#resistingtheborg
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