Litterary context sense and sensibility

Austen’s work is hard to classify. It is a complex union of many literary genres, Or perhaps can be considered as a whole new one.

Austen started writing under the influence of gothic novels such as Ann Radcliff’s, The mysteries of Udolpho, But did not fully approve of this style. In fact She wrote Northanger abbey as  a parody and response to these elaborate tales of mystery, superstition and evil.  In stark contrast with other tales of her  time, She used the novel as something new where she described ordinary people during ordinary events in ordinary places. In her letters, Austen writes of her intention to continue to portray “domestic life in country villages” and by doing so, introduces something closer to real morality in describing the range of human relationships that we all were likely to encounter at the time. However to say that Austen is a realist isn’t quite the same thing as saying she describes  society as it really is. As some argue that her finely executed portrayal of individual characters and the emphasis she puts on the everyday events are sufficient to classify Austen’s work of realist ; others judge that her characters who lack depth of feeling (compared to earlier works), and the polemical tone are enough to disqualify her from this movement. For this reason the term of “social realism” is better adapted to her work or the term of “novel of manners”, a sub-genre of literary realism, that re-creates a social world, conveying with finely detailed observation, the customs, values and mores of a highly developed and complex society. Her novels are also romantic or sentimental novels. However, at the time, the word romantic didn’t have the same connotation as it does today and the literature of romanticism adopted many elements of the novel of sensibility including responsiveness to nature and belief in the wisdom of the heart and in the power of sympathy. It did not, however, assimilate the novel of sensibility’s characteristic optimism. Marianne’s character in Sense and Sensibility is an archetype of romanticism, but Austen’s main goal wasn’t to exploit the reader’s capacity for tenderness, compassion, or sympathy to a disproportionate degree but rather to depict and satirize the manners and affectations of a contemporary society, like a comedy of manners would. However, the plot of such a comedy, usually is concerned with an illicit love affair or similarly scandalous matters in a brittle atmosphere, witty dialogues and pungent commentary on human foibles, and therefore lack the seriousness of purpose in Austen’s works. Austen’s Satire and Irony often have a comic effect, but furthermore, are meant to expose the vices of her society and lead to the betterment of humanity. She understood the precarious economic position of women of her time, and knew that the arbitrary quality of property inheritance meant that marriage was, for them, the best way to achieve financial stability. So can we say Austen was a feminist ? Most critics agree the novels highlight how some female characters take charge of their own worlds while others are confined physically and spiritually. The evolution of the characters in sense and sensibility and other of Austen’s novels are a form of coming of age narrative: a genre that focuses on the growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood. In sense and sensibility, Marianne grows to be more like her sister by learning Sense, which brings her into adulthood.

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