Sense and Sensibility · Chapter
Chapter XVI explained
Marianne is deeply distressed after Willoughby's departure, spending days in grief, weeping, playing their songs, and reading their books.
What happens
Marianne is deeply distressed after Willoughby's departure, spending days in grief, weeping, playing their songs, and reading their books. Mrs. Dashwood and Elinor debate whether to ask Marianne about a possible engagement, but Mrs. Dashwood refuses to force her confidence. After a week, Marianne joins her sisters for a walk and mistakes a rider for Willoughby, only to discover it is Edward Ferrars. Edward visits Barton Cottage but behaves coldly and reservedly toward Elinor, disappointing Marianne, who contrasts his manners unfavorably with Willoughby's.
Themes in this chapter
Romantic Idealism vs. Reality
Marianne's intense grief and idealization of Willoughby contrast sharply with Edward's cold, unromantic behavior, highlighting the tension between romantic expectations and real human conduct.
Female Agency and Constraint
Elinor and Mrs. Dashwood debate whether to directly ask Marianne about her relationship, reflecting the limited agency women have in openly discussing romantic attachments.
Family and Sibling Bonds
Elinor's concern for Marianne and her efforts to draw her out of seclusion demonstrate the supportive yet constrained role of sisters in managing each other's emotional lives.
Characters to notice
- Marianne Dashwood
Grieves intensely after Willoughby's departure, spending nights weeping and days in melancholy; mistakes Edward Ferrars for Willoughby on the road.
- Elinor Dashwood
Urges her mother to ask Marianne about a possible engagement; tries to manage Marianne's seclusion and later feels mortified by Edward's coldness.
- Mrs. Dashwood
Refuses to question Marianne about Willoughby, citing romantic delicacy; tries to comfort Marianne but is also surprised by Willoughby's silence.
- Edward Ferrars
Visits Barton Cottage after a fortnight in Devonshire; behaves with coldness and reserve toward Elinor, disappointing both sisters.
- Sir John Middleton
Mentioned as fetching letters from the post and making witticisms that add to Marianne's pain.
- Mrs. Jennings
Mentioned as joining Sir John in witticisms that pain Marianne.
Key passages
“She played over every favourite song that she had been used to play to Willoughby, every air in which their voices had been oftenest joined, and sat at the instrument gazing on every line of music that he had written out for her, till her heart was so heavy that no farther sadness could be gained; and this nourishment of grief was every day applied.”
Marianne deliberately prolonged her sorrow by playing all the songs she and Willoughby had shared, staring at the music he had written for her, until she could feel no more—and she repeated this ritual daily.
Illustrates Marianne's romantic sensibility and her willful indulgence in grief.
“Elinor thought this generosity overstrained, considering her sister's youth, and urged the matter farther, but in vain; common sense, common care, common prudence, were all sunk in Mrs. Dashwood's romantic delicacy.”
Elinor believed her mother's refusal to question Marianne was excessive, given Marianne's youth, but Mrs. Dashwood's romantic notions overrode all practical concerns.
Highlights the contrast between Elinor's pragmatism and Mrs. Dashwood's romantic idealism.
“He was the only person in the world who could at that moment be forgiven for not being Willoughby; the only one who could have gained a smile from her; but she dispersed her tears to smile on him, and in her sister's happiness forgot for a time her own disappointment.”
Marianne could only forgive Edward for not being Willoughby because he was Elinor's love; she dried her tears to welcome him, momentarily setting aside her own heartbreak.
Shows Marianne's capacity for sisterly affection even in her deepest grief.
