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Writer's picturedawsonchrisann

Sneaking a Peek at Sense & Sensibility Entry 47

People: Lady Middleton, Elinor and Marianne

Text: As Lady Palmer had given birth to a baby boy, Mrs. Jennings was at her house every day assisting her daughter with whatever she needed to recover. But Mrs. Jennings did not want to leave the Dashwood sisters alone, something that they would have preferred. She insisted that each day, Elinor and Marianne spend the majority of each day with Sir John and Lady Middleton and their guests, the Steele sisters.

               Neither Lady Middleton nor the Steele sisters appreciated this arrangement.

               Their hours were therefore made over to Lady Middleton and the two Miss Steeles, by whom their company was in fact as little valued as it was professedly sought.

               Elinor and Marianne had too much sense to be desirable companions to the former; and by the latter they were considered with a jealousy, as intruding on their ground, and sharing the kindness which they wanted to monopolize. Though nothing could be more polite than Lady Middleton’s behavior to Elinor and Marianne, she did not really like them at all. Because they neither flattered herself nor her children, she could not believe them good-natured; and because they were fond of reading, she fancied them satirical: perhaps without exactly knowing what it was to be satirical; but that did not signify.

               Their presence was a restraint both on her and on Lucy. It checked the idleness of one and the busyness of the other. Lady Middleton was ashamed of doing nothing before them. Only the older Miss Steele was the least discomposed of the three. But she more than once dropped a reflection of the inconstancy of beaux before Marianne; no effect was produced, but a look of indifference from the former, or a look of disgust from the latter.

               All these jealousies and discontents however, were so totally unsuspected by Mrs. Jennings, that she thought it a delightful thing for the girls to be together.

Emotion: Self interest

Insight: 1 Corinthians 13: 4,5 says of genuine love, “Love is…not arrogant or rude…is not irritable or resentful.”

 

               The state of the relationship between Lady Middleton and the Steele sisters and the Dashwood sisters was far from loving. Lady Middleton did not like Elinor and Marianne because they did not fawn over her or her children. She also thought that they read too much. And the Steele sisters were resentful and envious. Having to spend hours each day in such company was difficult for the Dashwood sisters, who totally felt the lack of love and would have appreciated being alone, at least for their mornings.

               May we practice being truly loving. Not critical like Lady Middleton. Not jealous or resentful like the Steele sisters. Let us embrace the ability to be genuinely loving and tolerant of those different from us in personality and temperament. Being loving and tolerant is not always easy, but it can be practiced so that it becomes easier over time.



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