What happens in Chapter XLI of Sense and Sensibility?
The chapter opens with Edward happily making his way to Lucy at Bartlett's Buildings after thanking Colonel Brandon. Lucy, excited by the news, eagerly joins Mrs. Jennings in anticipating their move to Delaford Parsonage by Michaelmas. She admires Elinor's friendship while secretly planning to exploit Colonel Brandon's servants, carriage, cows, and poultry for her own benefit.
Elinor feels obligated to visit Mrs. John Dashwood on Berkeley Street, so she sets out alone—Marianne not only refuses to join her but also tries to convince Elinor to stay back, and Mrs. Jennings, despite offering her carriage to Elinor, dislikes Mrs. John Dashwood too much to accompany her. While Fanny is unavailable, John Dashwood encounters Elinor outside and takes her upstairs. He asks about Colonel Brandon's offer of the Delaford living, initially doubtful that it's a genuine gift rather than just a temporary arrangement. Elinor explains that she was the one who conveyed the offer. John then reveals that Mrs. Ferrars is unaware of this and should remain in the dark until after the marriage, adding that Robert is now being considered as a suitor for Miss Morton. He finishes by whispering to Elinor that Mrs. Ferrars, through her daughter, suggested that a connection with Elinor would have been far better than Edward's engagement to Lucy.
At this moment, Robert Ferrars arrives. He bursts out laughing at the idea of Edward as a country clergyman but then dramatically shifts to expressing sympathy for his brother, claiming he told his mother he would never see Edward again and insisting he could have stopped the match if he had known about it sooner. Finally, Mrs. John Dashwood enters, looking a bit bewildered but making an effort to be polite to Elinor.
Analysis
The chapter unfolds through three conversations, each revealing different aspects of self-deception and moral emptiness. In the opening about Lucy, there's an ironic twist: her enthusiastic gratitude toward Elinor and her "worship" of Colonel Brandon quickly lose their charm when the narrator reveals her secret plan to exploit his household. This highlights her calculated self-interest masked as warmth.
The dialogue with John Dashwood plays on dramatic irony. His financial viewpoint leads him to think that Edward is merely holding the living until the real heir, to whom Colonel Brandon has sold the presentation, is old enough to take it, prompting Elinor to correct him. His tone shifts from disbelief to condescension as he lectures Elinor on "human nature," all while displaying his own lack of insight. His whispered remark that Mrs. Ferrars would have preferred Elinor as a daughter-in-law seems kind but actually insults Elinor, reducing her to a mere commodity, placed below Lucy in the family hierarchy.
The scene with Robert Ferrars acts as the chapter's comic highlight. His laughter at the thought of Edward "reading prayers in a white surplice, and publishing the banns of marriage between John Smith and Mary Brown" is conveyed through free indirect style. Elinor's silent, fixed disdain is noted as a look that relieved her own feelings without revealing anything to him, capturing her self-control perfectly. His transition from mockery to sentimental pity with "Poor Edward!" highlights his vanity, as he continually returns to his own imagined heroism. The chapter concludes with Fanny's feeble attempt at cordiality, which Elinor observes with her usual sharp insight.
Key quotes from Chapter XLI
“It was a look, however, very well bestowed, for it relieved her own feelings, and gave no intelligence to him.”
The narrator describes Elinor's expression of contempt directed at Robert Ferrars as he laughs at Edward's situation.
“anxious that his tithes should be raised to the utmost; and secretly resolved to avail herself, at Delaford, as far as she possibly could, of his servants, his carriage, his cows, and his poultry.”
The narrator reveals Lucy's private intentions toward Colonel Brandon immediately after describing her outward gratitude and admiration for him.
“‘It would have been beyond comparison,’ she said, ‘the least evil of the two, and she would be glad to compound now for nothing worse.’”
John Dashwood whispers to Elinor, quoting what Fanny reported Mrs. Ferrars said about preferring a connection with Elinor over Edward's engagement to Lucy.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter XLI
- self-complacency
- A smug, self-satisfied pleasure in oneself and one's own behaviour, without awareness of or concern for how one appears to others.