Jane Austen's books are too often reduced to simple two-sided issues and are often seen in a narrow and restrictive light. Rather than being a novel concerned primarily with romantic attachments or the close sisterly bond between Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, however, Austen's Sense and Sensibility can be read as a fiscally focused creation, driven primarily by an underlying interest in monetary affairs. This pecuniary understanding of the novel allows audiences to explore the complexity of issues related to inheritance, as well as the power dynamics that so fundamentally affected both men and women in Austen's time. While a more common reading of Sense and Sensibility focuses on the idea of female economics in the novel, it soon becomes clear that the question of male wealth also deserves closer examination. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The very first paragraph of Sense and Sensibility opens with the legal concerns of the Norland Park estate, effectively creating a vignette of a family in the midst of a severe economic crisis. It is precisely because of these convoluted legal issues that the younger members of Henry Dashwood's family - Marianne, Elinor, their sister and mother - are removed from their home and their sense of security. Essentially, the catalyst for the entire narrative comes from issues of money and inheritance. In turn, this draws attention to the fundamental importance of financial matters, not only in the novel itself, but in wider English society. The esteemed Jane Austen scholar Lore Segal argues that there is a more subtle and pronounced reason why Austen opens her novel with financial jargon. From the first line, she managed to “teach her readers about…the gentleman's relationship with his money: he must have inherited it, not earned it” (Segal 252). Although some readers may see the women in the novel as totally dependent on men for economic support, this understanding is too rudimentary and narrow. It is clear that the men of that society also had their own hardworking habits and unique vulnerabilities in fiscal situations. With this more multidimensional understanding, examining the richness of Sense and Sensibility becomes much more comprehensive and altogether complex. Segal writes that a gentleman's “politeness is measured by the chronological distance of his money from its origin in trade; if work has made it, he is not a gentleman" (253). Authoritative dictators such as these limited the number of perceived gentlemen. Any man who had to physically work for his earnings was not considered a gentleman in English society. Although one were to procure a large fortune, it would not be enough to earn respectability. This idea is only exacerbated by other crucial issues, such as the placement of the firstborn and second son in whichever family of lordly origin is ready to take over the estate family, so his brother must venture out in search of a career, both in the clergy and in the navy. This situation is complicated by the events of the novel, especially when Edward receives an ultimatum from his mother to find a richer and more successful wife of listening to his mother, he is deprived of all his wealth, thus highlighting the inherent vulnerability of his own position. Considered from a broader perspective, this vulnerability is also significant to issues related to male wealth. Edward is keenly "aware that there would be many difficulties in his way, if he wished to marry.
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