Indifference in
Sense and Sensibility
307
I. Introduction: Sensibility vs. Indifference
Ever since its publication on October 30th 1811, Jane
Austen’s novel
Sense and Sensibility
has concentrated the
attention of most literary critics on its title keywords. As early
as February 1812, an anonymous reviewer for the
Critical
Review
demonstrated the usefulness of sense and sensibility in
understanding this novel: “The characters of Elinor and
Marianne are very nicely contrasted; the former possessing
great good sense, with a
proper quantity of sensibility
; the
latter an equal share of the sense which renders her sister so
estimable, but blending it at the same time with an
immoderate
degree of sensibility which renders her unhappy on every
trifling occasion” (as cited in Southam, 1995: 35-36; original
emphasis). Another reviewer for the
British Critic
followed suit:
“The object of the work is to represent the effects on the
conduct of life, of discreet quiet good sense on the one hand,
and an overrefined and excessive susceptibility on the
other. . . . No less excellent is the picture of the young lady of
over exquisite sensibility, who falls immediately and violently
in love with a male coquet, without listening to the judicious
expostulations of her sensible sister” (as cited in Southam,
1995: 40). One of the greatest achievements of modern Austen
scholarship with regard to this novel lies in its consistent and
successful efforts to complicate the otherwise stark contrast
between sense and sensibility. Ian Watt, for instance, has
argued that in this novel “Jane Austen . . . brought off her
supreme coup as a matchmaker, and triumphantly introduced
Sense to Sensibility” (1963: 41-51). In his discussion of Colonel
Brandon, Richard Jenkyns writes: “It is worth stressing that so
early in the book there is a person identified as someone in
whom both sense and sensibility are combined” (2007: 189).
Despite their remarkable insight, Watt and Jenkyns recycle the
two key terms employed by their nineteenth century
