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Brandon’s reserve, his unwillingness to showcase his affection
for Marianne as openly as Willoughby, does not indicate a
passionless character, as Brontë’s criticism of Austen would
have us believe. Rather, it is the result of having experienced
such passions. Brandon’s reserve does not annoy a spectator
capable of feeling, as Brontë suggests that it must. Instead,
romanticized by a secret history, it excites Elinor’s
“compassion.” Such is Elinor’s compassion for Brandon that,
for his own sake, she wishes that he carry his reserve even
further. Brandon has been showing little apparent affection for
Marianne. Elinor wishes that he has none: “she heartily wished
him indifferent.” While this short sentence implies that
forgetting is the best cure for unrequited love, it also
summarizes the affective texture of indifference. The absence
of feeling (“indifferent”) has a lot to do with the business of
the heart (“heartily”).
The affective implications of reserve can be explored
further in Elinor’s own experiences. Edward’s secret engage-
ment with Lucy Steele weighs on his mind and forestalls any
open expression of love for Elinor. He appears reserved when
he meets Elinor again after a brief separation: “On Edward’s
side, . . . there was a deficiency of all that a lover ought to look
and say on such an occasion. He . . . looked neither rapturous
nor gay, said little but what was forced from him by questions,
and distinguished Elinor by no mark of affection” (Austen,
2006: 100). This behavior nearly convinces Elinor of his utter
indifference to her: “the continuance of his preference seemed
very uncertain” (111). Elinor feels hurt as a result, but, unlike
Marianne who “exclaimed in a voice of the greatest emotion”
at Willoughby’s cold formality, she withholds her “greatest
emotion” and appears unconcerned about Edward’s
un-lover-like reticence (201). The passage describing Elinor’s
response deserves close attention:
His coldness and reserve mortified her severely; she
