Age
Based on various details about Edward’s past, we can work out that he is 23 at the beginning of the novel.
Family and Situation
Edward Ferrars is the son of the late Mr. Ferrars and Mrs. Ferrars, and the brother of Robert Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood. We know that he is older than Robert, but he is likely younger than Fanny, given how old her son is. Edward also has an uncle named Sir Robert who could be from either side of the family.
The narrator tells us “Edward Ferrars was the eldest son of a man who had died very rich...except a trifling sum, the whole of his fortune depended on the will of his mother.” Edward is set to inherit an endowment of ￡1,000 per anum, of which he is ultimately disinherited, settling instead for a church living of about ￡250. Lucy insists that he has an inheritance of ￡2,000 of his own, the interest of which would not get him very far.
Edward’s own diagnosis of his romance with Lucy Steele is that it stemmed from his “heavy misfortune” of having “no necessary business to engage [him], no profession to give [him] employment, or afford [him] any thing like independence.” Based on this description, it is likely that either there is no ancestral estate for him to occupy himself in managing or his father was living until fairly recently. Based on the terms of his inheritance, it seems likely the former is the case. In any case, Edward appears to be living with his mother in Park Street, London at the beginning of the novel.
Edward was educated for four years under a private tutor, Mr. Pratt, at Longstaple, near Plymouth, Devon on the advice of his uncle Sir Robert. At 18, Edward ended this tutoring and spent a year in idleness until being enrolled at Oxford. In that time, he visits Longstaple frequently and convinces himself to ask for the hand of his former tutor’s niece, Lucy Steele. Later on, he returns to Oxford to coordinate his ordination.
Appearance
We are led to believe that Edward is average-looking, but endearing in his mild-mannered humility. Elinor says of Edward “His abilities in every respect improve as much upon acquaintance as his manners and person. At first sight, his address is certainly not striking; and his person can hardly be called handsome, till the expression of his eyes, which are uncommonly good, and the general sweetness of his countenance, is perceived. At present, I know him so well, that I think him really handsome; or at least, almost so.”
Marianne echoes many of these sentiments at first, saying “his figure is not striking; it has none of that grace which I should expect in the man who could seriously attach my sister. His eyes want all that spirit, that fire, which at once announce virtue and intelligence.”
Character
From the first, Edward is described as a modest, endearing character. Though the narrator initially calls him “a gentleman-like and pleasing young man,” we are later told “Edward Ferrars was not recommended to [the Dashwood ladies’] good opinion by any peculiar graces of person or address. He was not handsome, and his manners required intimacy to make them pleasing. He was too diffident to do justice to himself; but when his natural shyness was overcome, his behaviour gave every indication of an open, affectionate heart. His understanding was good, and his education had given it solid improvement.” We are even told that Mrs. Dashwood is initially confused by Elinor’s interest in him because he seems shy and dull but that “Her manners were attaching, and soon banished his reserve. She speedily comprehended all his merits; the persuasion of his regard for Elinor perhaps assisted her penetration; but she really felt assured of his worth: and even that quietness of manner, which militated against all her established ideas of what a young man's address ought to be, was no longer uninteresting when she knew his heart to be warm and his temper affectionate.” Marianne expresses frustration with how sedate Edward is, citing his reading one evening particularly, but generally stating her wonder that his are the attentions of a lover.
We know that Edward’s humble aspirations in life are a disappointment to his mother and sister. Of his mother Elinor says “from Fanny’s occasional mention of her conduct and opinions, we have never been disposed to think her amiable...there would be many difficulties in his way, if he were to wish to marry a woman who had not either great fortune or high rank,” which is of course exactly what he wants to do, twice over. At another juncture, we hear that his mother wants to see him “distinguished” in some way with a preference for the army or the law, whereas Edward had interest in the church.
Instead, Edward is rather self-conscious and unsure of his own abilities, even saying at one point “I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my natural awkwardness. I have frequently thought that I must have been intended by nature to be fond of low company, I am so little at my ease among strangers of gentility!” This likely is a source of conflict with his mother; during the gap year he took between private tutoring and Oxford, he says that “my mother did not make my home in every respect comfortable,” and that he did not get along with many of the high society people he met. Perhaps as a result of this conflict, the whole family seems to be in agreement that Robert is his mother’s favorite.
Edward seems to have great loyalty and is more interested in the affections of those he cares about or has committed himself to than various fashions. Marianne notices that while he pays attention and praise to Elinor’s drawings “it is not the admiration of a person who can understand their worth...He admires as a lover, not as a connoisseur.” This trend is demonstrated in his loyalty to Lucy Steele, even after his mother disinherits him for his choice.
This tendency is apparent in more mundane matters as well. At one point, Elinor insists that “Because he believes many people pretend to more admiration of the beauties of nature than they really feel, and is disgusted with such pretensions, he affects greater indifference and less discrimination in viewing them himself than he possesses. He is fastidious and will have an affectation of his own.” Edward counters, saying “I like a fine prospect, but not on picturesque principles. I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees. I admire them much more if they are tall, straight, and flourishing. I do not like ruined, tattered cottages. I am not fond of nettles or thistles, or heath blossoms. I have more pleasure in a snug farm-house than a watch-tower—and a troop of tidy, happy villages please me better than the finest banditti in the world.”
Edward’s reading of his own scrapes is that they are the result of too much idleness in his situation and a source of frustration. At one point, he and Mrs. Dashwood are discussing this concern and he insists that his own sons “will be brought up...to be as unlike myself as is possible. In feeling, in action, in condition, in every thing.”
We are led to believe this trend is manifest in other contexts as well; when, at one point, Marianne states that Edward has no taste for drawing, Elinor says “I assure you he is by no means deficient in natural taste, though he has not had opportunities of improving it. Had he ever been in the way of learning, I think he would have drawn very well. He distrusts his own judgment in such matters so much, that he is always unwilling to give his opinion on any picture; but he has an innate propriety and simplicity of taste, which in general direct him perfectly right."
