Age
Marianne is 16 at the beginning of the novel, but 17 by the time she meets Brandon. We know she is 19 by the time she becomes Mistress of Delaford.
Family and Situation
Marianne Dashwood is the second daughter of Henry Dashwood by his second wife, Mrs. Dashwood. She is sister to Elinor and Margaret Dashwood and half-sister to John Dashwood, and thereby related to his wife Fanny and their son, Harry.
As a girl, Marianne would have moved with her family from Stanhill to Norland Park when her great uncle invited her father to come live at the estate he would one day inherit.
Marianne has ￡1,000 from her Uncle Dashwood, as a concession for being so entirely cut out of the Norland estate. Though her father had intended to provide for her, he had “only seven thousand pounds in his own disposal” and died before he could save more from the earnings of Norland Park.
Appearance
The narrator tells us that Marianne is “handsomer” that Elinor and that “Her form, though not so correct as her sister's, in having the advantage of height, was more striking; and her face was so lovely, that when in the common cant of praise, she was called a beautiful girl, truth was less violently outraged than usually happens. Her skin was very brown, but, from its transparency, her complexion was uncommonly brilliant; her features were all good; her smile was sweet and attractive; and in her eyes, which were very dark, there was a life, a spirit, an eagerness, which could hardly be seen without delight.”
Character
Marianne has a deeply Romantic character, making her the “Sensibility” of the title. From the first, the narrator identifies the strength of Marianne’s emotions as her most outstanding trait, saying “she was sensible and clever; but eager in everything: her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation. She was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent.” Elinor is also very clear on the consequences of this sensibility, saying “I should hardly call her a lively girl—she is very earnest, very eager in all she does—sometimes talks a great deal and always with animation—but she is not often really merry.” Brandon takes in these emotions with affection, comparing her to Eliza Williams and saying there was “a very strong resemblance between them, as well in mind as person. The same warmth of heart, the same eagerness of fancy and spirits.”
This intensity of feeling manifests several times as grief throughout the novel. Upon the death of Henry Dashwood, we are told Marianne and Mrs. Dashwood “encouraged each other...in the violence of their affliction. The agony of grief which overpowered them at first, was voluntarily renewed, was sought for, was created again and again. They gave themselves up wholly to their sorrow, seeking increase of wretchedness in every reflection that could afford it, and resolved against ever admitting consolation in future.” When Willoughby later breaks Marianne’s heart, she is bedridden and inconsolable for several days, ultimately making herself ill.
Marianne’s devotion to her emotions also manifests in tremendous impatience for prudence and social graces. The narrator says of her courtship with Willoughby “Marianne abhorred all concealment where no real disgrace could attend unreserve; and to aim at the restraint of sentiments which were not in themselves illaudable, appeared to her not merely an unnecessary effort, but a disgraceful subjection of reason to common-place and mistaken notions. Willoughby thought the same; and their behaviour at all times, was an illustration of their opinions.” Later on, Marianne is barely conscious at the range of social events she and Elinor attend after her heart has been broken while Elinor is making niceties. On another occasion, Lucy Steele calls Lady Middleton “sweet,” we’re told Marianne says nothing because “it was impossible for her to say what she did not feel, however trivial the occasion”
For a young woman, Marianne as very fixed ideas about what she wants in a lover. She insists that she would not be satisfied with someone who would admire her achievements both as a lover and a connoisseur and that she “could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both.” Later, Willoughby conforms to many of these specifications and we are told “the same books, the same passages were idolized by each,” though if there was any objection that “he acquiesced in all her decisions” and “caught all her enthusiasm.” Brandon and Elinor both seem to know that Marianne does not approve of second attachments and believes them impossible to exist, so it is likely she has aired this opinion publicly.
Habits and Accomplishments
Marianne is certainly of a musical nature. Her playing at Barton Park is one of the first moments when Brandon begins to fall for her. Though we can assume she plays with great emotion, the narrator only ever says about her talents that she “sang very well.” Even Edward jokes that if she had sufficient fortune “there would not be music enough in London to content her.”
We also know that Marianne is a greater reader and is thoroughly swept up in the Romantic movement. On more than one occasion, Cowper and Scott and mentioned as particular favorites and Elinor teases Marianne that Willoughby is suitable in her eyes in part because of “his admiring Pope no more than is proper.” Willoughby later gives her a horse named Queen Mab, which may signify a love of Shakespeare, but may also reflect the fairy’s later appearances in a range of 17th Century poetry (though Shelley would publish a poem featuring Mab, it would not debut until two years after Sense and Sensibility).
After her illness, Marianne finds solace in literature, ultimately reading for hours each day and borrowing books from Barton Park and, eventually, Delaford.
