Age
We’re told that Marianne is so enthusiastic about her literary preferences with Willoughby “that any young man of five and twenty must have been insensible indeed, not to become an immediate convert to the excellence of such works, however disregarded before.” Therefore, we know he is 25 years old.
Family and Situation
We never hear mention of John Willoughby’s parents or siblings, though he seems to be financially independent, suggesting that his father, at least, is likely deceased. We do know his “cousin,” Mrs. Smith, lives at Allenham house and plans to leave him her fortune.
Willoughby has possession of Combe Magna, which, we are told, Sir John estimates at bringing in £600-700 per year, though Elinor feels “he lived at an expense to which that income could hardly be equal, and he had himself often complained of his poverty.” The house appears to be located in Somersetshire, near Cleveland House.
The consensus in Barton seems to be that Allenham, which Willoughby will one day inherit, will bring in about £2,000 per anum. As of the novel, he is invited there once each year as the guest of Mrs. Smith.
By the time the news gets out about Willoughby’s engagement to Miss Grey, everyone seems to have heard that he has considerable debt. Willoughby himself later confirms this, saying “My fortune was never large, and I had always been expensive, always in the habit of associating with people of better income than myself. Every year since my coming of age, or even before, I believe, had added to my debts; and though the death of my old cousin, Mrs. Smith, was to set me free; yet that event being uncertain, and possibly far distant, it had been for some time my intention to re-establish my circumstances by marrying a woman of fortune.”
At one point, Mrs. Palmer says that her husband will not call on Willoughby because “he is in the opposition, you know.” It is unclear from this statement whether Willoughby is actively involved in politics (which, if true, he never mentions himself) or if his opinions are simply known in the neighborhood.
Appearance
When we first meet Willoughby, he comes to Marianne’s rescue in the rain and is described as “A gentleman carrying a gun, with two pointers playing round him.” Within the same scene, we’re told his person is “uncommonly handsome.”
Marianne is instantly besotted, with the narrator telling us “His manly beauty and more than common gracefulness were instantly the theme of general admiration….His person and air were equal to what [Marianne’s] fancy had ever drawn for the hero of a favourite story; and in his carrying her into the house with so little previous formality, there was a rapidity of thought which particularly recommended the action to her. Every circumstance belonging to him was interesting. His name was good, his residence was in their favourite village, and she soon found out that of all manly dresses a shooting-jacket was the most becoming.”
Character
The general consensus in the neighborhood appears to be that Willoughby is good company; Sir John Middleton calls him “as good a kind of fellow as ever lived” and “a pleasant, good humoured fellow.” This initial impression is confirmed as he gets to know the ladies of Barton Cottage, with the narrator saying “Willoughby was a young man of good abilities, quick imagination, lively spirits, and open, affectionate manners. He was exactly formed to engage Marianne's heart, for with all this, he joined not only a captivating person, but a natural ardour of mind which was now roused and increased by the example of her own, and which recommended him to her affection beyond every thing else.”
Even after she has heard the truth, Elinor still considers Willoughby extremely charismatic, with the narrator telling us that after his version of events “She felt that his influence over her mind was heightened by circumstances which ought not in reason to have weight; by that person of uncommon attraction, that open, affectionate, and lively manner which it was no merit to possess...it was so, long, long before she could feel his influence less.”
We are led to believe that Willoughy has an active social life and somewhat wild lifestyle. Sir John mentions that “there is not a bolder rider in England.” and tells a story about a small dancing party at Barton Park last Christmas in which Willoughby “danced from eight o’clock till four, without once sitting down.” Later on, Sir John attempts to get Brandon to pursue the 10AM picnic, saying “Mr. Willoughby got up two hours before his usual time, on purpose to go to Whitwell,” suggesting that he typically rises quite late. Coupled with the quantity of debt that we know Willoughby ultimate racks up, we can guess that this traits hint at a life of some dissipation.
This trait brings with it a certain disregard for propriety. Elinor observes that, like her sister, he has “a propensity...of saying too much what he thought on every occasion, without attention to persons or circumstances” and that “In hastily forming and giving his opinion of other people, in sacrificing general politeness to the enjoyment of undivided attention where his heart was engaged, and in slighting too easily the forms of worldly propriety, he displayed a want of caution which Elinor could not approve, in spite of all that he and Marianne could say in its support.” Later on, we are told that “Marianne abhorred all concealment where no real disgrace could attend unreserve….Willoughby thought the same, and their behaviour at all times was an illustration of these opinions.”
As a result of these qualities, the romance with Marianne develops very quickly. The narrator says that they had many of the same tastes to begin with and that “if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of [Marianne’s] arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed.”
This joviality also has a darker side, most specifically manifest in Willoughby’s abandonment of Eliza Williams. Brandon feels that Willoughby would have carried on with Marianne whether or not he knew about the natural child because “he had already done that, which no man who CAN feel for another would do. He had left the girl whose youth and innocence he had seduced, in a situation of the utmost distress, with no creditable home, no help, no friends, ignorant of his address! He had left her, promising to return; he neither returned, nor wrote, nor relieved her…..His character is now before you; expensive, dissipated, and worse than both..”
Willoughby’s version of events softens the accusations somewhat, but still points to a central recklessness. He says “Careless of her happiness, thinking only of my own amusement, giving way to feelings which I had always been too much in the habit of indulging, I endeavoured, by every means in my power, to make myself pleasing to her, without any design of returning her affection.” However, he does go on to insist that he thought he had given Eliza his address and would never have left her pregnant and stranded if he had known.
After some consideration, Elinor believes that his character is marred by “the irreparable injury which too early an independence and its consequent habits of idleness, dissipation, and luxury, had made in the mind, the character, the happiness, of a man who, to every advantage of person and talents, united a disposition naturally open and honest, and a feeling, affectionate temper. The world had made him extravagant and vain—Extravagance and vanity had made him cold-hearted and selfish. Vanity, while seeking its own guilty triumph at the expense of another, had involved him in a real attachment, which extravagance, or at least its offspring, necessity, had required to be sacrificed. Each faulty propensity in leading him to evil, had led him likewise to punishment.”
Habits and Hobbies
Frequently, we are told that Willougby and Marianne have a common taste in art and literature, suggesting he has a strong Romantic streak. The narrator says “he read with all the sensibility and spirit which Edward had unfortunately wanted.”At one point, Elinor teases Marianne saying “You know what he thinks of Cowper and Scott; you are certain of his estimating their beauties as he ought, and you have received every assurance of his admiring Pope no more than is proper.” We also know that Willoughby names the horse he buys for Marianne Queen Mab, suggesting a likely affection for Shakespeare, though Mab was featured in other 17th century poems as well. In 1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley would publish a poem about Mab, but that would be two years after Austen wrote the novel.
The narrator tells us that “his musical talents were considerable” and that he sang together with Marianne.
From Sir John Middleton we learn that Willoughby has an appetite for sport which almost reaches his own. Sir John says he is “a very decent shot” and that he “has got the nicest little black bitch of a pointer I ever saw.” After Willoughby’s marriage, the narrator says that “in his breed of horses and dogs, and in sporting of every kind, he found no inconsiderable degree of domestic felicity.”
