| Colonel Brandon | |
|---|---|
| Jane Austen character | |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | British Army colonel |
| Family | Deceased |
| Spouse | Marianne Dashwood |
| Relatives | Elder brother (deceased); Sister (in Avignon) |
| Home | Delaford |
| Nationality | British |
Colonel Brandon is a fictional character in Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility . A quiet and reserved man, he forms an attachment to the middle Dashwood sister, Marianne whom he eventually marries happily.
The younger son of a landed family in Dorsetshire, Brandon made a career in the army, until at the death of his brother he inherited Delaford. We are told that at that point the estate was encumbered by debt, but it appears that at the time of the book's action they had all been resolved: “His property here, his place, his house, - everything in such respectable and excellent condition!”. [1]
In terms of activities and life experience, Colonel Brandon is perhaps the most Byronic among Austen's leading men. [2] He attempts to elope with his teenage cousin Eliza for whom he has a passionate attachment; he has the mortification of seeing her married-off for mercenary reasons to his elder brother at their father's behest; he serves his country abroad and returns to rescue the dying Eliza from a debtors' prison; he raises her illegitimate daughter, and fights a duel with her seducer; and he forms a second, passionate attachment to another vibrant seventeen-year-old girl, Marianne. [3] His very name links him to the rake in Richardson's Pamela – Mr B. of Brandon Hall – and his experiences are in many ways a benign retelling (rescuer, not seducer) of the latter's life. [4]
In social life and in courtship, the Colonel may be considered an uninteresting character. Unlike the traditional romantic suitor, the Colonel is melancholy, taciturn, cancels expeditions, intrudes at inconvenient moments, and speaks only to Elinor, not to Marianne. [5] He is set up in opposition to John Willoughby – the latter having all the romantic trappings and ways of speaking, and marries for money; while the outwardly dull Colonel marries for love. [6] Despite this, critical dissatisfaction with the starkness of the typology, and with the book's outcome, is pervasive. [7] The Colonel seemed to lack appeal to the 20th-century reader, making his eventual success in wooing seem unlikely. [8] For a figure closer to Jane Austen's time like Henry Austin Dobson, however, the marriage was a mark of her realism: “Every one does not get a Bingley or a Darcy (with a park); but...not a few enthusiasts like Marianne decline at last upon middle-aged colonels with flannel waistcoats”. [9]
Some scholars have seen parallels between Colonel Brandon and Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India. Hastings had been rumoured to be the biological father of Eliza de Feuillide, who was Jane Austen's cousin. Linda Robinson Walker argues that Hastings "haunts Sense and Sensibility in the character of Colonel Brandon": both left for India at age seventeen; both may have had illegitimate daughters named Eliza; both participated in a duel. [10]
Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are implicit critiques of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her use of social commentary, realism, wit, and irony have earned her acclaim amongst critics and scholars.
Sense and Sensibility is the first novel by the English author Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; By A Lady appears on the title page where the author's name might have been. It tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne as they come of age. They have an older half-brother, John, and a younger sister, Margaret.
Sense and Sensibility is a 1995 period drama film directed by Ang Lee and based on Jane Austen's 1811 novel. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and stars as Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor's younger sister Marianne. The story follows the Dashwood sisters, members of a wealthy English family of landed gentry, as they must deal with circumstances of sudden destitution. They are forced to seek financial security through marriage. Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play their respective suitors.
Love and Freindship [sic] is a juvenile story by Jane Austen, dated 1790. While aged 11–18, Austen wrote her tales in three notebooks. These still exist, one in the Bodleian Library and the other two in the British Museum. They contain, among other works, Love and Freindship, written when she was 14, and The History of England, written at 15.
Elinor Dashwood is a fictional character and the protagonist of Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility.
Sense and Sensibility is the original soundtrack of the 1995 film of the same name starring Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet and Tom Wilkinson. The original score was composed by the Scottish composer Patrick Doyle, a friend of Thompson's who had worked with her on many previous films. Director Ang Lee tasked Doyle with creating a gentle score reflecting the emotional suppression of the society featured in the film. Doyle subsequently created a score which he described as "suppressed" with "occasional outbursts of emotion", in keeping with the film's storyline.
Sense and Sensibility is a 1981 BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's 1811 novel. The seven-part series was dramatised by Alexander Baron, and directed by Rodney Bennett. This adaptation omits the character of Margaret Dashwood, the younger sister of Elinor and Marianne. It has been remastered for release on DVD.
Anne Elliot is the protagonist of Jane Austen's sixth and last completed novel, Persuasion (1817).
Marianne Dashwood is a fictional character in Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. The 16-year-old second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood, she mostly embodies the "sensibility" of the title, as opposed to her elder sister Elinor's "sense".
George Knightley is a principal character depicted by Jane Austen in her novel Emma, published in 1815. He is a landowner and gentleman farmer, though "having little spare money". A lifetime friend of Emma's, though nearly seventeen years older than she, he is one of the only characters willing to correct her when he believes her to be doing wrong.
Edward Ferrars is a fictional character in Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. He is the elder of Fanny Dashwood's two brothers and forms an attachment to Elinor Dashwood.
John Willoughby is a fictional character in Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. He is described as being a handsome young man with a small estate, but has expectations of inheriting his aunt's large estate. He is in love with Marianne Dashwood, who is also a character in the novel.
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (2009) is a parody novel by Ben H. Winters, with Jane Austen credited as co-author. It is a mashup story containing elements from Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility and common tropes from sea monster stories. It is the thematic sequel to another 2009 novel from the same publisher called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It was first published by Quirk Books on September 15, 2009.
Jane Austen's (1775–1817) distinctive literary style relies on a combination of parody, burlesque, irony, free indirect speech and a degree of realism. She uses parody and burlesque for comic effect and to critique the portrayal of women in 18th-century sentimental and Gothic novels. Austen extends her critique by highlighting social hypocrisy through irony; she often creates an ironic tone through free indirect speech in which the thoughts and words of the characters mix with the voice of the narrator. The degree to which critics believe Austen's characters have psychological depth informs their views regarding her realism. While some scholars argue that Austen falls into a tradition of realism because of her finely executed portrayal of individual characters and her emphasis on "the everyday", others contend that her characters lack a depth of feeling compared with earlier works, and that this, combined with Austen's polemical tone, places her outside the realist tradition.
Georgian society in Jane Austen's novels is the ever-present background of her work, the world in which all her characters are set. Entirely situated during the reign of George III, the novels of Austen describe their characters' everyday lives, joys, sorrows, and loves, providing insight into the period.
Eliza Capot, Comtesse de Feuillide was the cousin, and later sister-in-law, of novelist Jane Austen. She is believed to have been the inspiration for a number of Austen's works, such as Love and Freindship, Henry and Eliza, and Lady Susan. She may have also been the model from whom the character of Mary Crawford from the novel Mansfield Park is derived.
Mr Henry Woodhouse is a central character in Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma and the father of the protagonist, Emma Woodhouse. He is a wealthy member of the English landed gentry who owns a large country estate.
Sense and Sensibility is a 2008 British television drama adaptation of Jane Austen's 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. The screenplay was written by Andrew Davies, who revealed that the aim of the series was to make viewers forget Ang Lee's 1995 film Sense and Sensibility. The series was "more overtly sexual" than previous Austen adaptations, and Davies included scenes featuring a seduction and a duel that were absent from the feature film but are suggested in Austen's book. Sense and Sensibility was directed by John Alexander and produced by Anne Pivcevic. Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield starred as Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, two sisters who go on "a voyage of burgeoning sexual and romantic discovery".
George Wickham is a fictional character created by Jane Austen who appears in her 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. George Wickham is introduced as a militia officer who has a shared history with Mr. Darcy. Wickham's charming demeanour and his story of being badly treated by Darcy attracts the sympathy of the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, to the point that she is warned by her aunt not to fall in love and marry him. It is revealed through the course of the story that George Wickham's true nature is that of a manipulative unprincipled layabout, a ne'er-do-well wastrel, compulsive liar and a degenerate, compulsive gambler, a seducer and a libertine, living the lifestyle of a rake. Lacking the finances to pay for his lifestyle, he gambles regularly and cons credit from tradesmen and shopkeepers and skips out on paying-up.
Mr Weston is a supporting character in Jane Austen's novel Emma, written in 1815. He marries the governess of the heroine, Emma Woodhouse, and it is the arrival of his son, Frank Churchill, in Highbury that sets the events of the plot in motion.
