There
are plenty of references to hunting in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. The obvious examples refer to the hunting of
animals, specifically to men hunting animals - but more subtle allusions are to
be found in John Willoughby’s pursuit of Marianne, and in Lucy Steele’s
relationships with Edward and Robert Ferrars. The hunt for a good marriage
partner was something that both men and women engaged in. The stakes were much
greater for women than for men – for a woman with no fortune, success in the
hunt represented her only chance at a good life. This was a serious game, with
a serious prize. A man could earn his own fortune if he had to, but it was much
more common to try to make a good match by finding a suitable target and aiming
to marry. As John Willoughby and Lucy Steele were well aware, success in the
hunt meant a rich spouse or a place in respectable society, and if you were lucky,
it could mean both.
Willoughby is first introduced to us as a
hunter - “a gentleman carrying a
gun, with two pointers playing around him” (33), (perhaps a foreshadowing of
the two ladies whose lives he will soon be playing with), described by John
Middleton as “a very decent shot”
(34). He is young and extremely handsome, he enjoys dancing and hunting, and he
has energy for both (35). Marianne could hardly help falling for him. It’s much
later that we come to realize he has been hunting for more than pheasant on the
hills near Barton Cottage. He wants the good life – fun, riches, the attention
of pretty girls – all of which he can get, if he plays the game to his own
advantage. The young Willoughby is just looking for a bit of diversion while he
spends a few weeks with his old aunt. In his confession to Elinor, he admits
that in the beginning he has no serious feelings for Marianne, and that his pursuit
of her is just a way of keeping himself entertained – “thinking only of [his]
own amusement…[he] endeavoured, by every means in [his] power, to make
[himself] pleasing to her, without any design of returning her affection” (227).
He behaves like a predator out to make a conquest, and Marianne represents an
attractive catch.
She’s a charming piece of prey for John Willoughby - he
really has no intention of keeping her, though. Willoughby’s true hunt is for
fortune. For this prize he is willing to sacrifice all else, including
integrity, conscience, and real love. Later on, when we hear his confession, it
becomes clear that winning does not always feel like the best outcome. Willoughby
wins a rich wife. As he says himself, “her money was necessary to me” (233). But
he is in anguish because of it - “With my head and my heart full of your
sister, I was forced to play the happy lover to another woman” (232). The game
he plays is a dangerous one, with not only Marianne’s heart at stake, but his
own too. However, in the end Willoughby gets what he was after in the first
place – a rich wife and a place in respectable society – so for him, the hunt is
a success.
As for Lucy and Elinor, like all young
ladies of their time, both know how important it is to find a husband, and each
for their own reasons has settled on Edward as their potential mate. While love
is not necessarily a requirement in marriage, we know that Elinor’s feelings
for Edward are true, and are based on real admiration and affection. She tells
Marianne that her feelings for him are “stronger than [she has] declared” (18),
and we know that when she is alone, her mind wanders to Edward all the time
(77). We only have Lucy’s word for the state of her relationship with Edward,
but she wastes no time in letting Elinor know - “eyeing her attentively” as she
speaks (93) - that it is a very deep and longstanding one, and that it will not
easily be broken (94). Lucy suspects that Elinor is competition to be knocked
out, and she watches her closely to see whether her strikes are hitting their
mark. When Elinor asks if her engagement is to Robert Ferrars, Lucy “fixing her
eyes upon Elinor”, replies that no, she’s not engaged to Robert, but to Edward
(94). Elinor quickly realizes that this is the first move in a very tricky game
that Lucy is playing with her, and reluctant as she is to be involved in this
game, she will not allow Lucy to beat her. In her conversations with Lucy on
the topic of Edward, she focuses herself “to speak cautiously” and “with a
calmness of manner” (94), and is “careful in guarding her countenance from
every expression that could give her words a suspicious tendency”(105). Elinor
knows that Lucy is marking her territory, and she knows it’s in her own
interest to hide her true feelings and just let Lucy share whatever details she
wants to share. It may be painful to hear these things, but at least she’s no
longer in the dark about what’s going on in Edward’s life, and about his plans
for marriage. For Elinor to have a chance in this game, she needs as much
information as she can get.
As a player, Elinor is really not up to
Lucy’s standards, but she has some good tools in her kit. She has self-control
in abundance, which is very useful. She keeps her thoughts to herself, limiting
Lucy’s ability to do her harm. Every so often she just has to say something –
when Lucy is gushing about the constancy of Edward’s affections, Elinor remarks
that it is a good thing they can count on each other’s constancy, as a four
year engagement could quite naturally lead to waning affections – but she keeps
such a calm countenance that Lucy can’t tell whether or not the remark is a barbed
one (105). Her good judgment
allows her to see through Lucy’s act early on, and to realize that Lucy has an
angle - she just doesn’t figure out exactly what that angle is until Lucy
marries the money. Lucy is no fool, though, and although she can’t be
completely sure, she suspects that Elinor is onto her. When she tells Elinor
that for Edward’s sake she would not have him lose his fortune just to marry
her, and Elinor replies “for your own sake too, or are you carrying your
disinterestedness beyond reason?” Lucy doesn’t say a word, but looks at Elinor
again, and is silent (106). Moments later, when Mrs.Jennings, makes the
throwaway remark that Lucy “is such a sly little creature”, it seems perfectly
fitting. But Elinor plays fair - she never reveals Lucy’s secret even though
she could ruin all her plans very easily. And she is not ruthless in the hunt.
She gives up on Edward as soon as she finds out about his engagement. Even
though she still carries a tiny hope that something will happen to prevent his
marriage to Lucy, she does nothing to sabotage their relationship, and even
finds herself having to deliver news of a gift that will make their marriage
more likely (204).
Lucy has a poor hand, but she plays it
well. What Elinor does not realize is that she and Lucy are not playing the
same game. They’re not actually after the same prey at all. Lucy is not hunting
Edward - she is hunting a good marriage. She wants to climb the social ladder,
and the only way she can do it is to marry well. She needs access to a good
potential mate and, in order to assure herself this access, she needs to curry
favor with those who have more money and higher social status than she does
herself. She knows what it takes to worm her way into the favors of Lady
Middleton, Fanny Dashwood and Mrs. Ferrars. Flattery and submissiveness gets
her closer to these women than her social rank alone could have. In her pursuit
of a better life, she is dedicated and patient. To gain Lady Middleton’s good
grace, she shows “excessive affection and endurance …towards her offspring”
(88), and is “in continual raptures, extolling their beauty, courting their
notice, and humouring all their whims”(88), while also being in constant
“admiration of whatever her ladyship [is] doing”(88). She flatters and
manipulates those around her to her own advantage, and eventually all the
flattery and insincerity pays off. The people she wants to win over end up
accepting her - “her respectful humility, assiduous attentions, and endless
flatteries, as soon as the smallest opening was given for their
exercise…re-established [them] completely in her favour”(266) and in the case
of Mrs.Ferrars, she even manages to become a “favourite child” (267).
And she is a ruthless huntress. In her
pursuit of fortune and high status, Lucy keeps hold of Edward to ensure a
foothold in higher circles than her own, and when he’s no longer of any use she
doesn’t hesitate to move on and leave him behind. “Lucy’s behaviour…[is]…a most
encouraging instance of what an earnest, and unceasing attention to
self-interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in
securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time
and conscience” (266). In Lucy’s eyes, Edward has become the booby prize – with
no fortune, no goodwill from his mother, and a medium ranking social position,
why would she want him when her goal was always to marry money and climb as
high up the social ladder as she could? Once she realizes that there is another
option – Robert, the brother with the fortune – she begins the process of
manipulation and seduction, and after some weeks of effort she ends up snaring
him. And totally unaware that he has been hunted and captured in this manner,
Robert is “proud of his conquest” (266).
So Elinor gets Edward in the end - but she
only wins him because Lucy discards him. Elinor wins her own game, though, because
she gets Edward without resorting to underhanded tactics – she has not given up
her principles on her way to victory. This is important to Elinor, as evidenced
by her reaction when she finds out that Lucy’s sister has told her information
that she had no right to hear (192). Lucy has no such scruples. She has her eye
firmly fixed on the prize, which is no longer marriage to Edward, but to his
rich brother Robert. Through cunning, flattery, determination and ruthless
ambition, Lucy manages to pull off what seems like an impossible feat.
Ultimately, what Lucy has been hunting is a better life. Like Willoughby, she
marries into a fortune and a place in society, which is all she really wanted
in the first place – so for her, too, the hunt has been a success. So in the end, Lucy and Elinor, the “two
fair rivals” both win (104). They are just playing different games.
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