Sense And Sensibility Rhetorical Analysis

Sense and Sensibility is an 1811 Jane Austen novel about two sisters that are figuring their way through young adulthood. The purpose of the text is to criticize the choices and character traits of protagonists Marianne and Elinor, along with other characters. Throughout the novel, Austen uses very few rhetorical devices in the story, however the ones that are used generally strengthen the tone. These devices, irony and an objective point of view as a narrator, communicate a tone that is critical. This mostly comes into play when speaking on the characters. Austen primarily uses irony in the form of simple contradictions to demonstrate that they are unbalanced people. For example, the narrator says “she was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything buy prudent” (Austen, 8) about Marianne. While the first half of the sentence compliments the character, the second

However, both irony and an all-knowing perspective generate a critical tone that creates a relationship between the narrator and the reader. The irony paints the characters as favorable people, when they are indeed flawed. The omniscient point-of-view has the ability to expose the reader to these specific flaws and problems that the characters possess. Both of these are made evident when Austen says “The Miss Dashwoods had no greater reason to be dissatisfied with Mrs. Jennings’ style of living, and set of acquaintance, than with her behavior to themselves, which was invariably kind” (Austen, 148). The quote references to the two sisters being unappeased towards Mrs. Jennings’ treatment towards them and her lifestyle, although this goes unsaid and only the narrator has access to this information. All thing considered, Austen’s rhetoric in Sense and Sensibility contributes to a critical tone towards the characters through irony and