Elinor's Sister Marianne Ferrar's Sense And Sensibility
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The next female antagonist belonging to the category of self-centred girls is Elinor’s sister Marianne Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. While the classification of Marianne as her sister’s antagonist might cause confusion or even objections/disapproval as she naturally loves her sister and encourages her potential relationship with Edward Ferrars (source?), she endangers nonetheless Elinor’s happy ending – albeit unknowingly and unintentionally. Marianne’s emotional nature provides the basis for this threat: her characterisation at the beginning of the novel/novel-initial presents her as “sensible and clever; but eager in every thing; her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation” (SS 8), and thereby foreshadows her incessant occupation with her feelings which is going to be her undoing in the course of Sense and Sensibility. This preoccupation with her emotions, in turn, is a sign of her self-centredness or even selfishness.
As Marianne is led by her emotions, she often speaks her mind openly without thinking and restraint, and thereby treads on the toes of others. However since she, according to Morgan’s suggestion, “[believes] her own forms of judgment and behaviour to be natural” (123) and claims herself that “for…show more content… Hardy criticises Marianne’s acceptance of the answer, which, in his mind, juxtaposes with her sensibility since she never questions his behaviour (cf. 28). However, her enquiry sets Elinor off thinking erroneously the ring to be made of her hair, when in fact it is Lucy’s, and raises false hopes for requited love (cf. SS 96), while Edward slowly distances herself from her as he is bound to his engagement (cf. ibid.