“It would be an excellent match, for he was rich, and she was handsome. . . . she was always anxious to get a good husband for every pretty girl.”
busybody Mrs. Jennings on why she thinks Marianne and Colonel Brandon should get together
Sense & Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 8
Filed under Beauty, Col. Brandon, Marianne, Marriage, Money, Money and Marriage, Mrs. Jennings, Sense and Sensibility, Wealth
” . . . that Marianne found her own happiness in forming [Col. Brandon’s] was equally the persuasion and delight of each observing friend. Marianne could never love by halves; and her whole heart became, in time, as much devoted to her husband as it had once been to Willoughby.”
Sense & Sensibility, volume 3, chapter 14
Filed under Col. Brandon, Happiness, Love, Marianne, Marriage, Sense and Sensibility
“Marianne Dashwood was born to an extraordinary fate. She was born to discover the falsehood of her own opinions, and to counteract by her conduct her most favorite maxims. She was born to overcome an affection formed so late in life as at seventeen, and with no sentiment superior to strong esteem and lively friendship, voluntarily to give her hand to another-and that other, a man who had suffered no less than herself under the event of a former attachment, whom, two years before, she had considered too old to be married, and who still sought the constitutional safeguard of a flannel waistcoat!”
Sense & Sensibility, volume 3, chapter 14
More on Marianne and Colonel Brandon in an article I wrote in response to Lori Gottlieb: Would Jane Austen Settle? (I think not, but I also think she would challenge our definition of love.)
Filed under Col. Brandon, Love, Marianne, Marriage, Sense and Sensibility
“…he long thought of Colonel Brandon with envy and of Marianne with regret. But that he was forever inconsolable, that he fled from society, or contracted an habitual gloom of temper, or died of a broken heart, must not be depended on; for he did neither. He lived to exert, and frequently to enjoy himself. His wife was not always out of humour, nor his home always uncomfortable; and in his breed of horses and dogs, and in sporting of every kind, he found no inconsiderable degree of domestic felicity.”
Sense & Sensibility, volume 3, chapter 14
Filed under Col. Brandon, Happiness, Marianne, Sense and Sensibility, Willoughby
“’Colonel Brandon is certainly younger than Mrs. Jennings, but he is old enough to be my father; and if he were ever animated enough to be in love, must have long outlived every sensation of the kind. It is too ridiculous! When is a man to be safe from such wit if age and infirmity will not protect him?’”
Marianne again on Colonel Brandon’s advanced age of thirty-five, reflecting o n his “advanced years and on his forlorn condition of an old bachelor”
Sense & Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 8
I think I could put up with Colonel Brandon’s age and infirmity.
I didn’t get to see S&S last night. Between puppy-sitting this weekend, and a deadline this morning (which I missed - ack!), my weekend went by too fast. Hoping to watch it tonight. Did you love it — hate it? I did catch the very beginning today over lunch, and thought the opening scene would be a bit confusing if you didn’t know the story and already know who that was.
Filed under Aging, Col. Brandon, Love, Marianne, Sense and Sensibility, Singleness
“’Brandon is just the kind of man,’ said Willoughby one day when they were talking of him together, ‘whom everybody speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to.’”
Sense & Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 10
Then again, Willoughby is the kind of boy who gets girls pregnant and leaves them to fend for themselves, disgraced and alone in the world.
David Morissey as Colonel Brandon. ©BBC 2007 for Masterpiece™
Filed under Col. Brandon, Men, Popularity, Sense and Sensibility, Willoughby
“’My protégé, as you call him, is a sensible man; and sense will always have attractions for me. Yes, Marianne, even in a man between thirty and forty. He has seen a great deal of the world; has been abroad; has read, and has a thinking mind. . . . I can only pronounce him to be a sensible man, well-bred, well informed, of gentle address, and I believe possessing an amiable heart.’”
Elinor comes to Colonel Brandon’s defense with Marianne and Willoughby
Sense & Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 10
Comments Off on Sense will always have attractions
Filed under Col. Brandon, Elinor, Marianne, Men, On being a gentleman, Sense and Sensibility
“Colonel Brandon . . . was silent and grave. His appearance however was not unpleasing, in spite of his being in the opinion of Marianne and Margaret an absolute old bachelor, for he was on the wrong side of five and thirty; but though his face was not handsome, his countenance was sensible, and his address was particularly gentlemanlike.”
Sense & Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 7
Oh, that there were more bachelors of five and thirty with a sensible countenance and gentlemanly spirit. (I suspect that still sounds very old to some of my readers, but I am determined to believe it is not.)
Filed under Character description, Col. Brandon, Men, Sense and Sensibility
The Jane Austen Guide to Life: Thoughtful Lessons for the Modern Woman (May, 2012)
A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith