Sense and Sensibility: Chapter 44 Summary & Analysis

Elinor was shocked and tried to walk away, but Willoughby asked her to listen to him for just ten minutes. He told her he had business with her, and she told him to be quick. Willoughby asked if Marianne had recovered and was relieved to learn she had. He told Elinor that he hoped to make her hate him less and get some forgiveness from Marianne.

Willoughby explained that when he first met the Dashwoods he had no intentions of finding a wife, but greatly enjoyed spending time with Marianne. “Careless of her happiness,” he thought only of his “amusement,” though he had no “design of returning her affection.”

Elinor asked Willoughby to stop, but he continued explaining his behavior. He said that his fortune was “never large,” so it would have been impossible for him to marry Marianne. He said that he behaved selfishly in leading Marianne on, but didn’t realize “the extent of the injury” because he did not “know what it was to love.”

Willoughby said that he became “sincerely fond” of Marianne. But then his aunt Mrs. Smith, from whom he had been expecting to inherit a fortune, was informed of his affair with Eliza (younger). Elinor said she knew about Eliza, but Willoughby said that she had heard a partial version of the story, and that he was not entirely to be blamed for what had happened. He said it wasn’t his intention to abandon Eliza, but he had forgotten to give her information to contact him.

Mrs. Smith disinherited Willoughby, and now his “affection for Marianne” was outweighed by his “dread of poverty.” He felt that he needed to find some way to become wealthy, and he knew that he had to leave Marianne. He said that he deeply regretted “the stupid, rascally folly of my own heart.”

In London, Willoughby was pained to receive Marianne’s letters. He watched Mrs. Jennings’ house and waited until Marianne was out of the house before visiting and leaving his card. He said that he often watched Elinor and Marianne and just barely avoided running into them around town. He said that he “was forced to play the happy lover to another woman,” even though he loved Marianne.

Willoughby enquired again about Marianne’s health, and then continued his story. Miss Grey had become suspicious of Willoughby’s affection for Marianne, and when he received Marianne’s letter after seeing her at the party, Miss Grey read it. Then, she dictated Willoughby’s reply to him and forced him to send it to Marianne. Willoughby called himself a fool and a scoundrel, but said that Miss Grey’s money “was necessary” to him.

Willoughby said that he and Miss Grey did not love each other. Elinor admitted that she regarded him as slightly less guilty now. He asked her to tell all this to Marianne, and Elinor agreed that she would. Elinor asked how Willoughby had heard of Marianne’s illness and he said that Sir John Middleton had told him, in London, that Marianne was dying.

Willoughby now prepared to leave, and Elinor “forgave, pitied, wished him well.” He said that for him “domestic happiness” was “out of the question,” and he was sad that Marianne was lost to him. He said that he dreaded the day that she would marry someone else, and then left.