Wealth, Class, and Greed Theme Analysis

Austen’s novel is a thorough portrait of English society, but only of a narrow slice of it—the privileged, wealthy upper class. All of the main characters in Sense and Sensibility are very well-off, but having plenty of money doesn’t seem to stop them from worrying about finances. They are generally very concerned with money, to the point of greed. The novel opens with the issue of the inheritance of Norland and questions of money, as Fanny persuades her husband John not to give any money to the Dashwood sisters, even though he can easily afford to. John wants to think of himself as generous to his family, but is easily persuaded by Fanny to keep his fortune to himself.

The novel’s wealthy characters have warped standards for what qualifies as a comfortable life. They worry over how many maids or servants one needs to live comfortably, for example, not considering whether their maids or servants themselves can live “comfortably”. For most of the novel’s characters, concerns of wealth, money, and socio-economic class trump love when it comes to the institution of marriage. Mrs. Ferrars does not care whether Edward (or, for that matter, Robert) loves Lucy. She only cares about her sons entering into marriages that will advance their family’s position in society. And Willoughby, despite his affections for Marianne, marries Miss Grey solely for money. Marianne and Elinor resist this greed and materialism to some extent, but not entirely. They are still concerned with the financial prospects of their respective husbands.

At the end of the novel, when Elinor ends up with Edward, the man she loves, their story is not completely concluded until they secure financial security through Mrs. Ferrars’ forgiveness of Edward. Even for this couple, money seems to be in some respects their ultimate, final concern. Perhaps the only character who really steps outside of the novel’s society of greed is Colonel Brandon. In the novel’s biggest gesture of generosity, he gives Edward the property of Delaford to live at. However, even this grand gesture is an act of generosity directed simply to an already privileged, wealthy individual. While Austen negatively depicts the extremes of greed that can be found in upper-class society, her characters never really get outside of their own limited social class and she does not go so far as to critique the wealthy society as a whole that almost exclusively populates her novel.