Though Jane Austen’s novels are generally filled with humor, in Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion she includes pivotal moments in which important characters have near-death experiences. Sense and Sensibility’s Marianne, still in a lamentful mood over Willoughby’s inconstancy, wanders in the “most distant parts” of the Palmers’ grounds at Cleveland, which are filled with “something more of wildness than in the rest, where the trees were the oldest, and the grass was the longest and wettest” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 286). These walks make Marianne so sick that she nearly dies (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 285-295). Louisa, in Persuasion, also experiences a life endangering threat, though in the form of a physical injury. Deciding to jump down from the Cobb with Wentworth’s help (101-102), Louisa “was too precipitate by half a second … and was taken up lifeless,” with a face that “was like death” (Austen, Persuasion 102). Though these life threatening experiences result from different circumstances, they highlight the attitudes and behavior of the men with whom the women are romantically involved. For the young women who suffer the near brushes with death, their own values and characters undergo changes.
When Marianne falls deathly ill, Willoughby’s response is to reemerge before the Dashwood sisters and offer an explanation for his behavior. In fact, his reappearance in the first place suggests a continued disregard for others. For his own intense desire to offer an explanation, he has little consideration for the inappropriateness of his sudden appearance, evident from how it makes Elinor “‘[start] back with a look of horror’” and attempt to leave the room (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 296). He does not seem to have thought at all about how his explanation might further add to Elinor’s concerns, when she is already worried enough about Marianne. There is no hint that he has thought about how his sudden arrival might further emotionally distress Marianne, who is already near-death, and contribute to her deterioration, should she learn of it.
Though Willoughby entreats Elinor to “‘tell [Marianne] that my heart was never inconstant to her … that at this moment she is dearer to me than ever’” (307), and appears distressed about Marianne “dying—and dying too believing [him] the greatest villain upon earth, scorning, hating me in her latest moments,” his love for her, regardless of how deep he believes it to be, is not unselfish (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 308). He admits to Elinor that he lives “‘in dread of’” Marianne’s “‘marriage’” and how “‘she will be gained by some one else’” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 309). Though, as Elinor accurately says to Willoughby, “‘[Marianne] can never be more lost to you than she is now,’” he cannot let go of Marianne for her own good (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 309). He cannot, with complete goodwill, accept the marriage of his beloved, should she recover, with someone other than himself, even if it would potentially result in long lasting happiness for her. Even as she is dying, what he considers first is his own feelings and enduring attachment, despite already slighting her affections before. As Elinor later says to Marianne about Willoughby’s behavior, “‘he regrets what he had done. And why does he regret it?—Because he finds it has not answered towards himself’” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 327). On what seems to be Marianne’s deathbed, what Willougbhby still thinks about foremost is his own sufferings and wishes, which makes him completely incompatible with Marianne, though he may still love her.
Brandon’s behavior during Marianne’s near-death illness greatly contrasts with that of Willoughby. Unlike Willoughby, who distresses Elinor and gives her more problems to think about, Brandon provides “The comfort of a friend … a companion whose judgement would guide, whose attendance must relieve, and whose friendship might soothe her” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 291). While Willoughby’s actions may potentially result in more trouble for the Dashwood sisters, Brandon’s behavior is practical and helpful and reduces the stress of the moment. For Marianne, who has already cried out for her mother, asking “‘Is mamma coming?’” (290), Brandon “acted with all the firmness of a collected mind, made every necessary arrangement with the utmost dispatch, and calculated with exactness the time in which [Elinor] might look for his return” with Mrs. Dashwood (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 291). His practicality reunites the dying Marianne with her beloved mother, and is therefore a source of emotional comfort. Though Brandon, according to Mrs. Dashwood’s account of her conversation with him while going to Marianne, has “‘earnest, tender, constant, affection for Marianne’” and “‘has loved her … ever since the first moment of seeing her,’” he is not afraid to leave her temporarily, even if his first impulse may be to stay by her side, if doing so will be more beneficial to her emotional welfare by bringing to her her mother (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 314). Marianne’s happiness, especially on what initially appears to her deathbed, is more important than constantly being with her. In contrast, Willoughby is unable to let go of Marianne and dreads her future marriage to another man, though it is no longer possible for him to be with her, and the marriage might bring her happiness. While Brandon’s actions alone do not bring Marianne back from the brink of death, his ability to be practically helpful and a genuine source of comfort make him a suitable match for Marianne.
Brandon’s response to Marianne’s near-death experience actually shares some similarities with Benwick’s response to Louisa’s life-threatening injury. Benwick’s actions are practical and helpful to Louisa’s wellbeing in the moment of the emergency. Soon after Louisa’s fall, Benwick helps to catch Henrietta, who “lost her senses too” in response to her sister’s accident, rubs Louisa’s hands and temples in accordance with Anne’s instructions, and, also following Anne’s words, gives Louisa salts (Austen, Persuasion 102). At Anne’s request, he “was off for the town with the utmost rapidity” to find a surgeon (Austen, Persuasion 102-103). Following the decision to have Louisa remain with the Harvilles, Benwick remains a source of comfort and “was most considerately attentive to her,” which makes Anne “[feel] an increasing degree of good-will towards him,” similar to the gratefulness Elinor feels for Brandon’s decisiveness and concern for Marianne (Austen, Persuasion 107). Like Brandon while Marianne lies dying from her illness, Benwick acts quickly to best promote Louisa’s comfort and wellbeing when she suffers from her near-death injury.
Additionally, both Brandon and Benwick reactions and caring concern during Marianne’s and Louisa’s near-death experiences possibly stem from regrets relating to a lost first love. After Brandon has returned with Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor observes his “melancholy eye and varying complexion as he looked at her sister, brought back by that resemblance between Marianne and Eliza already acknowledged, and now strengthened by” Marianne’s sickly demeanor “and the warm acknowledgement of peculiar obligation (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 317). This observation suggests that Brandon’s response to Marianne’s near-death experience is the result of, in addition to his love for her, regrets he still has regarding his deceased first love, Eliza, whom Marianne resembles. His attempts to promote Marianne’s comfort and wellbeing to the utmost as she lies dying are likely his way of making up for the regrets he has towards Eliza, who, unlike Marianne, does not survive her illness.
In Benwick’s case, many of his friends react with bewilderment towards how quickly he seems to have moved on from Fanny Harville, despite having “‘a heart pierced, wounded, almost broken’” from her death (Austen, Persuasion 173). As Wentworth says to Anne, “‘A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman!—He ought not—he does not’” (Austen, Persuasion 173). None of the characters seem to consider that, like Brandon, Benwick perhaps sees some kind of resemblance between the situations of Fanny and Louisa and that his engagement with Louisa is the result of his attempts to make up for the regrets he holds for Fanny. Part of the reason why Benwick is so heartbroken about Fanny’s death is that “She had died the preceding summer, while he was at sea” (Austen, Persuasion 90). Benwick had not gotten the chance to be near Fanny and comfort her while she was dying, a regret he possibly got the chance to make up for during Louisa’s recovery following her near-death injury. As Anne reasons about Benwick’s love for Louisa, “They had been thrown together several weeks; they had been living in the same small family party; since Henrietta’s coming away, they must have been depending almost entirely on each other” (Austen, Persuasion 152). Their being “thrown together” and “depending almost entirely on each other” allows Benwick to comfort and remain close to Louisa while she recovers from her life-threatening injury, which perhaps helps him let go of the regret he feels for not having been near Fanny while she died. Like with Brandon, Benwick’s behavior towards Louisa while she recovers from her near-death experience is a way to redeem various regrets he has regarding the loss of his first love.
For Louisa, Benwick balances out her personal characteristics that contributed to her near-death experience in the first place. Early in Persuasion, the narrator describes Louisa and her sister as young ladies who were “living to be fashionable, happy, and merry” (Austen 39). This characterization suggests Louisa’s tendency to live enthusiastically for the joys of the moment, without sitting down for moments of serious contemplation. Louisa’s fall from the Cobb, which nearly costs her her life, is also partly the result of her chasing after the enjoyment of the present without consideration for dangerous consequences. What motivates her to jump from the Cobb is her memory of jumping from the stiles on her walks with Wentworth and the momentary thrill of the action, in which “the sensation was delightful to her” (Austen, Persuasion 101). This momentary thrill causes her to completely disregard Wentworth’s prudent advice against her jumping from the Cobb a second time: “he reasoned and talked in vain” but cannot prevent her from the declaration, “‘I am determined I will’” (Austen, Persuasion 102).
Unlike Louisa, who shows an inability to sit down in sober contemplation, Benwick, like a melancholic poet, engages in excessive contemplation. He is the “of the sort which must suffer heavily, uniting very strong feelings with quiet, serious, and retiring manners, and a decided taste for reading, and sedentary pursuits” (Austen, Persuasion 152). Anne’s characterization of Benwick further emphasizes Benwick’s appearance as the moody, melancholic poet, prone to deep and heavy thought: “He was shy, and disposed to abstraction” (93) and “repeated, with such tremulous feeling the various lines which imaged a broken heart, or a mind destroyed by wretchedness” (Austen, Persuasion 94). Benwick’s characterization as the quiet, dejected individual with a tendency toward deep and serious contemplation is opposite that of Louisa as eager and enthusiastic while seeking for entertainment in the moment, an incongruity that Anne muses after learning of their engagement. She initially believes “The high-spirited, joyous talking Louisa Musgrove, and the dejected, thinking, feeling, reading Captain Benwick, seemed each of them every thing that would not suit the other” (Austen, Persuasion 157).
However, each of them gains what the other lacks through the engagement that occurs largely as a result of spending time with each other after Louisa’s near brush with death. Anne predicts that “[Benwick] would gain cheerfulness, and [Louisa] would learn to be an enthusiast for Scott and Lord Byron; nay, that was probably learnt already” (Austen, Persuasion 157). She finds amusement in “Louisa Musgrove turned into a person of literary taste, and sentimental reflection” (Austen, Persuasion 157). Louisa will become more capable of calm, serious reflection under the influence of the literary-minded Benwick, which she lacked before her fall on the Cobb and close relationship with Benwick. From Louisa, Benwick also gains the “cheerfulness” (157), which Anne fails to inspire in him beforehand by “[recommending] a larger allowance of prose” including “works of our best moralists,” “collections of the finest letters,” and “memoirs of characters of worth and suffering,” all “to rouse and fortify the mind by the highest precepts, and the strongest examples of moral and religious endurances” (Austen, Persuasion 94). While Benwick shakes his head and “[declares] his little faith in the efficacy of any books on grief like his,” his engagement to and love for Louisa, made possible by her near-death experience, rouses him from his state of melancholy, partly self-enforced by his indulgence in poetry (Austen, Persuasion 94). Therefore, Benwick and Louisa, by supplying the other with the characteristics that each, as an individual lacks, demonstrate their compatibility for marriage with each other. Like how Marianne’s life-threatening illness and Brandon’s actions in response to it suggests their future happy marriage, Louisa’s accident on the Cobb brings her together with Benwick in a case where opposites attract and make up for each others’ deficiencies.
Through her near-death experience, Marianne, like Louisa, learns to balance the excesses in her character that contributed to the experience in the first place. However, while Louisa, before her injury, is excessively fond of finding enjoyment in the moment, Marianne is the opposite. Before her illness, Marianne is in a state of extremely melancholic contemplation, like Benwick, over the loss of her love. Like Benwick who even purposely indulges his grief with poetry before his engagement to Louisa, Marianne, just prior to her dangerous illness, with “an heart swelling with emotion from the consciousness of being only eighty miles from, Barton, and not thirty from Combe Magna,” Willoughby’s property (283), “rejoiced in tears of agony to be at Cleveland” and “[feels] all the happy privilege of country liberty, of wandering from place to place in free and luxurious solitude” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 284). Marianne uses her solitary contemplations during her walks about the natural grounds of Cleveland to sink deeper into her sadness much like how Benwick’s poetry further impresses upon him his sorrow. Only after Marianne experiences her near-death illness does she begin to regulate her excessive sentiment.
However, this regulation does not result from her engagement or pairing with another character, who balances out her tendency towards melancholia, like in the case of Louisa and Benwick. Rather, Marianne’s decision to exert herself is from her own reasoning while lying on what initially seems to be her deathbed. As she says afterward to Elinor, “‘My illness has made me think—It has given me leisure and calmness for serious recollection’” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 322). She herself realizes that she had indulged too much in her grief over Willoughby’s abandonment, that “‘[her] own feelings had prepared [her] suffering, and that [her] want of fortitude under them had almost led [her] to the grave’” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 322). Marianne’s life-threatening illness, rather than attaching herself to another individual, such as Brandon, who will balance out her excessive sentiment, leads to her own self reflection. Nonetheless, like Louisa and Benwick who have each other to balance out the excesses in each others’ characters, Marianne also finds a kind of balance, resolving to essentially follow what is Anne’s advice to Benwick regarding Fanny: the remembrance of Willoughby “‘shall be regulated, it shall be checked by religion, by reason, by constant employment’” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 323).Soon after renewing her friendship with Mrs. Smith, Anne speaks to her about the experience of women who attend those who are ill or dying. Anne is impressed with “‘What instances must pass before them of ardent, disinterested, self-denying attachment, of heroism, fortitude, patience, resignation—of all the conflicts and all the sacrifices that ennoble us most’” (Austen, Persuasion 146). With this long list of virtuous characteristics, she emphasizes the potential for noble behavior in the face of illness and death. On the same topic, Mrs. Smith responds, “‘Here and there, human nature may be great in times of trial, but generally speaking it is weakness that appears in a sick chamber; it is selfishness and impatience rather than generosity and fortitude, that one hears of’” (Austen, Persuasion 147). Mrs. Smith admits that while attending to a deathbed may reveal human virtue, it also reveals the less flattering parts of human nature. Austen, in her depiction of near-death experiences in Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion explores both Anne’s and Mrs. Smith’s views of the same topic. She writes about the “selfishness and impatience” of characters like Willoughby when facing the death of those they claim to love, but she also focuses on the “self-denying attachment,” “heroism,” and “fortitude” of characters like Brandon and Benwick in doing what they can to comfort those whom they love. Austen also emphasizes the importance of near-death experiences in causing the characters in her stories, such as Marianne and Lousia, to reconsider their own values, to gain the characteristics that will lead to balance and happiness, which they lacked before. As Anne says, “‘A sick chamber may often furnish the worth of volumes’” (Austen, Persuasion 146).
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Persuasion. Penguin Books, 1998.
Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. Penguin Books, 1995.
Isabella Zhou 
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