feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/gradesaver/Sense and Sensibility/section_2_part_8.txt
feat_book_id: Sense and Sensibility.chapter 28
feat_summary_id: chapter 28
feat_summary: {"name": "Chapter 28", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20210419170735/https://www.gradesaver.com/sense-and-sensibility/study-guide/summary-chapters-21-30", "summary": "Marianne and Elinor are obliged to accompany Lady Middleton to a party, though Marianne clearly has no heart for it. At the party, Elinor and Marianne see Willoughby; Marianne approaches him, although he turns and addresses Elinor instead, trying to avoid Marianne. Willoughby turns away from them abruptly when Marianne plies him with questions, and Marianne becomes faint and disturbed at this. Elinor takes her home, and is convinced that they must have been engaged, though Willoughby seems to have since discounted their relationship. Elinor is glad that at least she can continue to like Edward, although they cannot be together; Willoughby's conduct does not allow Marianne that luxury, and it will be hard for her to realize their relationship is finally over.", "analysis": "Elinor's prudence has triumphed over Marianne's passion, with grave consequences for Marianne; her very nature is offended by Willoughby's rejection, and her innocent hopes are also destroyed. It seems that there is no hope of Marianne and Willoughby getting back together after this incident, as Austen even describes it as an \"immediate and irreconcilable rupture. This asks the question, will Marianne find a new love for herself, and overcome her indulgent, romantic tendencies which will probably make her grieve over Willoughby for a long period to come"}
text: 
  
  Nothing occurred during the next three or four days, to make Elinor
  regret what she had done, in applying to her mother; for Willoughby
  neither came nor wrote.  They were engaged about the end of that time
  to attend Lady Middleton to a party, from which Mrs. Jennings was kept
  away by the indisposition of her youngest daughter; and for this party,
  Marianne, wholly dispirited, careless of her appearance, and seeming
  equally indifferent whether she went or staid, prepared, without one
  look of hope or one expression of pleasure.  She sat by the
  drawing-room fire after tea, till the moment of Lady Middleton's
  arrival, without once stirring from her seat, or altering her attitude,
  lost in her own thoughts, and insensible of her sister's presence; and
  when at last they were told that Lady Middleton waited for them at the
  door, she started as if she had forgotten that any one was expected.
  
  They arrived in due time at the place of destination, and as soon as
  the string of carriages before them would allow, alighted, ascended the
  stairs, heard their names announced from one landing-place to another
  in an audible voice, and entered a room splendidly lit up, quite full
  of company, and insufferably hot.  When they had paid their tribute of
  politeness by curtsying to the lady of the house, they were permitted
  to mingle in the crowd, and take their share of the heat and
  inconvenience, to which their arrival must necessarily add.  After some
  time spent in saying little or doing less, Lady Middleton sat down to
  Cassino, and as Marianne was not in spirits for moving about, she and
  Elinor luckily succeeding to chairs, placed themselves at no great
  distance from the table.
  
  They had not remained in this manner long, before Elinor perceived
  Willoughby, standing within a few yards of them, in earnest
  conversation with a very fashionable looking young woman.  She soon
  caught his eye, and he immediately bowed, but without attempting to
  speak to her, or to approach Marianne, though he could not but see her;
  and then continued his discourse with the same lady.  Elinor turned
  involuntarily to Marianne, to see whether it could be unobserved by
  her.  At that moment she first perceived him, and her whole countenance
  glowing with sudden delight, she would have moved towards him
  instantly, had not her sister caught hold of her.
  
  "Good heavens!" she exclaimed, "he is there--he is there--Oh! why does
  he not look at me? why cannot I speak to him?"
  
  "Pray, pray be composed," cried Elinor, "and do not betray what you
  feel to every body present.  Perhaps he has not observed you yet."
  
  This however was more than she could believe herself; and to be
  composed at such a moment was not only beyond the reach of Marianne, it
  was beyond her wish.  She sat in an agony of impatience which affected
  every feature.
  
  At last he turned round again, and regarded them both; she started up,
  and pronouncing his name in a tone of affection, held out her hand to
  him.  He approached, and addressing himself rather to Elinor than
  Marianne, as if wishing to avoid her eye, and determined not to observe
  her attitude, inquired in a hurried manner after Mrs. Dashwood, and
  asked how long they had been in town.  Elinor was robbed of all
  presence of mind by such an address, and was unable to say a word.  But
  the feelings of her sister were instantly expressed.  Her face was
  crimsoned over, and she exclaimed, in a voice of the greatest emotion,
  "Good God! Willoughby, what is the meaning of this?  Have you not
  received my letters?  Will you not shake hands with me?"
  
  He could not then avoid it, but her touch seemed painful to him, and he
  held her hand only for a moment.  During all this time he was evidently
  struggling for composure.  Elinor watched his countenance and saw its
  expression becoming more tranquil.  After a moment's pause, he spoke
  with calmness.
  
  "I did myself the honour of calling in Berkeley Street last Tuesday,
  and very much regretted that I was not fortunate enough to find
  yourselves and Mrs. Jennings at home.  My card was not lost, I hope."
  
  "But have you not received my notes?" cried Marianne in the wildest
  anxiety.  "Here is some mistake I am sure--some dreadful mistake.  What
  can be the meaning of it?  Tell me, Willoughby; for heaven's sake tell
  me, what is the matter?"
  
  He made no reply; his complexion changed and all his embarrassment
  returned; but as if, on catching the eye of the young lady with whom he
  had been previously talking, he felt the necessity of instant exertion,
  he recovered himself again, and after saying, "Yes, I had the pleasure
  of receiving the information of your arrival in town, which you were so
  good as to send me," turned hastily away with a slight bow and joined
  his friend.
  
  Marianne, now looking dreadfully white, and unable to stand, sunk into
  her chair, and Elinor, expecting every moment to see her faint, tried
  to screen her from the observation of others, while reviving her with
  lavender water.
  
  "Go to him, Elinor," she cried, as soon as she could speak, "and force
  him to come to me.  Tell him I must see him again--must speak to him
  instantly.-- I cannot rest--I shall not have a moment's peace till this
  is explained--some dreadful misapprehension or other.-- Oh go to him
  this moment."
  
  "How can that be done? No, my dearest Marianne, you must wait.  This is
  not the place for explanations.  Wait only till tomorrow."
  
  With difficulty however could she prevent her from following him
  herself; and to persuade her to check her agitation, to wait, at least,
  with the appearance of composure, till she might speak to him with more
  privacy and more effect, was impossible; for Marianne continued
  incessantly to give way in a low voice to the misery of her feelings,
  by exclamations of wretchedness.  In a short time Elinor saw Willoughby
  quit the room by the door towards the staircase, and telling Marianne
  that he was gone, urged the impossibility of speaking to him again that
  evening, as a fresh argument for her to be calm.  She instantly begged
  her sister would entreat Lady Middleton to take them home, as she was
  too miserable to stay a minute longer.
  
  Lady Middleton, though in the middle of a rubber, on being informed
  that Marianne was unwell, was too polite to object for a moment to her
  wish of going away, and making over her cards to a friend, they
  departed as soon the carriage could be found.  Scarcely a word was
  spoken during their return to Berkeley Street.  Marianne was in a
  silent agony, too much oppressed even for tears; but as Mrs. Jennings
  was luckily not come home, they could go directly to their own room,
  where hartshorn restored her a little to herself.  She was soon
  undressed and in bed, and as she seemed desirous of being alone, her
  sister then left her, and while she waited the return of Mrs. Jennings,
  had leisure enough for thinking over the past.
  
  That some kind of engagement had subsisted between Willoughby and
  Marianne she could not doubt, and that Willoughby was weary of it,
  seemed equally clear; for however Marianne might still feed her own
  wishes, SHE could not attribute such behaviour to mistake or
  misapprehension of any kind.  Nothing but a thorough change of
  sentiment could account for it.  Her indignation would have been still
  stronger than it was, had she not witnessed that embarrassment which
  seemed to speak a consciousness of his own misconduct, and prevented
  her from believing him so unprincipled as to have been sporting with
  the affections of her sister from the first, without any design that
  would bear investigation.  Absence might have weakened his regard, and
  convenience might have determined him to overcome it, but that such a
  regard had formerly existed she could not bring herself to doubt.
  
  As for Marianne, on the pangs which so unhappy a meeting must already
  have given her, and on those still more severe which might await her in
  its probable consequence, she could not reflect without the deepest
  concern.  Her own situation gained in the comparison; for while she
  could ESTEEM Edward as much as ever, however they might be divided in
  future, her mind might be always supported.  But every circumstance
  that could embitter such an evil seemed uniting to heighten the misery
  of Marianne in a final separation from Willoughby--in an immediate and
  irreconcilable rupture with him.
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Chapter 28
target: Marianne and Elinor are obliged to accompany Lady Middleton to a party, though Marianne clearly has no heart for it. At the party, Elinor and Marianne see Willoughby; Marianne approaches him, although he turns and addresses Elinor instead, trying to avoid Marianne. Willoughby turns away from them abruptly when Marianne plies him with questions, and Marianne becomes faint and disturbed at this. Elinor takes her home, and is convinced that they must have been engaged, though Willoughby seems to have since discounted their relationship. Elinor is glad that at least she can continue to like Edward, although they cannot be together; Willoughby's conduct does not allow Marianne that luxury, and it will be hard for her to realize their relationship is finally over.
feat_summary_analysis: Elinor's prudence has triumphed over Marianne's passion, with grave consequences for Marianne; her very nature is offended by Willoughby's rejection, and her innocent hopes are also destroyed. It seems that there is no hope of Marianne and Willoughby getting back together after this incident, as Austen even describes it as an "immediate and irreconcilable rupture. This asks the question, will Marianne find a new love for herself, and overcome her indulgent, romantic tendencies which will probably make her grieve over Willoughby for a long period to come