Willoughby: Villain or Weakling?
Austen's (slightly) sympathetic rake
If you’re new to this Substack, one of the things I’m offering subscribers in 2023 is A Year with Jane. We’re reading through Austen’s six novels this year and Sense & Sensibility is our read for August and September.
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The Night Visitor
This week’s reading picks up with Willoughby unexpectedly showing up to explain his behavior to Elinor while Marianne fights off her almost fatal fever. It’s one of my favorite scenes and it’s such a shame that it’s not included in the best film adaptation but Dame Emma couldn’t fit in everything for the screenplay.
Even Elinor has some compassion for Willoughby, so I think we can allow ourselves to pity him, too. Despite his initial intentions of merely entertaining himself with Marianne’s affections, he does grow to love her. His regrets over Marianne are heavy and he has only himself to blame for his current disappointments.
Austen rarely presents us with characters that are wholly bad: malicious and conniving. Instead, she offers true-to-life people like Willoughby, encouraging us to see them as human beings while simultaneously highlighting the suffering they leave in their wake. Willoughby’s downfall and the pain he inflicts on others is not due to premeditated evil. Instead, his vice is a lack of self-control. This may not sound serious, but its consequences are terrible.
Willoughby has not made a habit of delaying gratification—instead he does whatever he thinks will bring him the most immediate pleasure. Although made happy by Marianne’s love, the prospect of poverty looms too large. He puts his own desires first, leaving her in misery to secure his own financial future. And of course, the loss of Mrs. Smith’s riches was due in the first place with his seduction of Eliza Williams, Colonel Brandon’s ward. This is his cruelest act. With no thought as to her future, reputation, or well-being, he seduces (and impregnates) a teenage girl. His own pleasure always dominates his actions.
In time, even Marianne is able to see that their marriage would have been an unhappy one. Is there any other kind of marriage to a selfish person so wrapped up in their own gratification?
“The whole of his behaviour,” replied Elinor, “from the beginning to the end of the affair, has been grounded on selfishness. It was selfishness which first made him sport with your affections; which afterwards, when his own were engaged, made him delay the confession of it, and which finally carried him from Barton. His own enjoyment, or his own ease, was in every particular, his ruling principle.”
Marianne finally comes to see this reality admitting, “My happiness never was his object.” This is such a red flag. I would not encourage anyone to marry someone more concerned about his own happiness than his spouse’s happiness. Without each spouse putting the other first, can a marriage be happy? Can it even be survivable?
Contrast Willoughby with Colonel Brandon who is solely concerned with Marianne’s happiness. If she could have been happy with Willoughby, Colonel Brandon would have bowed out forever—content to live with his own disappointment if only Marianne could thrive. Marianne is too immature to notice his value until after her illness.
There is a brilliant choice in the 1995 S&S to mirror the Willoughby rain rescue scene with Colonel Brandon carrying a collapsed Marianne back to Cleveland when she ventures out in the rain to see Combe Magna. This moment always impressed upon me that Colonel Brandon was the real version of the dashing fantasy of Willoughby. While Willoughby appears never to struggle to carry Marianne, Colonel Brandon looks exhausted when he finally carried her inside. His sacrifice has been heavy. His effort is real.
And I haven’t even had time to discuss Edward’s unexpected freedom! Or Lucy’s manipulations!
Discussion Question: Who do you think is the villain of this story? Who is the hero? And how does Willoughby compare to a villain like George Wickham?
(Chime in by replying to this post.)
Reading schedule:
August 5th:
Gather your books. There are many editions out there, so just grab what’s on your shelf or at the local library. And if you enjoy audiobooks, this is an excellent novel to enjoy with a great narrator. My favorite for this novel is Juliet Stevenson’s audiobook version. Grab Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life from Ave Maria Press (use STEWART20 for 20% off) or from Amazon.
If you didn’t start reading with us in January, you may want to catch up by reading the Introduction and Chapters 1-4 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life to set the stage.
Read by August 13th:
Chapters 1-11 of Sense & Sensibility
Read by August 20th:
Chapters 12-22 of Sense & Sensibility
Read by August 27th:
Chapters 23-29 of Sense & Sensibility
Read by September 3rd:
Chapters 30-36 of Sense & Sensibility
Read by September 10th:
Chapters 37-43 of Sense & Sensibility
Read by September 17th:
Chapters 44-50 of Sense & Sensibility
Read by September 24th:
Chapter 5 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life
Caveat:
On the reading schedule I have suggested reading the chapter about Sense & Sensibility after finishing the novel. This is because as a reader I hate spoilers. But if you’ve already read the novel or are familiar with the story and want a resource to help you dive deeper as you re-read it, feel free to read Chapter 5 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life first.
I’ll be sending out weekly reflections and discussion questions to consider as you read. If you want to read faster or slower, go for it. This is fun, not homework.
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Enjoy reading the next few chapters of Sense & Sensibility!
Haley
(Editor of Word on Fire Spark, Author, Former Podcaster)
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Maybe I need to work on my compassion, but I've never felt the remotest inclination to pity Willoughby. He's a jerk through and through, and he really doesn't even get what's coming to him. He ends up with the money and the estate he rode roughshod over everyone to get, and if he has a few regrets about it, big deal. Eliza's stuck with a ruined reputation and has to raise her child on her own in a time that was very unforgiving to that sort of indiscretion from a woman, and Marianne nearly dies of grief. So I'm not about to lose any sleep over the plight of the poor little rich boy who caused it all. :-)
I think Lucy is the real villain. She is purposefully cruel to Elinor, time and time again. Also the manipulation of both Edward and Robert. And her ceaseless flattery of anyone she thinks can help her get ahead.