-
Title
-
Impertinent Curiosity
-
Description
-
Here we see Elinor walking from Barton Park to her cottage with Lucy Steele. Lucy Steele was a cousin of Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton’s mother. Lucy took a liking to Elinor, although Elinor was not very fond of her. On this walk, Lucy confided in Elinor that she was engaged to Mr. Edward Ferrars, and had been for a year. Elinor was taken aback by this news, because she believed that Edward Ferrars, the eldest son of a wealthy family, was going to propose to her. He was the brother of Elinor’s half-brother's wife, and during her time at Norland, he visited her frequently and showed her much attention. He even came to visit the Dashwoods at Barton Park for a week. Lucy told Elinor that he left her home to come visit Elinor. This scene occurs in chapter 22 as noted underneath the title of this image. The characters are shown in the traditional regency style, with Elinor and Lucy wearing the regency style dress with an empire waist. Their hair is worn tied up, as was tradition for women after their coming out before the queen, signaling her entrance into society. They both wear bonnets to protect their faces from the sun. These bonnets were popular during this period because going on walks was a common pastime, and the fashion was for young women to be quite pale, indicating that they did not have to do manual labour outside. The regency period dated to the early nineteenth century (1811-1820) when George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (r. 1820-1830), reigned as regent for his mentally ill father, King George III (r. 1760-1820). The regency period is associated with the rise of neoclassicism in art and fashion. The same image appears as an insert between pages 125 and 126 for the Dent 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1897 editions of Sense and Sensibility.
-
Image Creator
-
William Cubit Cooke (engraver)
-
Identifier
-
mta:25575
-
Source Name
-
Sense and Sensibility
-
Image
-
mta_25575_OBJ.png
mta_25575_OBJ.png