Doubt thou the stars are fire - in honor of Sense & Sensibility

[kellyrfineman]

Tomorrow marks the start of daily(ish) posts about Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. During the course of the novel, Austen makes a number of unattributed allusions to the works of Shakespeare, including what some see as references or parallels to King Lear and Measure for Measure. She also makes one explicit reference to Shakespeare in Volume

Comments

[liz_scanlon]

Moving forward in my Kelly Fineman led PhD in Shakespeare. Wahoo!

[kellyrfineman]

You are too, too funny.

[melted_rachel]

I loved this post and loved that Austen used it - poor Marianne getting rained on (if she does in the book - because I have no idea! I guess I will find out very soon!) at least she didn't drown (as far as I know from the film!). I don't know Hamlet very well - I ought to pick it up and read it again - especially after enjoying Eyes Like Stars so much.

[kellyrfineman]

Hamlet is fabulous. I have quite a number of posts about that play, since it's one of my very favorites. And I'm sososo glad you liked Eyes Like Stars. The sequel, Perchance to Dream, is as good or better!

Poor Marianne indeed. The film version of Marianne's falling ill is far more dramatic than that in the book, and the 2008 BBC version borrowed from Emma Thompson's film to give us the yummy David Morrissey dashing about in the rain - although for my money, I still prefer the staggering and kneebuckling of Alan Rickman. *swoons in either case*

[melted_rachel]

I'll brush up on Hamlet after S&S then, I think! (expecially the David Tennant version heh!) It's been a long time since I read any Shakespeare - I think the last was probably The Tempest for a costume project and I think that was 2001 (eek). I made a costume for Ceres from the Masque - it was on stilts and a total nightmare.

I loved Eyes Like Stars and am desperate to find out what happened to Nate! I have to limit myself to new books at the moment seeing as I have way too many unread ones. I'm reading The Pink Carnation at the moment - leant to me by my friend (also Rachel) who read your review and loved the sound of it.

I'm so ridiculously excited about reading Sense and Sensibility and watching the Emma Thompson version again (I haven't watched it since my costume degree - I went through a stage where I couldn't bear to watch period stuff - our costume history tutor took all of the fun out of it)- I'll have to catch up on the BBC one too - I didn't know they'd made one.

OK, I must be feeling crazy-talkative tonight!

[kellyrfineman]

You can see the 2008 version on YouTube here in the US, and hopefully there in the UK as well. Someone loaded it with French subtitles, but I didn't mind that in the slightest. And it may be available sans subtitles, for that matter.

The Pink Carnation series is one that I actually re-read, as does my daughter, M. (My mother handed M the first book when she was there last summer, although it's certainly not something I'd have handed off to a 14 yo at that point. I think Mom hadn't read it yet and didn't know there was a little bit of sexytime in it.)

[lectitans]

And the connection between Marianne and Ophelia is further cemented in my mind by the fact that Kate Winslet played both of them - and I loved both performances. I like to think that Marianne would see in Ophelia exactly the kind of madness she thinks (early on, anyway) is required of someone truly in love.

[kellyrfineman]

I believe you're correct there - or close enough, at any rate. I mean, Ophelia loses it because her father has died, her brother's in Wittenburg and her boyfriend has thrown her over, whereas Marianne's just been broken up with (in a not nice manner, but still). She is, however, too "sensible", a word which here means "susceptible to her emotions" rather than "full of good sense."

[reesa_grimm]

Great post! I learn something new again. =)
I'm really looking forward to the daily posts.

[kellyrfineman]

We start tomorrow!

[kellyrfineman]

I read a fairly persuasive article today indicating that Marianne has much in common with Marianna (and also Isabella) from Measure for Measure. I appreciated the guy's points, although I'm still not sure I actually buy his overall argument.