In the relationships portrayed in the movie, challenges are faced by each pair in love and are only surmounted when mutual love outlasts all of the problems and difficulties that oppose them. The boundaries of love are the farthest thoughts from Marianne’s mind as she recites “Sonnet 116” with her true love Willoughby, ignorant to the fact that Willoughby is a frequent gambler and has had prior engagement to a woman that he left. As the events unfold, she is torn between the Willoughby that she
has grown to love and the man who left Colonel Brandon’s daughter with a child to care for. She has no will left to live without her love. Even though Marianne’s unrequited love from Willoughby turns out to be almost the end for her- she finds that the eternal love from Colonel Brandon is fitting and that he has her best interest at hand. Love, between Edward and Eleanor, proves everlasting in the end of the movie even after all of the hardships, prior engagements, and land separating them. Many boundaries are overcome as the story progresses and some cause an end in love, but as it turns out the surviving couples made love work for them.
The boundaries of love in the movie-greed for money, past engagements, social class- are crafted by the desires and wants of each character to benefit their own satisfaction, not taking into account the other partner or even the lasting love at stake. The couples in the movie must reach down into the deepest point of their existence to realize the boundaries that love has upon them and more importantly how realistic their love is of overcoming them. This is a stunning realization for Marianne, newly broken hearted, lying in bed for weeks with no signs of her sickness fading, still clenching on to her lost love to Willoughby. Physically, she is struggling, but mentally she is in a state of total bewilderment. How can love so full of fire and emotions die so swiftly? The boundary between the love of Willoughby and the unconditional love of Marianne develop from Willoughby’s greed for money-a greed so strong that he is willing to give up the lasting love from Marianne and break her heart. Edward does not call off the engagement with Lucy, although his love for her is not true, because his honor is in his promises and he deemed that more important
than Eleanor’s love. Eleanor respects his decision to keep his promise to Lucy and accepts the fact that she may never have his love again. This problem arises from Edward’s proposal to a woman, an unbreakable promise, and the honor of his character. The mutual love between Edward and Eleanor lasts, although fate it seems, is against their love. Also, a definite boundary is placed on the love of both Dashwood sisters from the beginning of the movie. Both women cannot marry into wealth without a proper dowry to bring to the relationship. Be it for satisfaction, or be it for honor, the lovers in the movie create boundaries for their love to cross. The only way to get by these conflicts is the thought of tomorrow, a new day for love. The couples have to overcome boundaries and reach a mutual agreement to make their love last.
Love permeates throughout the movie as a total conflict, a borderline between the satisfaction of the individual and the satisfaction of the one that they love. It seeps down into the very existence of the Dashwood sisters. Each character sets up a boundary to cross, but if they truly want their love to work the boundaries must be overcome. Only when the boundaries of love are realized and together crossed is when love in Sense and Sensibility proves everlasting.
