Compare the relationships of the two sets of sisters from Howard’s End by E.M Foster and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

Authors Avatar

Beth Wilson        Wider Reading Essay        02/05/07

Compare the relationships of the two sets of sisters from Howard’s End by E.M Foster and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

In the books Howard’s End and Sense and Sensibility there are two different sets of sisters. I will be looking at the older sisters in each of the books. In Howard’s End there are just two sisters, they are very close in age and very alike in the ways in which they show their feelings. In Sense and Sensibility there are three sisters the elder two of the three are very close in age and the youngest is a lot younger than the middle sister. All three have similar qualities and different views on their livelihood.

One of the families is the Wilcoxes who are high in the society and well known through out Britain. The mother of the family Ruth becomes very attached to Margaret as she shows concern and friendship towards her in her last few months of her life. Ruth is gentle, selfless, loving and in a way strangely omniscient. Ruth dies in the first half of the novel leaving her husband Henry a widow. Henry is a prominent businessman in London. He is Stuffy, conventional and very chauvinistic, as he points out that woman are in the world to look after the family and bring up children, but also makes sure the Wilcoxes are not seen badly in anyone’s eye. Henry then marries Margaret not long after Ruth’s death. Henry and Ruth had three children. Charles, Paul and Evie. Charles is the eldest son – self-centred, aggressive man who has many morals that he intends to keep. He represents all the negative sides of the Wilcoxes that they would like to keep hidden away in the cupboard. Charles marries Dolly and she gives birth to a boy who they name Tom. At the end of the novel Charles gets sent to prison for 3 years from killing Leonard Bast. Their second child is Paul the youngest son, who travels to Nigeria to make his fortune after he shares a passionate kiss and brief romance with Helen Schlegel. The youngest of the three children is Evie who is a self centred, petulant girl. Evie marries to Charles uncle in law at the young age of 18.  

The second family in the novel is the Schlegels. The Mother and the Father of Margaret, Helen and Theobald (Tibby) Schlegel are both dead in the novel right from the beginning. Margaret is the chief protagonist of the story as she encounters many problems and joys. She is a 29-year-old and has English and German heritage like the rest of her family. Margaret is imaginative and committed to relations in the family. She organises most trips and dictates to the others what’s happening. Her practical abilities, inner strength and emotional perceptiveness enable her to appreciate the Wilcoxes and strive for a finer life.  Helen the second oldest is 21. She is passionate and a very fickle girl she lives for art, literature and human relations like any other upper class woman in the early 20th century. Helen represents the idealistic, intellectual and cultured side to the Schlegel family. Helen is prettier than Margaret is and more prone to excessive and dramatic behaviour as she tends to do before she thinks. In the novel she ends up pregnant with Leonard Bast’s child. Lastly there is Theobald nicknamed Tibby who is relatively younger and more intellectual than the girls and only 16. In the book he grows up and ends up going to Oxford. He likes to indulge in luxury and is extremely lazy. Mageret and Helen will be one set of sisters I will be looking at. They are both caring and look after each other by making sure they are truly happy and that the wont marry into the wrong family. The Schlegels are well respected in their town and are in the middle of the middle class in society. They have a lot of money and are wise with all their actions.  The Schlegels are also a very conventional family as they do attend social gatherings this is shown when they are returning from a performance of Beethoven’s 5th symphony at the beginning of the book.

Join now!

Finally there is one more set of people in the story, the Bast’s. These people prove to give the story an unexpected twist, light humour and more depth. Jacky Bast is an extrovert with a sense of people around her. As a former prostitute she had had an affair with Henry Wilcox 10 years ago in Cyprus. Leonard is a poor insurance clerk he has little money – barely enough to live on. He is obsessed with improving himself and reads books constantly to try and improve his education and get a better job.  Leonard wants to do a ...

This is a preview of the whole essay