Who’s who in Sense and Sensibility, the 1811 novel by Jane Austen, with a guide to every character in our retelling for ages 6–9 by Sean Lee.
Sense and Sensibility follows the Dashwood sisters, who must leave their family home after their father dies. Elinor, nineteen, is calm and thoughtful. Marianne, sixteen, feels everything deeply and says so. Their mother and their cheerful youngest sister, Margaret, make up the little household that moves to a cottage in Devonshire, where they meet a whole neighborhood of new faces.
Around the sisters are the people who shape their story. Edward Ferrars and Colonel Brandon are kind and steady, while Willoughby and Lucy Steele are charming but not what they first seem. Their half-brother John and his wife Fanny care more about money than about family, and the jolly Sir John Middleton and Mrs. Jennings bring warmth and matchmaking. These profiles explain who each person is in Austen’s original novel, so parents can read along with the retelling and talk about kindness, honesty and good judgment.
Vain and foolish brother
Robert Ferrars is Edward’s younger brother, a vain and silly young man who loves fancy clothes and admiring himself in mirrors. He brags about his grand style and pokes fun at country folk. He is nothing like his humble, kind brother, and when his mother hands him the family fortune, it leads to a surprising twist.
Full character guide