Sunday in the park with Elinor Dashwood: 'so public a place'

[...]John Dashwood arrives to "talk over the dreadful affair" and to give details of the "Very shocking discovery that took place under our roof" (300). Along with Elinor, the reader is introduced to the activities polite Georgian society could indulge in when the weather was nic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Persuasions : the Jane Austen journal (Print version) 2012, Vol.34 (34), p.179
Main Author:	Kaplan, Laurie
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Analysis Austen, Jane Austen, Jane (1775-1817) Authors British & Irish literature Burney, Fanny (1752-1840) Criticism and interpretation English Literature Kensington Gardens Nineteenth Century Novelists Parks Public/Private Sense and Sensibility Setting (Literature) Social aspects Walking Women Characters
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Summary:	[...]John Dashwood arrives to "talk over the dreadful affair" and to give details of the "Very shocking discovery that took place under our roof" (300). Along with Elinor, the reader is introduced to the activities polite Georgian society could indulge in when the weather was nice enough to draw ladies outdoors on a Sunday afternoon. Since Jane Austen names Kensington Gardens as the specific setting for the action (or lack thereof), attentive readers will realize that this specific setting has wide implications in the novel. Throughout Sense and Sensibility, the "3 or 4 families" transported from the country to London continually meet at each other's houses, the friends and neighbors providing a network of relationships that constrain Elinor's conduct and feelings. [...]Chapter 2, Elinor has been situated in a series of private spaces: the "private balls at the park"; the private "parties on the water" at Barton (63); "unpremeditated" private balls at the Middletons' house on Conduit Street (the spontaneity of which Lady Middleton does not approve) (194); private dinners at Norland, Barton Park, and the Dashwoods' house on Harley Street; and a private party in London, to which they "attend" Lady Middleton (199). According to Weinreb and Hibbert, the Gardens were open on Saturdays during the reign of George II; then, in the early nineteenth century, when only a few Royals lived at Kensington Palace, the Gardens opened on Sundays as well.
ISSN:	0821-0314