In many of Jane Austen's novels, women are often portrayed as very passionate and strong characters, much more so than men. The novel Sense and Sensibility, in particular, contains several female protagonists who show different sides of a woman and her approach to many life decisions. Elinor Dashwood, for example, made her decisions and acted according to her common sense, which makes her a strong character, especially when her emotions are tested. Marianne Dashwood, on the other hand, made all of her choices based solely on her emotions rather than her senses, which made her appear weak as her emotions were tested in the book. Even with these two very different mentalities between the two sisters, Austen also placed many cunning women in the story, such as Lucy Steele and Fanny Dashwood, who show how strong and zealous women can be compared to men. Described throughout the ages as weak, this is because they are known to be incredibly emotional. Although this trait is evident in all women, it does not necessarily indicate that all women are easily disabled by their emotions. This seems to be an important point made in Austen's Sense and Sensibility. It included not only a character practically controlled by her emotions, but also a few other female characters who were very intelligent and did not allow their feelings to drastically affect their behavior. Marianne Dashwood was one of the weaker women due to her reaction to Willoughby's mysterious departure and the fact that he later discovered he had left her for a richer woman. Rather than using the company of others as a distraction, Marianne focused on Willoughby as she wrote him letter after letter when she had not heard from him. She also had difficulty composing her... middle of paper ...... at her lover, Edward, who had been engaged to the ruthless Lucy Steele for four years. Her heart ached when she heard this news, but Elinor did not let her emotions overwhelm her and cause a dramatic effect on her behavior when she was in public. In fact, Elinor continued to put up with Lucy's incessant talk about Edward, and even kept this painful secret to herself. Elinor knew there were other people involved besides herself, so she knew that lamenting Edward's engagement like Marianne had done with Willoughby wouldn't do her any good. This mindset not only proves how strong Elinor was as a woman, but also sets a great example for young women today. Her character is a great role model for women today as she showed fantastic self-control when it came to her emotions and handled the situation regarding Edward and Lucy very wisely..