Elinor is Pathetic....

(I mean Edward made it clearly to his mom he wanted to get engaged to Lucy)

Edward had gotten engaged to Lucy when they were both young, long before he ever met Elinor. He wasn't wearing Lucy's hair to intentionally hurt Elinor, but because it was his fiance's, and she had convinced him to wear it as a mark of his affection. Edward had indeed originally wanted to marry Lucy or he wouldn't have asked her. But he hadn't really loved her for a while, since he had seen how silly and shallow she was. The problem was in this time period, if a man broke an engagement to a woman, she could actually bring him to court and sue for quite a large fee--an engagement was legally binding on his side. Only a woman could break an engagement, or a man if he had made it when he was a minor. So technically, Edward could have gotten out of the engagement with Lucy since he was a minor when he entered into the engagement. But he felt the honorable thing was to go through with it anyway, and most of society would have agreed with him (except his family that wanted him to marry someone better); which is why Elinor is so understanding that he choose to stand by Lucy. I will agree that he acted badly with showing so much obvious interest in Elinor when he isn't free, his excuse that he didn't think she would care for him is crap.

Come, we must press against the tide of naughtiness. Mind your step.

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I find her admirable, on the contrary. Instead of being jealous and turning bitter, she easily understands that Edward is bound by honour, and she respects that. She could not love him were he a lesser man. If he had just tossed his previous fiancée aside for the sake of Elinor, she could never have been happy with him. She's not his second choice, she's the right one, and you can't make the right decision if that implies making a wrong one first (breaking up the engagement to Lucy). The very fact that he rushes to Elinor as soon as he's free is a token of his honourable character, and one of the reasons Elinor loves him so much. These two could never have married if their love story had been marred from the start by a mean action. They're both equally good-hearted and righteous, that's why they're such a perfect match.

"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."

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Actually I think in that moment she shows some of her greatest strengths. She is understanding, forgiving, compassionate and loyal. That is actually one of the main points of the story--that Marianne's idea of love (this romantic, sweep you off your feet kind of thing) is shallow, while Edward's love for Elinor, though perhaps if looked at superficially seems weak, is deep and lasting.

I also think Edward gets judged as a pushover, when he's one of the most honorable, kind and selfless male characters in all of Austendom. Not only is he willing to stay with a woman he doesn't love because of honor, it is clear he would have treated her well their entire lives and not held a grudge against her or been bitter. Elinor really sums it up perfectly when she tells him that she would not have liked him so much had he not kept his promise to Lucy or acted inappropriately with her. That's what makes those last five minutes so sweet--they both did what was right and selfless and got justly rewarded for it in the end.

Look at it this way, if Edward wouldn't, for any reason, not even on threat of being disinherited, abandon a girl he made a foolish promise to in his youth and never truly loved, just think how loyal, kind and wonderful he will be to a woman he deeply and truly loved. His mistake was rushing into an engagement, not honoring it despite his love for Elinor. Elinor had the maturity to see this.


--
“My first girlfriend turned into the moon.”
“That’s rough, buddy.”

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I found Alan Rickman's Colonel Brandon a true gentleman

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I had thoughts like you. Edward was not a very honorable guy getting Elinor's hopes us while he was engaged to Lucy for 4 years. I don't know what he was thinking, but clearly he choose Lucy at the end, and had she not dumped him for his rich brother they would have married.

And like you said, he comes running back to girl #2, and she is so willing to accept him and forget all the heartache and false leading on he gave her.

This is why I like Jane Austen - her characters are not always either great or always bad. Many of them are both - good people flawed. Edward was good, but seriously flawed. Just like Darcy in P&P.

- The Truth is Out There, and I found it in Christ!

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I like Elinor.

Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too)

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