Performing, promising, and performing promises in Sense and Sensibility

Abstract

While many dismiss Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility as a novel that speaks too much and does too little, this essay argues that the novel actually represents Austen's most performative work, especially when judged in light of J. L. Austin's theory of speech acts. The essay begins by analyzing the multiple ways in which Austen weaves performance themes into the texture of the novel and concludes with an analysis of the felicitous and infelicitous performances of promises by the novel's male and female characters.