Two Allusions in Sense and Sensibility

王慧

【Abstract】Allusions are commonly applied in our daily conversations and literature works. To understand theirs references clearly is essential for us to communicate with others or enjoy the literature. It is beneficial for English learners to accumulate allusions. In the article， two allusions in one famous novel are referred to in order to help to appreciate the contexts.

【Key words】allusion； reference； Queen Guenivere； Eloise

As is known for English learners， an allusion is a brief， casual， usually implicit and indirect or irrelated reference to a person， a place or an event that is real or fictional. From the perspective of the meaning， it is similar to metaphor， analogy. In Chinese words， it can be understood as YinYu， or DianGu. We can find its application in daily conversation and literature books. For example， in the sentence， “sugar candies are wrapped in the white towel， he was kind-hearted in despite of poverty.” sugar candies refer to his being kind-hearted and white towel is an allusion of poverty. As follows in the article， three allusions in the novel “Sense and Sensibility” will be explained.

As to Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility， a story referring to what is love and how to get love is vividly narrated. Henry Dashwood being dying， he left most part of his legacy to his son， John， according to temporay laws. Ms Dashwood （John's step mother） and her three daughters， Elinor， Marianne， Margaret left the house which was inherited by John and came to a cottage in the countryside. There Fanny（John's wife） introduced her little brother Edward Ferras to them. Elinor had a fancy for him but she inhibited herself from showing her love. Marianne was saved in a storm by Willoughby， a playboy who pretended to love her. She overlooked Colonel Brandon's attentive love for her. Eventually Willoughby married a wealthy girl for money.Edward returned to Elinor for recognizing reality and Marianne married Brandon.

I choose two allusions as are following. During Mariannes “i will never meet a man i truly love” speech to her mother， Marianne said she would like to love like Juliet， Queen Guenivere， or Eloise. She admires Willoughby for his passion and romance， not Brandon for his maturity and wisdom. She has an unreserved and romantic personality， preferring a stirring loving experience. As we all know， Juliet is Romeo's lover， undergoing lots of painful obstruction. Similarly， the stories of Queen Guenivere and Eloise are also full of twists and turns.

As for the premier one， Queen Guinevere forms the most celebrated love-triangle with King Arthur （her husband）， and Sir Lancelot （her lover）， in European literature. Guinevere is descended from a noble family of Romans and is “the loveliest woman in all the island”. In later romances she is the daughter of Leodegrance， previous owner of the Round Table， which she brings， together with one hundred knights， as her dowry when she marries Arthur. She is surpassingly beautiful and desirable. She is either forced into or conceives and engineers an extra-marital relationship with Lancelot and is condemned， according to law. She either was a willing accomplice to Mordred's treachery against Arthur.The love story between them is complicated to narrate. Whether can real love be easily chosen or not？ What is real love？

As for the latter one， Eloise is quoted from a poem“Eloisa to Abelard”written by Alexander Pope. Eloisa is a real person in France with a saddening loving experience with Abelard， a famous French philosopher. Peter Abelard （1079-1142）， at thirty-eight became at that time the tutor of Eloisa， the eighteen-year-old niece of Fulbert who is the canon of Paris. Their passionate secret love resulted in Eloisa's conceiving， as her uncle rejected very much. Eloisa expected Abelard to marry her. Being afraid of bringing bad influence on his scholarship fame in church， Abelard married her secretly. This made Fulbert's anger revive. He then paid ruffians to attack Abelard in his lodgings and castrate him. Eventually， they could not live together any longer. Abelard endured so much pain psychologically and physically that he decided to live a monastic life. And Eloisa became a nun ， as seperated this pair of lovers for ten over years without any correspondence. Pope mocked Eloise's tone and feeling to create this heroic epistle. Expressing Eloise's struggle of choosing between God she has devoted to and the lover she admired. In effect， the reality usurped all ideals.

The two allusions refer to female's notion for love. Marianne has an ideal notion for love， paying no attention to the worldly regulation. Being contradictory to her big sister Elinor's belief in love， she devoted her whole heart passionately to Willoughby who was not deserved to love.