The Unflawed Brandon
... music, giving Marianne flowers, and reading poetry with Marianne. Thompson shows Willoughby and Brandon participating in the same activities so that audience can find Brandon just as appealing as Willoughby. It is easier for the audience to later accept Brandon and Marianne’s relationship because Brandon becomes more of a man than Willoughby after Willoughby plays Marianne for a fool. The audience can look at Willoughby in disgust once he decides to marry Sophia Grey for her wealth instead of Marianne for love. The movie cuts out the scene from Austen’s novel when Willoughby confesses to Elinor his true feelings for Marianne. This adaptation allows the audience to not feel compassion for Willoughby’s decision and be content with Marianne and Brandon’s relationship. As Colonel Brandon’s character develops in the film, the audience can see him as a man with romantic ideals, who holds the same passions as Marianne. In Thompson’s film adaptation, incorporating the sexual and romantic desire between the characters is most important. The relationship between Marianne and Colonel Brandon grows more intense after Brandon carries her home out of the pouring rain; Brandon becomes Marianne’s knight in shining armor. Later scenes from the film show Brandon reciting poetry to Marianne. Marianne asks Colonel Brandon if he will come read to her tomorrow. He responds saying “No—for I must away.” Marianne looks passionately at the Colonel saying, “You will not stay away long.” Within these lines the audience clearly sees the sexual tension building between the characters. Thompson allows Marianne to find happiness and love with a man who is romantic and shares her same passions. Thompson’s adaptation of the characters clearly goes against the ideas held by Austen. Cheryl Nixon describes the differences between the film and the novel best: “As in Austen’s novel, Willoughby represents emotional expression, specifically the false emotional display of sensibility. Departing from Austen, the film remakes Brandon into a standard-bearer of true emotion. But, crucially, he must express his honest emotion through his physical displays which mimic the form of sensibility” (39). Although audiences find Colonel Brandon less boring and more appealing when he emotionally woos Marianne with gifts and reading poetry, this wasn’t what Austen had in mind in defining his character. Austen’s purpose for Colonel Brandon and Marianne’s relationship was not for a classical romance story, but to give audiences a depiction of courtship during her time in the 18th-Century. A courtship wasn’t solely based on romantic ideals, but on personal integrity and status. Austen did not fail when she wrote Colonel Brandon’s character, but gave special detailing to present Brandon’s character in a way that wouldn’t be offensive. According to Alice Chandler, As a writer whose books all end with marriages, Austen’s problem was not that she failed to recognize the foreplay of attraction and repulsion, of –looking and liking, of teasing and touching that can lead to matrimony, but that she could not express her views directly…In studying Jane Austen’s “indirections” we must be aware of the limited range of explicit statement to a novelist of her generation. (89) Austen did provide sexual relationships in her novel, but not in the way Thompson portrayed them in the film. Austen didn’t write Colonel Brandon’s character in a dominating male role where romantic conventions were specifically upheld, but wrote the character to identify Colonel Brandon as a man of status and personal integrity. During Austen’s time, relationships were built upon these two elements and valued most important by society. Colonel Brandon is the ideal man, who exemplifies the qualities of personal integrity and status among the people. Austen writes “indirectly” through several scenes in order to demonstrate that Marianne can find a worthy match with a man such as Colonel Brandon. Brandon continually goes out of his way for others when he leaves immediately to help Eliza’s daughter, volunteers to bring Mrs. Dashwood to Marianne, and offers to help Edward after he loses his inheritance. In all these situations, Colonel Brandon puts everyone before himself, even when it comes to liking Marianne, he considers her strong feelings for Willoughby and wishes Marianne happiness. Upon examining these scenes in Austen’s novel, it is evident that Austen “provides an implicit rationale for the suppression of desire by the characters, a rationale that redefines sexual desire in a socially acceptable form” (Allen 38). As a modern audience reading Austen’s novel, we aren’t given the romantic relationship of sexual desire as we would define it, but can find Colonel Brandon sexually desirous by 18th-Century standards. Colonel Brandon should not be viewed as a dull and melancholy man, but as a man displaying qualities found admirable by society and worthy of Marianne’s affections. One of the first places Colonel Brandon’s integrity is witnessed is when Colonel Brandon speaks the events that occurred in his life concerning his first love Eliza. This is one of the few instances where Austen allows Brandon longer dialogue to develop his character; most of the time Brandon’s character is developed through the narrator or other characters speaking. Colonel Brandon begins his speech saying, My object—my wish—my sole wish in desiring it—I hope, I believe it is—is to be a means of comfort—no, I must not say comfort—not present comfort—but conviction, lasting conviction to your sister’s mind. My regard for her, for yourself, for your mother—will you allow me to prove it by relating some circumstances, which nothing but a very sincere regard—nothing but an earnest desire of being useful—I think I am justified. (94) His speech demonstrates that he has the best intentions for Marianne and would never desire taking away her happiness. He only told his story in hopes that it would help Marianne endure some of the pain and realize that Willoughby is not a man worthy of her affections. Throughout the remainder of Brandon’s speech, we also see Brandon as a man who had a strong commitment and love for Eliza and would go out of his way to bring up her daughter. Brandon’s speech to Elinor signifies the importance of the scene when Brandon rushes to tend to Eliza’s daughter. Austen shows how Colonel Brandon backs his words up with actions and as an audience we can acknowledge that Brandon is a man of his word. When Brandon receives an urgent letter, Austen describes Brandon’s actions of urgency saying, “he took it, looked at the direction, changed colour, and immediately left the room” (30). As the events unfold, Brandon remains discreet in sharing the information with everyone that Eliza’s daughter is pregnant and has been abandoned by Willoughby. Brandon upholds his responsibilities by tending to the matter immediately, which clearly defines him as a man of personal integrity. Another important scene for developing Colonel Brandon’s character appears when Marianne becomes feverish and delirious and calls out for her mother in the middle of the night. Colonel Brandon volunteers to travel to Barton and bring Mrs. Dashwood back with him in his carriage. Austen writes the conversation between Elinor and Mrs. Dashwood to further describe the high regard they feel for Colonel Brandon’s character: "He opened his whole heart to me yesterday as we travelled. It came out quite unawares, quite undesignedly. I, you may well believe, could talk of nothing but my child; -- he could not conceal his distress; I saw that it equalled my own, and he perhaps, thinking that mere friendship, as the world now goes, would not justify so warm a sympathy -- or rather not thinking at all, I suppose -- giving way to irresistible feelings, made me acquainted with his earnest, tender, constant, affection for Marianne. He has loved her, my Elinor, ever since the first moment of seeing her… His regard for her, infinitely surpassing anything that Willoughby ever felt or feigned, as much more warm, as more sincere o...