History Headscratchers / SenseAndSensibility

* That is what that means. Willoughby has effectively unmanned the Colonel by impregnating his ward and besmirched his honor. Brandon, being a man of honor, can not let Willoughby get away with this without dueling with him on the field of honor and, ostensibly, teaching him a lesson. Even if Brandon were to die or to lose the duel his status as an honorable man, the protector of his household would be restored. Willoughby's actions betray him as a dishonorable man, for an honorable man would never have had sex with a woman he wasn't married or betrothed to to begin with. A duel in the Regency period would be done with pistols and generally they both aimed away. It was the act of the challenge and the meeting that made it valid rather than an actual contest for life. It's also interesting to note that the reason that Elinor is scared or startled by this is not just the implied violence which would worry a well bred lady. It's that dueling was illegal at the time. The Colonel would not have beaten up Willoughby because that's not how gentlemen settle matters of honor.

* Honestly, nevermind what general society would or wouldn't criticize Edward for doing. It all boils down to Edward being a decent, LawfulGood young man who truly believed that Lucy loved him, right up until she ditched him for his brother. If he'd broken his youthful promise to marry her and left her heartbroken (as he thought) and exposed to social ridicule, he couldn't live with himself - even if it meant being free to marry Elinor instead. Edward's own kind heart kept him trapped in his stale engagement, and Lucy knew it and counted on it. His family's selfish disregard for honor is deliberately contrasted with this. They don't give two sniffs about how Lucy feels or what might happen to her if Edward discards her, any more than they cared about how the Dashwoods would support themselves. In the end, it's a delicious irony that Lucy's decision to jilt Edward for his brother sets him free without damaging his honor...while still saddling the cold, classist Ferrars with the penniless in-law they were so desperate to avoid!

** This puzzled me too until a recent re-read clarified a line I'd missed before. The main reason is that Robert is the favorite son and can talk himself back into Mrs. Ferrars' good graces more easily than Edward, but there is also one line about ''how'' Mrs. Ferrars "settled everything irrevocably" on Robert: she signed over property to him. So while she could write him out of the lands and cash he would get on her death, that's not much disincentive when she has made him owner of an estate ''now''. As the legal owner of this estate (which would have gone to Edward had he followed the Ferrars' rules), Robert now has his own income from rents, crops grown from the land, etc--this is what makes him "independent". Losing future land and cash from the will whenever his mother died wouldn't be much disincentive to him.

** Perhaps also worth noting that this was a point in the history of dueling where most duels were settled less "to the death" and more "to the showing up and maybe injuring the other guy a little bit". Honor would frequently be considered satisfied simply by both men showing up, putting on a decent display and either shooting the gun over the other person's head or considering the matter settled when the first person received a scratch on their arm. It was usually only the real hardcore fanatics (or the ''seriously'' pissed off) who insisted on making sure one party was dead at the end of it.