“Sense and Sensibility," a romance novel written by the eminent author Jane Austen, illustrates the love story of the two Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, exploring the importance of relationships, social status, and wealth in the Victorian Era. Through the characters in the novel, Jane Austen depicts the lives of women as restricted and limited, yet she demonstrates numerous female characters as independent and smart women who are determined to become successful. One character in the novel, Lucy Steele, is introduced as a clever and manipulative lady who skillfully uses her charm and socialization skills to achieve success. Through her determined actions, the author depicts the societal pressure on women, revealing the complexities of relationships and the continuous pursuit of a higher social status in the Regency Era. Lucy Steele's ultimate success in marrying a wealthy husband demonstrates the challenges faced by women in a society that values wealth and status above all, highlighting the importance of strategic skills for women to obtain success in life. Despite Lucy Steele’s manipulative and deceitful character, she achieves success through determination, self-interest, and good use of scheming strategies.
Lucy Steele is first introduced in the novel as a young lady who dresses "smart" and has "civil manners." She is a relative of the Middleton family and an attractive woman who is exceptionally pretty. At Barton Park, she heaps Lady Middleton with flatteries of admiration for her children, which helps her gain the favor of the Middleton family and secure her position in the circle. Lucy's ability to socialize and quickly build relationships with others serves as an advantageous tool to enable her to climb to a higher social status, securing her future by constantly being involved in parties and gatherings with wealthy people. Furthermore, by using her cunning skills to attract people, Lucy becomes a well-liked individual and tricks numerous men into liking her, including Edward and Robert Ferrars. Through her exceptional socializing skills and her guileful nature, she can handle any social situation and manipulate people around her to achieve her goals, allowing her to position herself among elites and build beneficial connections for her future. Lucy Steele takes advantage of her charm and skillfully uses it to manipulate others, ensuring that she can climb to a higher social circle and secure her financial stability by marrying a wealthy man.
Although portrayed in the novel as an antagonist who challenges the relationship between Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars, Lucy Steele's cunning nature and strategic socialization skills are tools for her success and survival in a society where social status and wealth are prioritized. Jane Austen demonstrates Lucy as a typical example of a self-serving social climber who is determined to achieve her goals at any cost, even if it might hurt other individuals in the process. For instance, before Edward Ferrars's inheritance is taken away from Mrs. Ferrars, Lucy manipulates him into a secret engagement to secure her future. However, after his inheritance is taken away from Mrs. Ferrars, Lucy Steele apparently disagrees with breaking the engagement with Edward and quickly shifts her focus to Robert Ferrars, the younger brother of Edward, as Robert is the heir of the fortune. Her endless ambition and pursuit of wealth and status demonstrate her social scheming and self-interested personality. She prioritizes her own emotions and desires above others, which leads to her success as she is always persistent and determined to achieve her goals. Her cleverness and manipulative skills enable her to obtain her goals, even if it means manipulating those around her to get what she wants. Lucy's ability to strategically use her advantages for her own interests showcases her cunning nature and cleverness as a woman. Despite her seemingly innocent and sweet facade, Jane Austen portrays Lucy Steele as a proficient social climber, using her intelligence and charm to navigate the complex world of Regency society.
By tactically forming relationships with rich individuals and alluring young, wealthy men, Lucy can succeed in obtaining a higher social status and a stable financial future. Through her cunning nature, Lucy Steele eventually gains her desired social status and life, becoming married to Robert Ferrars, a wealthy man with a high social rank. To reach this goal, she has made countless efforts to blend in with the upper class by skillfully forming relationships with influential women and ladies. By flattering wealthy women and attracting men with her outstanding appearance, Lucy gains favor with those in power, solidifying her position among the elites. Contrary to the Dashwood sisters' struggles to maintain a respectable social status as they can't socialize and build close relationships with the upper class by praising others, Lucy's socially scheming nature allows her to climb to the upper class. Although Lucy's methods may seem manipulative and insincere, her determination leads her to achieve her ambition. Jane Austen explores the complexities of success, as it may incorporate deceit and manipulation to achieve one's goals in a society that values social ranking and wealth.
In "Sense and Sensibility," Jane Austen portrays the importance of relationships in achieving success and the complexities of characters in the novel, such as Lucy Steele, who manipulates people to reach her ambition. Through numerous characters in the novel, the author illustrates the difficulties of women in the Regency era, with societal expectations that often urge them to become social climbers who utilize cunning strategies to achieve their goals. Lucy Steele, a female antagonist of the novel, is depicted as a manipulative character who uses her charm to deceive others to advance her social status. However, although her actions may seem selfish, Lucy reveals the pressure faced by women in that period, highlighting the intricacy of success. She serves as a model of a determined woman who cleverly utilizes her advantages to live in a society where social hierarchy is highly valued. Lucy Steele’s resilient and ambitious nature ultimately leads to her success in marrying a wealthy husband and becoming a favored daughter-in-law of Mrs. Ferrars, which also can’t ignore the help of her strategic use of her cunning and clever nature.
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