Mr. John Dashwood, an important character in Sense and Sensitive written by Jane Austen, was vividly shown through the book. He’s the son of Henry Dashwood and is the only son. According to the background, only the sons can have priority in inheritance, which means even though he had three sisters, he can still inherit all the fortune that his father inherited from his granduncle since his granduncle didn’t have any kids or sons. However, his father, Mr. Dashwood, told him to help his sisters when he was dying. Even though he promised his father to help, after his father died and with the twisted meaning of his father’s words, he didn’t give any help to his sisters, but still thinks he, himself, is a kind person. This shows his hypocrisy and there are lots of parts in the book that show his hypocrisy.
Being kind to others is the most basic morality, and it’s always mentioned by the elders, but it’s quite important that if it’s real kindness or false kindness, which is hypocrisy, but it’s not the reason for getting to your own benefits. Hypocrisy means a pretense of someone’s behavior. This pretense might be the comfort of something in their heart or a tool for them to reach a higher social status. Mr. John Dashwood is a typical kind of hypocritical and uses a sense of hypocrisy to approach his goal of having more money and not giving out much money. By persuasion from his wife Fanny Ferrars Dashwood, he easily changed his mind and non-compliance with his father’s testament that not giving his sisters financial or other support, or just giving them very little support to show his “kindness” and make him feel better in his conscience. From this, we can see that he is very insincerity, that he’s a fence-sitter, and also selfish.
Instead of getting benefits, another reason why Mr. John Dashwood is hypocritical is that he’s very greedy. Greedy, is quite simple in that it means having or showing an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth or power. Just like we already know about Mr. John Dashwood he’s selfish in maximizing his own interest, he’s much more than that, he’s avaricious. “It will certainly be the best way. A present of fifty pounds, now and then, will prevent their ever being distressed for money, and will, I think, be amply discharging my promise to my father." Comforting himself by giving them a cheap present and preventing being worried about money is a way to implement his promise, which won’t cost him a lot of money, and also not feel so guilty. Mr. John Dashwood thinks of himself as kind and generous, but conferring his actions concerning social status and other material abundance proves he actually is greedy.
Despite his obsession with wealth, he’s also very jealous of people who are wealthier than him and also can’t endure his sisters marrying someone wealthy. Mr. John Dashwood is rich because he had a fortune from his father, and refused to give money to his sisters for some support. When he thinks Elinor is getting married, he thinks that she will marry Colonel Brandon and says many beautiful words about how good it is and how especially wants to see her settled well. However, Elinor knew clearly that he was only glad that she was not marrying Edward Ferrars, who is the brother of Fanny Ferrars Dashwood. He visits his sisters, acting like he was polite, and asks about how wealthy Colonel Brandon is before forming an idea of him, which seems like he’s only interested in Colonel’s finances. All the things that he’s trying to inquire about are to beware of his sisters to be at a high social status.
Consequently, Mr. John Dashwood is quite a hypocritical person reflected in his behaviors. He is afraid that others are richer than him and is jealous and greedy about that because that will make him be less rich in a sense of honor and be less noticeable than before in his family. He's not the only one who is wealthy and his sisters don’t need his support to live anymore. Therefore, this is why he feels glad only when Elinor doesn’t marry Edward, but also deceitfully tells Elinor that he and Mrs. Fanny Ferrars Dashwood really hoped she could settle down well and pretend that he is kind and empathetic. All the scenes that make him look like a sympathetic and generous person are fake, and the truth is that he’s a hypocritical person.
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