People: Fanny Dashwood, Lady Middleton
Text: Mrs. Fanny Dashwood, John Dashwood’s wife, was always eager to promote herself and her family any opportunity that she could. When her husband John Dashwood came home to boast to her his visit with Mrs. Jennings and the Middletons, the very next day, she paid a visit to both Mrs. Jennings and Lady Middleton.
The description of the characters of the two women is both accurate and a bit funny.
Mrs. Fanny Dashwood’s confidence was rewarded by finding Mrs. Jennings by no means unworthy her notice; and as for Lady Middleton, she found her one of the most charming women in the world!
Lady Middleton was equally pleased with Mrs. Dashwood. There was a kind of cold-hearted selfishness on both sides, which mutually attracted them; and they sympathized with each other in an insipid propriety of demeanor, and a general want of understanding.
The same manners however, which recommended Mrs. John Dashwood to the good opinion of Lady Middleton, did not suit the fancy of Mrs. Jennings. To her, she appeared nothing more than a little, proud looking woman of uncordial address, who met her husband’s sisters without any affection, and without almost anything to say to them.
Emotion: selfishness
Insight: Galatians 5:26 seems to know these women well, “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Mrs. Fanny Dashwood and Lady Middleton were so similar that they immediately liked each other. In a way, each was admiring in the other the things that they most loved about themselves. They were declared to both have a cold-hearted selfishness. They also had a general lack of understanding. Neither woman cared much to understand the human heart, but rather they understood and loved themselves.
This verse knows these women well. Both women were proud and conceited. Both women were capable of envy and positioning of power and prestige. But Mrs. Jennings, though simple in her own way, was unimpressed by this sister-in-law of the Dashwood sisters. Fanny Dashwood showed almost no concern for her own husband’s sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Mrs. Jennings saw what the other two ladies missed while they were admiring themselves. May we not be like Fanny Dashwood and Lady Middleton, filled with self and personal agendas. And let us love and understand others more than ourselves, appreciating the love of those in our circle like Mrs. Jennings. Being simple and kind is better than being prestigious and uncaring.
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