A Tearful Comedy:A Reader-Response Study Of Sense And Sensibility

The novel Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen's first published novel and is also one of the most popular and classic novels in English literature, read and favored by every generation. This novel is regarded as the classic not only for its charming text but also for readers' interpretations. Besides, it also verifies the interaction between the reader and the text that Reader-Response Theory emphasized.Reader-Response Theory pays attention to readers' role in the process of reading and emphasizes the interaction between the reader and the text. Inspired by this theory, this dissertation tries to analyze readers' reading experience in reading this novel through perspectives of indeterminacy, blank and interaction. Indeterminacy arouses readers' interests in reading the novel. Blank is the basis of readers' participation in the novel. And the interaction between the reader and text comes out the meaning of the text. The analysis shows that Sense and Sensibility is a tearful comedy with the happy ending and tragic connotation. In addition, it also shows Austen's attitude towards society. This dissertation consists of three parts.The first part is the introduction which mainly introduces the author Jane Austen, the novel Sense and Sensibility, the literature review of the novel and the Reader-Response Theory.The second part is the body of this dissertation, consisting of three chapters. Chapter One mainly discusses the indeterminacy in the novel. Iser believes that indeterminacy stimulates readers' interest. Through analyzing the indeterminacy in aspects of character, plot and comedy or tragedy, this chapter aims to point out that indeterminacy serves as a literary strategy stimulating readers' interests. What's more, it also opens readers' reading experience. Chapter Two mainly talks about the blank in this novel. Blank is the space the author leaves for readers to imagine and it also provides the possibility of different understanding. There are three kinds of blanks: the absence of the character Mrs. Smith and Miss Grey, the ellipsis of the marriage plot of Lucy and Robert, Marianne and Brandon, the vacant existence of the Delaford. Through analysis of those blanks, readers can participate in this novel and dig out something important behind the blanks. Chapter Three focuses on the interaction between the reader and the text. Based on the indeterminacy and blank, readers no longer focus on what Austen shows on the surface but search for the deep meaning behind the blanks. Through the interaction between the reader and the text, the sensible lies in the novel become the helpless choice of the character. The happy ending the author arranged is actually her compromise to the society. Thus, the novel turns to be a tearful comedy.The third part is the conclusion of this thesis, summarizing the major points discussed in the foregoing parts.