Jane Austen's novel, Sense and Sensibility, is a comparison of two sisters: Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. The novel is filled with 16th century tragedy, romance, heartbreak, angst, and drama, and it shows how each sister reacts to the situations that come her way. So what is "sense"? Sense is defined as being "an instinctive or acquired faculty of perception or accurate estimation" and "the power of the mind to know what happens outside itself." So "sense" is being able to use your mind to make correct judgments. What about sensibility? It is said to be "the quality of being easily and strongly affected by emotional influences" and "a fineness of feeling; delicate sensitiveness of taste." Thus, "sensibility" allows one to be greatly swayed by one's emotions. Most readers think of Elinor representing "sense" and Marianne "sensibility", but the careful reader will notice that although these traits are most apparent in their respective character, each sister has a share in both emotions.

Throughout Austen's novel, the sisters are often put in the same or similar situations, and Austen shrewdly observes and relates to the reader how each one responds. Their responses are, as a rule, different. For example, when their home of many years is inherited by their half-brother on the death of their father, Elinor takes it in stride and does her best to plan for their future by finding them a quaint cottage within their small income. Marianne, on the other hand, plays her pianoforte mournfully, sobs, avoids her brother and his family, and when the time comes to leave, talks to the trees despondently. Farther along in the story, both sisters have fallen in love, but their behavior is quite dissimilar. Elinor met her man first: Edward Ferrars, the brother of her sister-in-law. When Marianne comes in her sister's room one night to discuss him, Elinor says, "I do not attempt to deny that I think very highly of him—that I greatly esteem him, that I like him." To which Marianne indignantly replies: "Esteem him! Like him! Cold-hearted Elinor! Oh! worse than cold-hearted! Ashamed of being otherwise. Use those words again and I will leave the room this moment." As far as Marianne's romance is concerned, suffice it to say that she falls in love immediately, makes no attempt to hide that fact nor that she suffers unbearably when he is away, whereas Elinor is separated from Edward for months, some of which she believes he is betrothed to another, and utters not a word of complaint. Even a casual reader will notice how the two sisters are sense and sensibility.

Earlier it was said that the sister's responses to situations were, as a rule, different, but there are exceptions to every rule. Even Marianne, the epitome of wearing her feelings on her sleeve, learns that the world is sometimes a better place for not knowing what she is feeling at that very moment. She learns that sometimes pain contemplated heals more rapidly than pain shown. She says to Elinor, "I compare my behavior to what it should have been; I compare it to yours." Elinor also learns how to follow her sister's example—that sometimes one's emotion just cannot be held inside. When Edward calls on her near the end of the novel and relates to her that his former betrothed married his brother instead of him, she rushes out of the room and bursts into tears of joy. Although they would always remain "sense and sensibility", even sisters have things to teach each other.