The narrator seems to underscore Sir Edward’s ridiculousness by recounting his description of the sea. The diction and tone used in this paragraph represents satire and criticism towards the romantic era and over-fixation of nature during Jane Austen’s time. She states that his phrases are “usual”, a diction that represents the mediocrity of his language. Austen states that his descriptions are  “undescribable”, which he then proceeds to list with great flourishment.


Diana loves to name drop and explains her connection through a long chain of names and letters. Definitely room for false information.

Austen criticizes the value system of rich people. They believe West Indians are more desirable than a college that prepares students for a clerical profession. This is both racist and ignorant at the same time.

ANKLES come up 8 times in Sanditon - why? A few articles note that ankles were only considered scandalous in the Victorian era, not Regency era, because ankle boots only became in vogue during the Victorian era. Perhaps the overfixation of ankles is not due to it being scandalous, but just poking fun at how OCD the characters of the novel were for Mr. Parker’s (minorly injured) sprained ankle.

In a world where a “much mended” appetite is equal to “never eating”, I think they have read too many dieting pamphlets for their own good. It is especially funny that this comes from Mr. Parker, because usually women are associated with “silly” little eating habits.

Sir Edward is a weird guy who tries hard to seduce women. Austen hypes up the sentence by increasing the reader’s expectations with “great object in life”, prepping the reader for a mind-blowing objective, to be let down by the one word “seductive”. Disappointed but not surprised?

The ironic tone suggests that Sir Edward is a not very self aware hypocrite.

In layman terms: Sir Edward thinks novels are silly and useless. Again this is ironic because Austen places his statements about novels within a novel. Most likely her readers are fans of novels who will read Sir Edward’s critique and disagree with him, making him a more undesirable character. In addition, the flowery meaningless language strongly weakens his argument. Novel > Sir Edward

The absurdity of “asses’ milk” as a love potion says it all. Austen constantly references medical remedies of the day for three purposes. One, to make fun of rich people for labeling themselves as an “invalid” when they only have minor body problems as “invalid”. Two, making fun of their ignorance for believing in these supposed “remedies”. And three, to make fun of the producers who create these “remedies”.

A major shift here similar to Charlotte’s change in opinion of Edward. Before, Charlotte was excited to talk to Lady Denham and found her agreeable. Now, she clearly states her opinion that she finds her “thoroughly mean.”

Lady Denham boasts about her kind act of giving Sir Edward her dead second husband’s gold watch. She makes it known to Charlotte that she is a kind woman who does kind things. However, Charlotte sees right through her showy personality.

Sir Edward says women can’t understand what a man says because they are too driven by their emotions, even though Charlotte “could not but think him a man of feeling”. He digs himself deeper in a hole with Charlotte by disrespecting women.

Clearly Sir Edward is VERY passionate about poetry. He shows his expressive and passionate language with describing the poetry as “delicious”. This type of expression and passion unfortunately for him, turns Charlotte off.

Lady Denham jokes about her age and her young friends/family who are in love. She makes fun of their immature and loving feelings.

In the quick course of a conversation, Charlotte shifts her opinion of Edward from “Sir Edward was much her superior in air and manner” to this thought. The bluntness of the statement and the abrupt shift in opinion shows how shallow Edward’s personality truly is.

Rote: mechanical or habitual repetition of something to be learned

The juxtaposition between the diction “commonplace” and the ironic praise given to Sir Edward criticizes the human tendency to lower their standards for people who look beautiful on the surface, a very shallow judgement of character that is usually held by women towards handsome men.

Shift in topic again from his discovery to what he wishes the poet living in the house would be doing

A shift in thought from the introduction of what he wants to have, a weather-house, to a new discovery he found, a cottage.

I like this word because it sounds like it's meaning