Sense and Sensibility

The spoiled child is a recurrent motif in Austen’s novel and symbolizes the decadence a young person falls into when they are indulged. The first spoiled child is little Harry, John and Fanny Dashwood’s infant son, who will receive the entirety of the Norland estate, thereby injuring the Dashwood sisters. Austen makes clear her disapproval of this preference for Harry by stating that the child possesses qualities that “are by no means unusual in children of two or three years old” and even the defects of “an earnest desire of having his own way, many cunning tricks, and a great deal of noise” (3). Again with understatement, Austen implies that Harry is already a menace and will grow to be more so following the sense of entitlement that possessing Norland at the expense of others will give him. Harry is a miniature of his father John, an older child spoiled by being his father’s first and only male successor and therefore in the eyes of patriarchy, his most important heir.

The young Middletons, whom Elinor and Marianne encounter at Barton Park, are also spoiled. The center of their mother Lady Middleton’s life, these children are indulged and permitted to misbehave.