Henry "Harry" Dashwood is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. John Dashwood. He is the first grandchild of the late Henry Dashwood and his first wife[1], and Mrs. Ferrars, on his mother's side. He is the nephew of Edward and Robert Ferrars, Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, and Margaret Dashwood. He is spoiled rotten by his mother. He is only mentioned briefly during Sense and Sensibility, and doesn't have a large role in the book.
Harry's livelihood was one of the many reasons that his mother opposed giving the Dashwood women £3,000, or really giving them any monetary aid. The other reasons were mostly due to his parents' greed and avarice.
- "Mrs. John Dashwood did not at all approve of what her husband intended to do for his sisters. To take three thousand pounds from the fortune of their dear little boy, would be impoverishing him to the most dreadful degree. She begged him to think again on the subject. How could he answer it to himself to rob his child, and his only child too, of so large a sum? And what possible claim could the Miss Dashwoods, who were related to him only by half blood, which she considered as no relationship at all, have on his generosity to so large an amount? It was very well known that no affection was ever supposed to exist between the children of any man by different marriages; and why was he to ruin himself, and their poor little Harry, by giving away all his money to his half sisters?"
- —Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 2
Personality and traits[]
Harry Dashwood is described as having the manners of a two or three year old even though we are told at the beginning of the novel that he is four.
- "...by such attractions as are by no means unusual in children of two or three years old: an imperfect articulation, an earnest desire of having his own way, many cunning tricks and a great deal of noise"
- —Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 1
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 1