No Repetition

I was watching "Pride and Prejudice" (the looong version and the best, in my opinion) last night when a thought came into my head: I haven't read the book in a long time, but I realized how similar "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility" are. Of course they're written by the same author, but thinking about it made me raise an eyebrow. Here is a list of similarities:

- Both have the dashing, likable man liked (or loved) by one of the female protagonists who turns out to be a complete scumbag

- The scoundrel turns out to be involved somehow with the man that the female protagonist who formerly like him marries

- The scoundrel is lured away either permanently or temporarily by a woman with a lot of money

- The older sister of the family falls in love with a pleasing, likable man who abandons her briefly, crushing her hopes, but then returns suddenly to declare his love and marry her

- The female protagonist marries the man she least expected to, the one who was in love with her the entire time

- One of the females goes to London in pursuit of the man she loves but ends up discovering he's abandoned her

- Both of the sisters end up married, one to the man she's always loved and the other to an unexpected man

- Both stories have a female character who is dedicated to playing matchmaker with one of the sisters

- Mrs. Bennett is reminiscent of Mrs. Jennings in some ways

- Mr. Bennett is reminiscent of Mr. Palmer in some ways

- Jane Bennett is reminiscent of Elinor Dashwood in some ways

Now don't get me wrong; I like Jane Austen, even though I've only read two of her books (I tried reading "Emma" a few years ago but couldn't get past the first few pages). However, my issue with her is that there are a lot of similarities between "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice"; yes, there are differences, but these similar characters, scenes, ideas, etc... are a bit glaring. To me, it shows a bit of a lack of imagination. Having said that, though, I'm first to admit that I'm very guilty when it comes to this sort of thing. Still, let it be a bit of a warning to you: try not to use the same ideas more than once. Rather, let them develop into something different so that no connection can be made between the two stories in that way. It takes time and a lot of thought, but, in the end, it makes you look as if you have more than a few ideas rolling around in your head.