Cancelled: The Courtship Gift of Hair in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

Hair was a popular courtship gift in Regency England – whether exchanged as loose locks between couples or fashioned into decorative jewellery. Yet in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, this gifted object is a source of uneasy fascination. This talk by Hannah Wilson traces the narrative arc of gifted locks of hair throughout Sense and Sensibility to explore the courtship gift’s role as a source of love and power. By investigating the vital and vibrant material history of hair, this talk will explore how locks of hair helps unearth the love token’s controlling connotations in Austen’s courtship narratives.