Locket rings play a crucial part in unraveling the plot of Sense and Sensibility. Between Edward’s locket ring with a piece of Lucy’s hair and Willoughby cutting Marianne’s hair for a piece of his own, this gives the reader an insight into the importance of mementos to lovers. The rings came into popular fashion when Queen Elizabeth the I had one crafted with a miniature portrait of her as a young woman and the other portrait was speculated to be of her mother, Anne Boleyn. As a tradition in England, once the Queen wore it everyone else followed. Rings often contained a miniature portrait, silhouette, or piece of hair of a loved one. The rings were often used as mourning rings, a remembrance of the dead, and did not gain traction as a romantic gesture until the Regency era. During this time, having a lock of hair concealed in a ring often symbolized an engagement, secret or outed, or a deep emotional connection between two people. Austin uses the lockets on two occasions in the book to reveal a significant plot point. The first incidence is when Willoughby cuts a lock of Marianne’s hair, further solidifying the family’s speculation that the two are secretly engaged. The second scene that highlights the locket ring is when the sisters ask Edward Farris whose hair is in his locket ring, to which he states it is his sister’s, Fanny’s, hair but later it is revealed to Elinor that the true owner of that hair belongs to Lucy Steele. Locket rings are an important symbol in Austin’s work as well as in regency society.

Kane, Kathryn. “For Love or Death:   Locket Rings.” The Regency Redingote, 12 Feb. 2017,            https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/for-love-or-death-lock....