Austen pokes fun at this character once again -- he is too cheap to put the maximum effort into pretending to be a Byronic hero.

In these two paragraphs, Sir Edward thinks himself a “Byronic hero” of sorts—albeit an early one, as the poems that cemented the trope were published between 1812 and 1818. The Byronic hero was known for many dark traits, as well as sophistication, education, and the power of seduction, which Sir Edward supposes himself to possess. The Byronic hero was in part inspired by the villains of Ann Radcliffe’s gothic novels. Source.

Reminiscent of Henry Crawford's desire to make Fanny Price fall in love with him in Mansfield Park.

Pretty ironic, considering he was railing on other novels earlier in the chapter for having "discordant principles."

Here, we are presented another form of a "fan" in Jane Austen's literature -- the crazy fanboy. Sir Edward is somewhat similar to Catherine in Northanger Abbey, but a whole lot creepier.

Jane Austen directly makes fun of Sir Edward for modelling his behavior after male characters like that of Richardson's.

Sir Edward's passionate praise of the Romantic novel is reminiscent of Marianne's dramatic speeches in Sense and Sensibility. This is slightly ironic considering that Edward's earlier rejection of the novel in favor of works that can be used to better oneself falls more under Sense than Sensibility.

  This chapter establishes familiar character dynamics that might elucidate the trajectory of the personas Austen presents in this unfinished text. The chapter begins with the introduction of Miss Esther Denham and Sir Edward Denham, a scheming sibling pair reminiscent of Mansfield Park’s The Crawfords and Northanger Abbey’s The Thorpes. Austen explicitly establishes the bald aim of the two to obtain wealth and status from advantageous matrimony, a characteristic that similarly mirrors the Crawfords and Thorpes. Sir Edward, in particular, resembles Austen’s past villainous men; throughout the Austen canon, coxcomb-esque behaviors are the cardinal sins of bachelors. Indeed, Willoughby, Wickham, Henry Crawford, Mr. Elton, Thorpe, and Mr. Elliot all receive biting characterizations by Austen, and thus, given the fates of these men in their respective novels, we can predict that Sir Edward is not the male love interest of this story. 
 Sir Edward’s dynamic with, and apparent longing for the affection of, Clara Brereton, additionally reverberate into the Austen canon in a meaningful way. Other Austen works present relationships between gentried men and pseudo-adopted young women; notably, Emma features Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill’s secret engagement and Mansfield Park depict Henry Crawford’s arguably predatory pursuit of Fanny Price. These relationship both demonstrate wealth and class incongruities as interpersonal complications. Further, these dynamics are also characterized by the ignorance of other characters to the details of the relationship. Therefore, we cannot know from this unfinished account of Charlotte’s observations if Clara Brereton is a Fanny Price or a Jane Fairfax; we cannot fully know if the behaviors and dispassion Charlotte Heywood witnesses are evidence of a painful resistance to unwanted advances or red herrings to disguise an intimacy. Since speculation is the nature of this activity, however, it is notable that in both Mansfield Park and Emma, outside perceptions of the aforementioned relationships were incorrect. Therefore, paradoxically, Charlotte’s perception of Clara’s distaste for Sir Edward might in fact evince a returned affection and eventual marriage between the two. 

This suspicion is in reference to Lady Denham thinking Charlotte has a desire to pursue Sir Edward, or that Charlotte may be misinterpreting Sir Edward's behaviour towards her believing he is forming an attachment to her. Lady Denham clearly wants to convey the message that Sir Edward is not available.

Links to common words/themes throughout the annotations