Unique among the Jane Austen collection, Persuasion examines the emotional power of second chances for a longer duration than previous Jane Austen books. The heroine, Anne Elliot is persuaded to divorce her engagement to Frederick Wentworth due to his financial instability, yet he later becomes a wealthy navy captain.
Though Anne did sorrowfully regret her decision to refuse Wentworth, Austen shows readers that it was better that she didn’t marry right away, because she and Wentworth have matured and grown to understand themselves and each other, allowing for a happier marriage.
Historical Context of Persuasion
Anne and Frederick are both victims of societal norms in Jane Austen’s day which they succeed in rising above. 19th century England was not a democratic society. Ones' status within the strict hierarchal class structure often determined ones' value in society. Anne Eliot’s father had a title of a baronet, high on the class ladder of great nobles. Wentworth on the other hand, was at the time was unstable financially and lacking connections.
In Daniel Pool’s book about the daily life in 19th century England, he asserts, “Above all, people craved a title, the problem being that as you got down the lower reaches of the gentry there was a danger that anybody could become a baronet or knight – as Jane Austen is quick to point out” (49). According to Sir Walter Elliot and Lady Russell, Wentworth was an absurd match for Anne.
Anne Elliot
In chapter four of Persuasion, the narrator describes Anne Elliot’s reflections:
“She was persuaded that…she should yet have been a happier woman in maintaining the engagement, than she had been in the sacrifice of it…” (28).
The narrator goes on to say that Anne “had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older – the natural sequence of an unnatural beginning” (29).
This appeals to readers’ emotions and beliefs on the subject of love and marriage; whether or not one should put financial stability or love first in deciding to marry. Anne struggles with this herself, but at the end of the novel, Anne reflects with a slight difference as she speaks of Lady Russell:
"To me she was in the place of a parent. Do not mistake me, however. I am not saying that she did not err in her advice. It was, perhaps, one of those cases in which advice is good or bad only as the event decides; and for myself, I certainly never should, in any case circumstance of tolerable similarity, give such advice….I should have suffered more in continuing the engagement than I did in giving it up, because I should have suffered in my conscience…if I mistake not, a strong sense of duty is no bad part of a woman’s portion" (232).
This statement appeals more to readers’ ethical reasoning; that one needs to be reasonably practical when going through a marriage. However, she practically says the exact opposite of what she said earlier. Through all her regret, she really believes that she would have suffered even more if she continued in the engagement?
One explanation is that Anne has more understanding as to why she listened to Lady Russell’s advice and why Lady Russell gave it; it was for her own safety. Anne Elliot highly regards this though she does not think one should give up all hope in their true love; there must be balance. Anne always had regard for Wentworth; she looked on his heart, not on his possessions.
Frederick Wentworth
When Frederick first appears at Upper Cross he is prideful and angered towards Anne, and believed himself to be indifferent to her, or at least he convinced himself that he was:
“He had not forgiven Anne Elliot. She had used him ill; deserted and disappointed him; and worse, she had shewn a feebleness of character in doing so, which his own decided, confident temper could not endure…Her power with him… gone forever”(59).
The narrator seems to imply that Anne’s character was feeble in being persuaded against him, or even suggests that she was. As readers we feel his pain and wish it had never been, but through the course of the novel to the end, we are reminded that he has grown to know himself better and these statements are a reflection of how he felt in anger but not with a sound mind. He slowly realizes that Anne, no matter how feeble she may have been in being persuaded, has much greater sweetness of mind and conduct than he has shown.
After he came back to Bath and confessed his unfailing love for her, the narrator tells us he “had imagined himself indifferent, when he had only been angry, and he had been unjust to her merits(my emphasis), because he had been the sufferer from them. Her character was now fixed on his mind as perfection itself…” (127).
He recognizes she had merit in her earlier prudence, understands why she did it, and is man enough to see that all his success has only been for her, to win her.
The most elegiac toned books by Jane Austen, Persuasion reflects the clarity of looking back. The main characters were more justified in acting because they found understanding and balance. Readers should understand, Austen gives the message to trust one’s heart, don’t marry someone indifferent, but be discreet and don’t be too hasty, too soon, with that love. A tricky balance and more proof of Jane Austen’s complexity.
Sources
Austen, Jane. Persuasion. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003
Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew. New York: Daniel Pool, 1993
Laura Little - Laura has always had two career passions in her life: dancing and writing. Her hometwon is Santa Clarita, California and she graduated ...
Join the Conversation