Persuasion

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1817

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 1, Chapters 1-3

Volume 1, Chapters 4-6

Volume 1, Chapters 7-9

Volume 1, Chapters 10-12

Volume 2, Chapters 13-15

Volume 2, Chapters 16-18

Volume 2, Chapters 19-21

Volume 2, Chapters 22-24

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Themes

The Dangers of Pride

Pride drives the behaviors of nearly every character in the novel, albeit in different forms. The dreaded “Elliot pride” (82) that Louisa describes to Wentworth during their brief courtship is a cause for complaint from both parties, and Wentworth knows all too well the pride that drives the Elliot family to disdain anyone without a family title, land, and affluent connections. Ironically, it is Wentworth’s own pride that prevents him from proposing to Anne again once he has attained the wealth and social status that make him a more socially desirable suitor. Austen portrays pride as an obstacle, a feeling that prevents kindness, honesty, and intimacy.

Sir Walter’s character represents this kind of pride to a comical degree. In response to Anne’s friendship with Mrs. Smith, Sir Walter reacts as if she has entered into a degrading and revolting relationship: “Everything that revolts other people, low company, paltry rooms, foul air, disgusting associations are inviting to you” (148). The worst thing imaginable for Sir Walter and Elizabeth, the two pinnacles of the Elliot pride, is the threat of “low company,” despite keeping Mrs. Clay in their company precisely because her flattery appeals to their selfishness and pride.

To lesser degrees, Mary and Lady Russell exhibit this same pride of class. Mary abhors Charles Hayter as a match for Henrietta on the grounds that she does not consider him of high enough class for her to associate with as a member of the extended Musgrove family. On the question of the Hayters, Mary tells Wentworth: “It is very unpleasant, having such connexions! But I assure you, I have never been in the house above twice in my life” (80). Wentworth replies merely with a “contemptuous glance” and turns away from Mary’s pride. Lady Russell displays pride against Captain Wentworth and Mrs. Clay in that she takes active steps to try and separate the Elliots from these two individuals she perceives as threats to the Elliots’ social standing.

As the protagonists of the novel, Anne and Wentworth can be seen as combating these threats of pride to their relationship—but even these two are not completely devoid of pride. Anne unites with those characters that suspect and disdain Mrs. Clay, and Wentworth’s pride prevents him from reconciling with Anne sooner. Though pride works to motivate these characters in different ways, Persuasion argues for its inevitable presence, particularly in the social contexts of Regency middle-class society. The task for Anne and Wentworth, then, is to realize the presence of pride acting within themselves and not let it sway them toward bad feelings or regret.

Constancy in True Romantic Love

As Persuasion centers on a marriage plot, many of the characters are involved in flirting, becoming engaged, and balancing married lives. The theme of constancy in romantic love is discussed often by those characters directly affected by it and serves as a comparison tool between those couples that are regarded as too fickle in love and those that remain constant toward each other.

Captain Harville, having recently lost his sister Fanny, talks to Anne about the inconstancy of Captain Benwick, her former fiancé. Wentworth, too, uses Benwick as an example when talking to Anne of the “true” constancy a man is capable of. Wentworth believes that Benwick never truly had steadfast love for Fanny because was able to fall in love with Louisa Musgrove so soon after Fanny’s death: “A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman! He ought not — he does not” (173). Wentworth’s protestations hint at the depth of his own feelings for Anne, which have not changed despite eight years of separation.

Similarly, Anne is suspicious of Mr. Elliot’s ability to move on from his wife’s death so quickly, as he is not yet out of mourning when he begins flirting with her. Mr. Elliot’s romantic life is motivated—like Mrs. Clay and several other women in the novel—by wealth, property, and social status, not by true feeling. Even Charles Musgrove moved swiftly from an initial attachment to Anne to Mary, the Elliot sister most likely to accept his proposal. This implies that Charles Musgrove’s intentions were also not to meet and marry a woman he loves above all others, but rather a woman who would secure his family well-bred connections and a decently wealthy portion of inheritance. This implies the nature of marriage in Austen’s depiction of English middle-class society of the Regency period. Marriage was often a business contract, with cousins marrying each other in order to keep land and wealth in the family, or affluent families marrying among themselves to remain “well-bred.” Marriage was both financially convenient and necessary, proper, and a display of social connection.

In comparison to these practical marriage connections driven by wealth and familial interests, Anne and Wentworth’s relationship stands as an argument in favor of true emotional constancy. Austen describes how “Prettier musing of high-wrought love and eternal constancy, could never have passed along the streets of Bath, than Anne was sporting from Camden-place to Westgate-building" (181). Though they each struggle through a period of separation after Anne’s breaking up of their young engagement, their feelings for each other remain constant and even strengthen once reunited. Notably, this happens after Wentworth has attained his fortune and Anne has attained a greater sense of self. Austen portrays the social forces that prevent their happiness as distractions yet acknowledges the difficulty of maintaining love that does not align with social expectations. That Anne and Wentworth’s feelings for each other remain constant through these changes signifies the novel’s overall support for the idea of constancy of attachment.

Woman's Occupation

Occupation, either through a profession or a profusion of hobbies, is a central concern for many of the women in Persuasion. Particularly for middle-class landed women who rely on their husbands to support them, a professional life was a social impossibility, anathema to the idea of a refined lady. Whether wife, daughter, or sister, the women portrayed in Persuasion largely do not have to worry about supporting themselves financially; their primary employment is in the crucial pre-engagement stage, where they find and agree to marry a man with a suitable enough income to support them for the remainder of their lives.

Because their time is unfilled by work, their children are given to the care of nannies, and they cannot travel or explore cities on their own, these middle- and upper-class women concern themselves with finding an occupation, i.e., hobbies or refinements to take up their time. Through her pride, Elizabeth expresses the boredom of English ladies as a lamentable struggle between “the prosperity and the nothingness” (10). Other than walking and paying social calls, the Elliot sisters can only claim piano playing, reading, and studying the Baronetage as activities to occupy their time. Even Mrs. Croft, who is slightly lower on the social ladder than the Elliot sisters are but nevertheless supported fully by her husband, laments her boredom if left alone to tend the house while Admiral Croft is away on his ship. Mrs. Croft “had all manner of complaints from not knowing what to do with [herself]” (66) and begins insisting that Admiral Croft take her along whenever the navy sends him on assignment. Mrs. Croft attempts to circumvent the boredom of a wealthy lady by relying on her husband to provide her with adventure, amusement, and tasks aboard his ship.

This languor and restlessness to occupy time is sharply contrasted with Mrs. Smith’s character, who stands in for the women left unsupported by their husbands and in need of some source of income. Mrs. Smith’s poor health prevents her from taking more dependable employment; instead, her nurse helps her to sell piecemeal knitting work to the wealthy ladies of Bath. Furthermore, Mrs. Smith is unable to act on her own to reclaim her late husband’s property in order to secure a livable income for herself. It is only when Captain Wentworth steps in and acts for her that Mrs. Smith is able to draw on the income of the property, freeing herself from poverty.

For the women of Persuasion, their sole, short, and important employment in life is in making a good match in marriage. Deigning to work would be tantamount to renouncing their claims to respectable society, forfeiting their right to be thought of as a lady, and cutting themselves off from their friends and relations. A woman of their class was entirely dependent on the men of their lives to provide for them; without a respectable man, they would end up like Mrs. Smith, waiting around for yet another kind man to step in and change their fate. Lady Russel’s proclivity for persuasion becomes an understandable preoccupation within this dynamic, as she both seeks meaningful activity in her own life and hopes to prevent the Elliot sisters from misfortune.