Persuasion

Summary

Persuasion is Austen's last completed novel, a story of second chances. Anne Elliot is the overlooked middle daughter of Sir Walter Elliot, a vain and extravagant baronet of Kellynch Hall in Somerset. Eight years before the novel opens, at nineteen, she was engaged to Frederick Wentworth, a young naval officer without fortune or connections, but was persuaded to break it off by Lady Russell, her late mother's friend, who thought the match imprudent. Anne has never stopped loving him, and her bloom has faded. Sir Walter's debts force the family to let Kellynch and move to Bath; the tenants are Admiral and Mrs Croft, and Mrs Croft is Wentworth's sister. Wentworth, now a captain enriched by prize money in the Napoleonic wars, comes to stay with them and openly looks for a wife. Anne, staying with her hypochondriac younger sister Mary Musgrove at Uppercross, must watch him flirt with Mary's sisters-in-law, Louisa and Henrietta Musgrove, while he treats her with cool politeness. On an excursion to Lyme Regis to visit his naval friends Captain Harville and the grieving Captain Benwick, the headstrong Louisa insists on jumping down the steps of the Cobb, falls and is knocked senseless. In the panic Anne alone keeps her head and directs what must be done, and Wentworth sees her worth again. Louisa's long recovery at the Harvilles' house brings her together with Benwick, and they become engaged. Anne goes to Bath, where her cousin William Elliot, the heir to Kellynch, courts her with polished attentiveness. Anne also visits an old school friend, Mrs Smith, now a widow crippled by illness and poverty, whose nurse brings her the town's gossip. Mrs Smith reveals that William Elliot is calculating and heartless and that he contributed to her ruin. Wentworth arrives in Bath, free of Louisa and jealous of Mr Elliot. At the White Hart inn, Anne, talking with Captain Harville about whether men or women love more constantly, argues that women love longest when hope is gone. Wentworth, overhearing as he writes at a nearby desk, writes her a letter declaring his love. They are reconciled and engaged, and Anne enters the navy's world of active, self-made people, leaving behind her family's empty pride. The book closes with a tribute to the navy's domestic virtues and a reminder that wartime happiness carries the risk of future alarm.

Plot or Argument

• Kellynch (Vol. I, Ch. 1–5)

  Sir Walter's debts force the letting of Kellynch to the Crofts. The backstory of Anne's broken engagement to Wentworth is told.

• Uppercross (Vol. I, Ch. 6–10)

  Anne stays with Mary and the Musgroves. Wentworth arrives, courts Louisa and Henrietta, and treats Anne with reserve; small kindnesses hint at lingering feeling.

• Lyme (Vol. I, Ch. 11–12)

  The excursion to Lyme introduces Harville and Benwick and climaxes in Louisa's fall from the Cobb, where Anne's composure contrasts with the others' panic.

• Bath and Mr Elliot (Vol. II, Ch. 1–9)

  In Bath, Anne is courted by William Elliot, visits the invalid Mrs Smith, and learns of Louisa's engagement to Benwick. Wentworth arrives and is jealous.

• Revelations and reunion (Vol. II, Ch. 9–12)

  Mrs Smith exposes Mr Elliot. Anne's conversation with Harville on constancy prompts Wentworth's letter, and the lovers are reconciled.

Characters

• Anne Elliot, heroine

  Intelligent, self-effacing 27-year-old who regrets having been persuaded to give up Wentworth.

• Captain Frederick Wentworth, hero

  Naval officer, now rich and successful, still resentful of Anne's rejection eight years before.

• Sir Walter Elliot, Anne's father

  Vain, extravagant baronet obsessed with rank and looks.

• Elizabeth Elliot, Anne's elder sister

  Proud, cold eldest daughter who shares her father's vanity.

• Mary Musgrove, Anne's younger sister

  Self-pitying wife of Charles Musgrove, constantly complaining of illness.

• Lady Russell, Anne's godmother and adviser

  Sensible but rank-conscious friend who persuaded Anne to break her engagement.

• Louisa Musgrove, Wentworth's apparent choice

  Lively, wilful young woman whose fall at Lyme changes the course of the story.

• William Elliot, heir presumptive

  Anne's smooth, scheming cousin, exposed by Mrs Smith.

• Admiral and Mrs Croft, tenants of Kellynch

  Warm, companionable naval couple who model an equal marriage.

• Captain Benwick, naval officer

  Melancholy reader of poetry mourning his fiancée Fanny Harville.

• Captain Harville, Wentworth's friend

  Disabled naval officer living modestly at Lyme; Anne's partner in the debate on constancy.

• Mrs Smith, Anne's old school friend

  Impoverished widow disabled by illness who exposes Mr Elliot.

Lessons

• Prudence and regret

  Anne was right to listen to an adviser she trusted and wrong in the outcome; the novel refuses easy blame while showing the long cost of over-caution.

  • Was Lady Russell's advice wrong at the time she gave it?
  • Does Anne finally believe she was right to be persuaded?

• Merit over rank

  The navy, where men rise by ability, is set against the Elliots' hollow pride in birth. Austen registers the social shift toward earned status.

  • How do the Crofts differ from Sir Walter as householders?
  • What does the novel suggest about inherited status?

• Constancy and the story women are allowed to tell

  Anne's debate with Harville questions whose experience literature records. She argues that books written by men cannot prove women's inconstancy.

  • Why does Anne refuse to accept examples from books?
  • How does Wentworth's letter answer her argument?
  • Is constancy always a virtue in this novel?

• Composure in a crisis

  At Lyme, when the others faint or panic, Anne calmly directs help for Louisa. Austen presents practical competence as a form of moral worth.

  • What does each character's response to Louisa's fall reveal?
  • Why is this the turning point in Wentworth's feelings?

Context

Set in 1814–1815, during the pause in the Napoleonic Wars, the novel reflects the prestige and new wealth of naval officers, two of whom were Austen's brothers, and the decline of landed families living beyond their means. Bath, a fashionable spa for invalids and the marriage market, is portrayed more sourly than in Northanger Abbey.

Composition

Written between August 1815 and August 1816, while Austen's health was beginning to fail. She cancelled and rewrote the penultimate chapters; the cancelled chapter survives in manuscript and is the only surviving manuscript of any of her published novels. Published posthumously by John Murray in December 1817 (title page dated 1818), together with Northanger Abbey, with a 'Biographical Notice' by her brother Henry.

Reception

Early reviews were modest. The novel has since been especially admired for its autumnal mood, mature heroine and emotional intensity, and is often called Austen's most romantic book.

Comparisons

• northanger-abbey

  Published together in 1817; both are partly set in Bath, but the youthful parody of Northanger contrasts with Persuasion's regretful maturity.

• mansfield-park

  Anne and Fanny Price are both quiet, undervalued heroines whose judgement is proved right; both novels feature naval brothers and officers.

• sense-and-sensibility

  Both test feeling against prudence; Anne combines Elinor's self-command with a Marianne-like depth of attachment.

• the-odyssey

  A sailor returns after eight years to a faithful woman who must recognize him anew; Austen's plot of recognition and constancy has Homeric outlines.

• washington-square

  Both turn on a woman persuaded against a suitor by an authority figure; James reverses Austen's outcome.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The opening chapter, where Sir Walter reads nothing but the Baronetage, his own family's entry in it. Austen tells you everything about Kellynch Hall's values before Anne has said a word.
• The small kindnesses Wentworth shows Anne at Uppercross while he treats her coolly, such as lifting the troublesome little boy off her back and arranging for her to ride home in the Crofts' gig when she is tired.
• Louisa's fall from the Cobb at Lyme in Vol. I, Ch. 12, and who keeps their head. Compare Louisa's insistence on being jumped down the steps with Wentworth's earlier praise of firmness of character.
• Anne's visits to Mrs Smith in Bath, and how a poor, crippled widow in cheap lodgings turns out to know the truth about the polished Mr Elliot that the fashionable world does not.
• The scene at the White Hart in Vol. II, Ch. 11, where Anne argues with Captain Harville about constancy while Wentworth sits writing nearby. Watch the pen he is holding.

Key terms and names

Persuasion

The book's title names the act that shaped Anne's life: Lady Russell persuaded her at nineteen to end her engagement to Wentworth. The novel weighs when yielding to a trusted adviser is prudence and when it is weakness.

Kellynch Hall

The Elliot family seat in Somerset, which Sir Walter must let to the Crofts because of his debts. The tenants care for it better than the owner did.

Lady Russell

Anne's godmother and her late mother's friend, sensible and affectionate but too impressed by rank. Her advice to break the engagement is the novel's founding event.

The Cobb

The stone sea wall at Lyme Regis, from whose steps Louisa Musgrove falls in Vol. I, Ch. 12. The accident turns the plot and shows Anne's composure.

Prize money

The share of the value of captured enemy ships paid to naval officers and crews in the Napoleonic wars. It has made Wentworth rich and lets the navy rival the landed gentry.

Baronetage

The reference book listing baronets and their families, Sir Walter's favourite reading. It stands for his pride in inherited rank over merit or character.

Mrs Smith

Anne's old school friend, now widowed, poor and disabled by illness in Bath. Her account of Mr Elliot's conduct toward her late husband exposes his heartlessness.

Constancy

Faithfulness of affection over time, the subject of Anne's debate with Harville in Vol. II, Ch. 11. Anne claims for women the distinction of loving longest when hope is gone.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Why did Anne break her engagement to Frederick Wentworth eight years before the novel begins, and who persuaded her?
2. Comprehension What happens at Lyme in Vol. I, Ch. 12, and what does each person present do when Louisa falls?
3. Comprehension What does Mrs Smith reveal to Anne about William Elliot, and how does Wentworth finally declare his feelings?
4. Interpretation Wentworth praises firmness of mind early in the novel, and Louisa's fall comes from her refusal to be persuaded. How does the accident complicate the question of whether yielding to persuasion is weakness?
5. Interpretation The narrator says Anne was forced into prudence in her youth and learned romance as she grew older. What does this reversal of the usual order of life tell us about her?
6. Interpretation Compare the Crofts' marriage with the Elliots' household. What does Austen suggest through the contrast between naval officers who rose by merit and a baronet who inherited his place?
7. Interpretation Anne tells Harville that men have had the pen in their hands and so books cannot settle the question of constancy. How does Wentworth's letter, written in the same scene, answer her?
8. Big Question At the end Anne says she was right to be guided by Lady Russell even though the advice was mistaken. Can it be right to follow counsel that turns out wrong, and what is the difference between being persuadable and being weak?

Faith Connections

• 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (Scripture)

  Paul describes love that is patient, is not resentful, and bears, hopes and endures all things. Anne's quiet constancy over eight years, without resentment toward Wentworth or Lady Russell, is a sustained portrait of such love, while Wentworth must learn to lay down his resentment.

• Proverbs 15:22 (Scripture)

  Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. Persuasion takes the proverb seriously while testing it, since Anne's single adviser was honest but wrong, and the novel asks how a young person should weigh counsel against her own judgment.

• Song of Solomon 8:6-7 (Scripture)

  Love is as strong as death and many waters cannot quench it. Anne's claim to love longest when hope is gone, and Wentworth's return from years at sea, give this ancient image a quiet English setting.

• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 49, a. 3 (Great Conversation)

  Aquinas counts docility, the readiness to be taught by the counsel of the wise, as a part of prudence, since no one can consider everything alone. Anne's defense of her nineteen-year-old self for heeding Lady Russell reflects this view of prudence, even as the novel shows its costs.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: A young woman who yields to the advice of a trusted older friend acts prudently, even if the advice proves mistaken. Yet prudence that rests on rank and fortune rather than character can misjudge worth, as Lady Russell misjudged Wentworth and the Elliots misjudge everyone. True worth shows itself over time in constancy, competence in a crisis and kindness, as Anne's and Wentworth's do. Therefore love that endures and is tested can be rightly renewed, and merit deserves more honor than inherited position.

Rhetorical device: antithesis. In Vol. I, Ch. 4 the narrator says Anne had been forced into prudence in her youth and learned romance as she grew older, the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning. The balanced opposites sum up eight years of her life in one sentence, and the same figure returns in Wentworth's letter of Vol. II, Ch. 11, where he is half agony, half hope.

Debate: Resolved: Anne Elliot was right to be persuaded by Lady Russell to break her engagement.

Memory Work

You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope

All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one; you need not covet it), is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone

Writing Prompts

Essay: Persuasion asks whether firmness or yieldingness is the better quality of mind. Using Anne's broken engagement, Louisa's fall from the Cobb and Anne's final judgment on Lady Russell's advice, argue what kind of persuadability Austen admires and what kind she distrusts.

Comparison with The Odyssey: Odysseus returns after long years at sea to a faithful Penelope who must recognize him anew, and Wentworth returns from the Napoleonic wars to an Anne who has never stopped loving him. Compare how each work tests constancy and stages recognition between the separated lovers, and argue what Austen's quiet English version keeps and changes from Homer's pattern.

Medical Lens

Persuasion is full of bodies under strain. Louisa's fall at Lyme is a concussion-type head injury followed by a slow convalescence; she emerges altered and nervous, a change the novel notes without medical vocabulary. Mary Musgrove is Austen's portrait of the self-pitying invalid whose complaints vanish when amusement is offered. Mrs Smith, crippled by what the text calls rheumatic fever, lives in lodgings in Bath and depends on Nurse Rooke, a professional sick-nurse and gossip, giving a rare view of paid nursing in the period. Bath itself is the great spa town of invalids. Benwick's poetic mourning and Anne's long, quiet regret invite readings of grief and low mood. The book's preoccupation with fading bloom and age has also been read against Austen's own illness while writing; retrospective diagnoses of her final illness (Addison's disease, lymphoma and others have been proposed) remain speculative.

• Vol. I, Ch. 6–7

  Mary's complaints of illness at Uppercross; her son's dislocated collarbone after a fall and the household's response.

  HypochondriaNursing Caregiving
• Vol. I, Ch. 11

  Captain Benwick's mourning for his dead fiancée; Anne advises him to read more prose and less poetry.

  GriefMelancholia Depression
• Vol. I, Ch. 12

  Louisa's fall from the Cobb; Anne directs restoratives and calls for a surgeon while others panic.

  Physicians DoctorsNursing Caregiving
• Vol. II, Ch. 5

  Anne visits Mrs Smith, disabled by illness and attended by Nurse Rooke, a sick-nurse of the Bath lodging-house world.

  Disability DeformityNursing Caregiving

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Write Nurse Rooke's account of a week of nursing in Bath, as she might tell it to Mrs Smith.

• Essay

  Is Mary Musgrove a hypochondriac, a neglected woman, or both? Use her scenes to argue a position.

• Poetry

  Write the poem Benwick might read after the novel ends, now engaged to Louisa.

Further Reading

• Jane Austen: A Life, Claire Tomalin

• Jane Austen and the War of Ideas, Marilyn Butler

• Emma, Jane Austen

  Its Mr Woodhouse is Austen's other great valetudinarian.