Jane Austen's Persuasion >> An analysis

A struggle for utopia in Jane Austen’s Persuasion

The Romantic novels can be organized in three groups: the Gothic Romance, the novel of purpose, historical novels and the novel of manners. Although Jane Austen falls into the last category, she transcended it and became one of the greatest novelists of that time.

Persuasion is the last novel written by the author and was published after her death, in 1818. Centered on a story about a postponed love, the book depicts the British class system of that time and offers a critique of the narrow-mindedness of the ones who lived according to it.

Unlike many novels, Persuasion is about how the main characters work around and within their society. Forster (1969) states that they all operate together and if the “plot made greater demands on them than it does they would still be adequate” because every action in the story reveals new traits of the characters.

The title of the novel reflects the main theme in the story. Firstly it evokes Lady Russell’s act of persuasion impinged upon Anne Elliot, who was convinced to refuse Wentworth’s marriage proposal, and all the acts of persuading the other. Secondly it refers to the fact that the characters are persuaded by their own beliefs. Finally it implies the persuasion some characters suffer due to the revelation of old feelings and traits of personality.

Jane Austen is acknowledged to be a manner novelist who made sarcastic remarks on society, women’s social status and family. Many critics say that Austen’s prominence is related to her witty view of women’s condition. However there is more to say about the author and her last work.

Persuasion is considered by some a continuation of Pride and Prejudice. In fact, both novels are similar because their heroines end up in resembling marriages: Elizabeth and Anne board on a relationship that seems to gather respect and equality between the partners. The novel also share features with Northanger Abbey, such as the space: both are partly set in Bath.

Although apparently the novel is only about how a love story was postponed, the plot also reveals utopian traits which can be noticed in the gaps between the established order and the desirable one. As a feminist reading, Persuasion is “concerned with the day-to-day practice of living” (GOODWIN, 1990, p. 01) and includes a struggle to improve the human condition.

The feminist utopia is not related to a society based only on reason, such as the one described by Thomas More. It has something to do with persuasive acts to achieve a better condition without approaching a naïve utopianism. Pure ideology collapses when it finds reality, whereas the response to the current social order leads to a systematization

There are other features of utopian thinking and the most typical is the visionary end. However the “utopian discourse is not confined to any specific narrative or discursive form” and that can be noticed in Persuasion. The utopian aspect is not restrictedly connected to the end of the story.

Goodwin (1990) cites Bloch to argue that even the happy ending, as the one in Persuasion, can be utopian because this same ending happened based on a conflict between dystopian elements and improvement.

Persuasion’s ending may misguide the reader:
Her spring of felicity was in the glow of her spirits, as her friend Anne's was in the warmth of her heart. Anne was tenderness itself, and she had the full worth of it in Captain Wentworth's affection. His profession was all that could ever make her friends wish that tenderness less, the dread of a future war all that could dim her sunshine. She gloried in being a sailor's wife, but she must pay the tax of quick alarm for belonging to that profession which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than in its national importance. (AUSTEN: 1994, p. 254)

It is not in the characters’ marriage that one finds the feminist utopia and the reason for that does not reside in the possibility of a sudden alarm. The tax Anne has to pay is only due to her husband’s profession. The marriage in the end is not the turning point for utopia, but Anne’s change.

Seven years prior to the beginning of the story, Anne Elliot, as a nineteen year-old girl, is persuaded to quit the person she loved. The respect she feels for Lady Russell and the belief in the woman’s sense seem enough to persuade her not to marry Frederick.

When Anne finds her family and herself before an imminent poverty, she realizes it is high time they all changed their lifestyle. Years after being persuaded, Anne has a chance to show her best qualities as well as the constancy in her affections. All this is sufficient to persuade Captain Wentworth to restore his admiration for her.

Anne’s matureness is more evident when Lady Russell presses her into marrying Mr. Elliot. Having found out his true intentions, she understands how persuasion can be dangerous. Thus only feeling more confident, she is able to convince Frederick that she is worth his affection, as it can be observed in the following passage:

Captain Harville was beginning to say, when a slight noise called their attention to Captain Wentworth's hitherto perfectly quiet division of the room. It was nothing more than that his [Wentworth’s] pen had fallen down; […] “Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. […] the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything. […]I believe you equal to every important exertion […] while the woman you love lives, and lives for you”. (AUSTEN: 1994, p. 235-236)

The details of this quote show how Anne changed and how Wentworth was persuaded. In these lines, the reader can see that utopia, in Persuasion, lies in the discourse of the novel and can also be perceived during Anne’s social development. She learned how to present her opinions, not allowing the others (such as the books) to guide her decisions anymore, and gather respect.

Wentworth, in turn, leaves the pen, which represents the history, the choice and the fate. The moment he accepts he still loves Anne, Wentworth lets her guide him. Anne becomes the responsible for the pen. The pause that exists between the time when he stops writing and when he resumes his activity reveals the moment that he surrendered.

So the novel’s closure does not symbolize the feminist utopia in Persuasion. The marriage is only a result of Anne’s social development. As it was argued, a feminist utopia strives for the improvement of the human condition, which is, in the novel, Anne’s (and other characters’, such as Lady Russell) improvement.

REFERENCES
AUSTEN, Jane. Persuasion. Crydon: Penguin Books, 1994.
FORSTER, E. M. As pessoas (parte II). In: _____. Aspectos do romance. Tradução: Sérgio Alcides. S/L: Globo, 1969.
GOODWIN, Sarah Webster. Knowing better: Feminism and Utopian discourse in Pride and Prejudice, Villette, and Babette’s feast. In: JONES, Libby Falk; GOODWIN, Sarah Webster (ed). Feminism, Utopia, and Narrative. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990.
GRIFFITH, Benjamin W. Major novelists: Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott. In: _____. Study keys to English literature. Nova Iorque: Barron’s Educational Series, 19


Here's another text of mine concerning utopia: http://letrasufal.blogspot.com/2007/07/animal-farm-as-utopia.html

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