Persuasion by Jane Austen 10 out of 10

 Persuasion by Jane Austen

10 out of 10

 

 

In a recent documentary, Capital, based on the now classic Capital in the 21^st Century by arguably one of the most influential economists of the day, Thomas Piketty, there is a passage on…Jane Austen and her époque, wherein the guests argue that it was impossible at that time for people from different social strata to even conceive of getting together, never mind actually form alliances or god forbid marry someone who belonged to a different class…they did not even exist in that way for each other and we could agree with the experts in Capital and therefore dismiss Jane Austen, or we can look and see that she makes at times the same point, as in the beginning of the novel, where we find that the heroine, Anne Elliot, was going to marry the man she loved, her fiancé, naval officer Wentworth, only for Lady Russell and Anne’s father, Sir Walter Elliot, to oppose the marital vows, on the grounds that Frederick Wentworth had only ‘himself’ to argue in favor, and no wealth or nobility to make the case for him.

 

Thus we can see that Jane Austen makes clear that differences of status would make bonds based on, created by deep feelings if not impossible – which is the argument made in Capital – at least very difficult and only Persuasion and perseverance, nobility, character strengths, loyalty, seriousness and real love – as defined among others by Thomas Mann, who has a character in a short story that is aghast at the frequency with which we utilize and diminish the word, which means so much that is not covered by what we find in the real world – make possible a connection between a man and woman – there was no place for rainbow vows at that time, as there is no such possibility on many lands now.

Anne Elliot appears to be the archetype of the Wonder Woman, making us think of Penelope from the Odyssey – though there are alternative perspectives on that ancient figure, with feminists arguing that she has not stood there waiting for the absent, estranged husband to arrive from his journey, while Alberto Moravia argues in his Magnum opus, Contempt http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/11/contempt-by-alberto-moravia.html that first of all, Ulysses had wanted to depart for the famous war and then he would deliberately prolong his return journey, philandering, because he was not eager to get back.

 

She has become engaged to the officer and then stopped from marrying her, but she would wait for another seven years, loyal and dedicated to the man she loves, suffering when she thinks he avoids her, as he returns, now a wealthy captain, having achieved so much that he is not a persona no grata anymore, his acquired status satisfying those artificial standards of the time – on the other hand, I still feel that we are wrong in promoting the silly proverb or saying ‘opposites attract’  - there is even a song by Paula Abdul that insists on the same theme – because for long term relationships, it is better – if not essential and sine qua non – for the two parties to be quite similar and not say one supporting the extreme right and the other being center left, one reading as much as I do, while the other being a fan of soap operas and no reading, beyond magazines….what could the two have to talk about…for more you should read the ultimate expert, John Gottman, author of the quintessential Seven Principles to Make Marriage Work http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-seven-principles-of-making-marriage.html

 

One aspect that has attracted this reader’s attention, among others, is the role that sickness plays in the Jane Austen books and given that this author is such a Sacred Monster of Literature, it might be fun to look on the net and find that there are thousands of treaties and research papers on this issue…ladies have their love life changed, and sometimes that of those around them, once they fall ill, as in Pride and Prejudice http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/pride-and-prejudice-by-jane-austen-12.html , Sense and Sensibility http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/11/sense-and-sensibility-by-jane-austen-10.html and Persuasion...

The humor in the chef d’oeuvre is sophisticated, enchanting, as evident in the character of Sir Walter Elliot, an infatuated, self-centered man, who spends a lot of time taking care of his looks, to the extent where he is asking his daughter, Anne, about the reasons for which she looks so good when they see each other, after an interval, in Bath – where the wasteful man has had to move and allow his mansion and property to be rented to an admiral, because the finances of the household are so stressed as to require emergency actions – and when the woman says that she has added nothing to her complexion, has not done anything to change the natural look, the man insists that she must have used at least one formula.

 

His vanity is emphasized by the staggering number of mirrors and when the admiral moves in, the tenant does not make changes, expect for getting rid of the multitude of objects that were crowding the place, in order to satisfy the narcissism of Sir Walter Elliot…the man is about to engage in a project that is anathema, as aforementioned, a union – perhaps marital – with Mrs. Clay, the latter having no money or noble extraction to justify become the spouse of an aristocrat…she would be supervised and deterred by Mister Elliot, a young man with atrocious behavior, responsible for the destitution in which Mrs. Smith – a friend of Anne – lives (at least in part) and who wants to marry Anne, eventually, that is only after he will have been made wealthy by a spouse with no name, but a huge fortune…

Apart from Mister Elliot – who wants to have written in the marriage contract which he thinks is his due a passage about his would be father in law, Sir Walter Elliot, obliging the latter to stay unmarried to Mrs. Clay…a bizarre and vicious pretense – there are some other objectionable, rather unpleasant, if not altogether loathsome characters…one is Mary Musgrove and one scene in particular made the under signed think of Cinderella – one of her children is sick and when her husband, Charles, declares that he would go to an event, since there is nothing he can do to help the child, Mary is aghast and says how on earth – well, not in this way, anyway – would the father now if the boy is not going to be worse, but when Anne offers to stay with the patient, the irresponsible, hypocritical mother changes tune and has a stand which is at 180 degrees and departs to enjoy herself, leaving her son in the care of another…

Here and elsewhere, we have the feminist theme, albeit the term for that age does not appear to signify much…Anne says that Charles Musgrove could not possibly stay to care for his sick child, because this is not in the realm of men – not in those words – and though I dare say there is something in the notion that women are better at caring for the sick, children and all – since few, if anybody reaches this point – the established norm today would be to equal the capacities and say we are all the same.