Jane Austen's Persuasion - Essay Example

Persuasion The last of Jane Austen’s book published is Persuasion whose protagonist is AnneElliot. She is a mixture of Austen’s other books’ female leads. Anne appears to be a sweet, pleasant woman who is aware of her responsibilities. Her younger self is easily persuadable, she agrees to her family’s wishes on several accounts, not caring for her desires. It is later when she grows a backbone and realizes that she needs to stand up for what she believes in, what she wants. That she cannot always run her life based on others’ wishes.

As a young girl, Anne is ‘an extremely pretty girl, with gentleness, modesty, taste, and feeling’ (Austen 20). She is naive and incredibly giving. She is selfless and for the sake of others agrees to give up on the love of her life. She believes others when they are of the opinion that Wentworth is not a suitable choice of partner for her. Still, she is not making the decision just for her friends and family’s sake, but also for her love. She wants him to forget her and make his own way in the world.

In short, she does not care much for her hopes and lives her life for others. She is also quite clever and perceptive though no one really notices these attributes in her as such. She is the middle daughter of the family who is not given much attention. ‘Anne, with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character, which must have placed her high with any people of real understanding, was nobody with either father or sister; her word had no weight, her convenience was always to give way - she was only Anne.

’ (Austen 3). It is her who truly understands Mr Elliot’s true character, who tries to help out her father with their financial problems even though all he does is moan and weep over it. She holds a sensible head on her shoulders and proves it time and time again. ‘Both seemed to look to her for directions.’ (Austen 92) Seven years later, the man of her dreams returns and other certain circumstances help Anne to break out of her shell. In the beginning, she is quite disconcerted on learning about Wentworth’s being there and goes out of the way to delay the meeting as much as possible.

Clearly, she is quite affected by the man’s presence that she is still quite in love with him even though he does not want to. It hurts her when he pointedly ignores her. ‘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. She had given him up to oblige others. It had been the effect of over-persuasion. It had been weakness and timidity.

’ (Austen 50). It also does not help that over the years she has imagined what it would be like if she had disregarded her family’s and Lady Russell’s opinion and actually agreed to become Wentworth’s wife. Later, she starts giving voice to her thoughts and opinions. She approaches Captain Wentworth at a concert despite the disapproval of her father and sister. She also starts leaving around subtle references about her still being in love with the Captain, hoping that he would catch up to her hints and ask her hand for marriage.

‘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.’ (Austen 97). This plan does work out and Anne soon has a letter in her hand by Wentworth, which renews her affections for her. ‘Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you.’ (Austen 199). The two have a talk regarding their feelings towards each other. Anne has greatly improved and no longer has duty in the front place of her mind.

‘When I yielded, I thought it was to duty, but no duty could be called in aid here. In marrying a man indifferent to me, all risk would have been incurred, and all duty violated.’ (Austen 205). Anne’s story ends happily. She changes a great deal over the period of eight years and a half, learning that one has to be responsible for one’s own actions. It is one’s life which one should think about, and the others’ opinions matter less. ‘She gloried in being a sailor's wife’ (Austen 211) which she finally became once she actually followed to prompting of her heart and married Captain Wentworth.

Works Cited Austen, Jane. Persuasion. London: Forgotten Books, 1934.