On Persuasion

1. On Persuasion Sourced from Mastering the Novels of Jane Austen by Richard Gill and Susan Gregory [Palgrave Macmillan, 2003]

2. On being persuaded… “She was persuaded to think the engagement a wrong thing.” [Volume 1, Chapter 4]

3. The Exposition • Establishing the theme • Earlier persuasion • Function of the exposition • The passages of the exposition reveal the clash that human beings face between feelings and duty, emotion and reason. They also underline the care characters should exercise in attributing meaning to the words and actions of others. • Three major passages of exposition • The condition of Kellynch • Lady Russell’s persuasion • Captain Wentworth’s conclusions about Anne

4. The ubiquity of persuasion • There are many attempts to persuade in the novel besides the key persuasions of the hero and heroine. • Persuasion and Marriage • Anne and Wentworth • Elizabeth and William Elliot • Anne and Charles Musgrove • Louisa and Wentworth • Anne and William Elliot

5. Persuading oneself • Sir Walter • Sir Walter’s self-deception is reflected in his mirrors – he is narcissistic, reflecting the image of the self’s own glory, thus deceiving himself by accepting his self-image as the only reality. • Mary • Most of Mary’s self-delusions have their basis in jealousy or in a vastly overrated sense of Elliot importance • Elizabeth • She convinces herself that Mrs Clay’s freckles, protuding tooth and clumsy wrist cannot over-ride her efforts to make herself agreeable

6. Captain Wentworth • It might be said that the novel rests on a fourfold persuasion • Anne has been persuaded that it is wrong to marry Captain Wentworth • The plot trajectory is a persuasion that Captain Wentworth is right to marry Anne • Anne being persuaded that Captain Wentworth still loves her • Anne persuading him that the feeling is mutual

7. Captain Wentworth [cont.] • The Cobb • Louisa Musgrove’s fall from the Cobb is one of the most dramatic moments in Jane Austen’s fiction. • Because the drama at Lyme is interpreted through Anne’s eyes and mind, the reader is encouraged to adopt her reading of Captain Wentworth’s actions and words. • The reader might see that Captain Wentworth may be realising Anne’s worth and his own self-deception • Silence • At the very centre of the novel there is a deep silence. Anne thinks of Captain Wentworth, and Captain Wentworth thinks of Anne, and neither reads the other correctly. • The incident on the Cobb has persuaded him of his unremitting love for Anne. This recognition requires a re-reading of the immediate and the long-gone past.

8. Captain Wentworth [cont.] • Retreat • We do not know what Captain Wentworth thinks about during his six weeks of quiet in Shropshire. The most important ‘events’ of the book take place in silence and off-scene. • Being Tested • Anne has concealed her feelings remarkably well. Captain Wentworth has no idea of her pain nor pleasure at being in his company. • After returning from his visit with his brother, Wentworth now has to undergo the trials that Anne has undergone.

9. Captain Wentworth [cont.] • Mirrored volumes • At the centre of the novel, without either of the characters being in a position to know about it, a crossover has taken place. • Captain Wentworth will become as tentative and uncertain as Anne has been in Volume 1. In Volume 2 she will become the compelling figure he was in Volume 1. • In the second volume, Captain Wentworth’s experience mirrors Anne’s in the first volume. Anne will be admired by another. This will be a painful process for Captain Wentworth, until Mr Elliot is revealed as a distraction, just as Louisa was revealed as one in Volume 1.

10. Persuasionendavours to persuade the reader in two fundamental ways: • Into believing that Captain Wentworth is gradually persuaded back to Anne • Into believing that constancy in love can be achieved by both man and women The artistry of the novel makes the persuading of Captain Wentworth convincing. The two-volume construction, with its mirroring pattern, requires Captain Wentworth’s volte-face at the very centre of the book. How Persuasion endeavours to persuade “Dare not say that man forgets sooner than women.” [Vol 2, chapter 11]

11. The changing nature of society and the ability of individuals to adapt “this present time (the summer of 1814)” [Volume 1, Chapter 1]

12. The end of the war • The date • Summer of 1814 – Late February / Early March 1815 • Time relevant to plot and themes • Two wars • The European war against Napolean • North America’s defense of Canada

13. Post-war Novel • Persuasion is a postwar novel. Jane Austen started the novel on the 8th August 1815 and finished it on the 6th of August 1816. She therefore wrote it after the peace of 1814 and the final victory of Waterloo (against Napoleon) in June 1815. • It is, like Mansfield Park, a “condition of England” novel. It ponders the nation in the wake of long years of war and considers national identity in the light of the peace.

14. The mood of victory “The navy, I think, who have done so much for us, have at least an equal claim with any other set of men, for all the comforts and all the privileges which any home can give. Sailors work hard enough for their comforts, we must all allow.” [Anne, Chap 3, p. 20] • Anne’s words are an expression of national pride and gratitude towards the navy post-war.

15. King George III [reign: 1760 – 1820] • George III was born in 1738, first son of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta. He married Charlotte of Mecklinburg-Strelitz in 1761, to whom he was devoted. The couple produced a prolific fifteen children: nine sons and six daughters. • George was afflicted with porphyria, a maddening disease which disrupted his reign as early as 1765. Several attacks strained his grip on reality and debilitated him in the last years of his reign. Personal rule was given to his son George, the Prince Regent, in 1811. • George III died blind, deaf and mad at Windsor Castle on January 29, 1820.
 A bit of history from the time…

16. King George IV [reign: 1820 - 1830] • His charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of England", but his bad relations with his father and wife, and his dissolute way of life, earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy. • Taxpayers were angry at his wasteful spending in time of war. He did not provide national leadership in time of crisis, nor act as a role model for his people. • His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible. At all times he was much under the influence of favourites. A bit of history from the time…

17. The future of the nation • Is the novel pointedly asking: Whether the state (estate) in good hands? • Is the novel suggesting that the ‘rightful heir’ is no longer the worthy inheritor and that the future of Kellynch, and therefore by extension – the nation, should be placed in the hands of those who have proved themselves worthy of shouldering responsibilities?

18. The Navy “Ay, this comes of the peace.” [Volume 1, Chapter 10]

19. The Navy • Austen’s text • Invites us to question: What is true gentility? • Is an affirmation of the individual rather than on that of precedence or heritage. • Asks us to consider: the changing nature of society and the ability of individuals to adapt.

20. Bringing home the troops • Naval officers adjusting to the peace. • They have not been equally successful: • Admiral Croft and Captain Wentworth have done well. • Captain Harville can only afford “a small house, near the foot of an old pier of unknown date”. [Vol. 1, Chap. 11] • What will happen to those who fought for England? • What will the England be like that they have helped to preserve?

21. Captain Harville • A carefully drawn figure • Embodies the plight of those who have served their country in a recently finished war. • In Captain Harville, the reader sees a man adapting to new circumstances with the ingenuity that he learned in his previous calling. • A new world / A new kind of man • Here is a man who has had to adapt to changed circumstances • His experience makes his house an emblem of his adaptability and of a larger world, knowledge of which might transform England.

22. New Wealth • Prize money was a system of rewarding those who braved the dangers of the sea. • Admiral Croft, Captain Benwick and Captain Wentworth • Sir Walter • Talks about a naval man finding Kellynch a “prize” • The means of bringing persons of obscure birth into undue distinction” • The war brought wealth to a small group of people who, hitherto, could have expected neither financial nor social success. • The war meant that an adjustment was being made between the landed gentry and the professional classes.

23. The Crofts “He was in the Trafalgar action.” [Volume 1, Chapter 3]

24. The Crofts at Kellynch • Charity • She “felt the parish to be so sure of a good example and the poor of the best attention and relief” • “they were gone who deserved not to stay” [Volume 2, Chapter 1] • The Gig • Small (two-wheeled), practical and unpretentious • The Elliots kept two pairs of horses for their carriages.

25. The New People “Mr Shepherd was completely empowered to act.” [Volume 1, Chapter 3]

26. A Professional • Mr Shepherd is a member of the class that is eroding the hitherto stable world of Kellynch. • His forebears might have tended the sheep on the very estate that he is in the process of transferring to other hands. • Mr Shepherd is still a shepherd: • He supervises the movement of one flock out of the fold and prepares to move another in. He makes sure that Sir Walter is unaware that it is persons such as himself who now have the power.

27. Mrs Clay • Mr Shepherd’s daughter is equally skillful at securing influence. • Mrs Clay knows how to survive in the world of 1814. • Furthermore, she may inherit what the Elliots have given up.

28. What is most distressing for an author whose sympathies still seem to lie with the social cohesion of the old order and its public values of charity, duty and responsibility is that the heroes of 1814 are not in their attitudes fundamentally different from the individualistic self-seekers. Individualism Mr Shepherd, Mrs Clay and Sir William represent what for Jane Austen are the discomforting aspects of 1814.

29. Close Passage Analysis Chapter 2 Pages 20 - 23 Chapter 11 Page 92 Chapter 22 Page2 211 - 212 • Sir Walter and Mr Shepherd’s views on Admiral Croft • Captain Harville’s home – the image of a new type of gentleman • The acknowledgement of the new social status of the navy • Captain Wentworth is the main representative of the naval officers in the novel. Note the importance of: • His energy, self-reliance, and faith in individual action • The fact that Anne at the end of the novel, “gloried being a sailor’s wife.”