Jane Austen's Persuasion Literary Analysis

By analyzing social class in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre this essay will compare these two

Jane Austen's Persuasion As the novel ‘persuasion’ progresses the romantic feelings towards Anne Elliot, Austen’s protagonist conveyed from the hero Captain Wentworth becomes more and more apparent. We start of with Kellynch hall, the former Elliot residents now being let to the Crofts. At Kellynch the feeling that are exposed towards Anne are of disinterest.

Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion explores how society worked in the 1800’s. It shows the issues of living in a patriarchal society and how social class was very important. Through Sir Walter Elliot’s character, it is shown how the upper classes have certain standards of behaviour and character traits that they show.

While Jane Austen uses conflict to analyze the restrictions of the class system, she also utilizes detailed characterization to depict the corrupt nature of upper-class citizens and the upright morals of characters with more moderate views of the class system. Jane Austen’s description of characters still focused on social rank points out the corrupt nature of the class system and the vanity that consumes some characters lives. In Persuasion, Austen criticizes the relationship between social rank and character traits when describing Lady Dalrymple and her daughter by saying the following:

Many readers of Persuasion believe Austen uses the namesake “persuasion” too neutrally. She appears to passively describe the results when the protagonist is persuaded to abandon Wentworth’s first proposal, but actually has much to say on being persuadable, and mainly argues that it is not inherently wrong. Persuasion in the novel’s early chapters works in two forms: as an overpowering force on the foolish like Sir Walter, or as an important voice to consider such as when Lady Russell opposed Anne’s engagement. These forms are often grouped together under the greater theme of social influence, and are treated like they run along the same spectrum where the first is negative and the second positive, suggesting the trait balances out into a neither bad nor good thing. However the value of persuasion is not determined in isolation. It depends on the other characteristics of the individual, because in Sir Walter it reveals undesirable weakness, and in Anne intelligence and pragmatism. The given extract well represents the aims of the whole novel, as here Austen explicitly reflects on persuasion and how it is anything but a neutral social influence.

Social class was considered very important in the Victorian era (1837-1901). They were strictly separated by the rich and the poor, and further separated by upper/middle/lower class. It was expected for people to know where they belonged, and expect to be treated in a certain way based on their class (“Social Restrictions”)

At face value, Anne’s speech in the published ending of Jane Austen’s Persuasion seems to not quite follow with her quiet nature throughout most of the book. In the original unpublished conclusion to this book, Anne retains her standard silence that is her signature characteristic. However, with a modest amount of studying one will find Anne’s remaining silent would not follow suit with her character’s progression through the story. The reason though for her continued growth towards comfort in speech I believe to be directly tied to her continued growth back towards Captain Wentworth. Reading through this book we become accustomed to Anne being the silent character, leading us to feel like something is wrong when she begins to speak more and more. Due to this we are naturally drawn to question why Anne is speaking so much.

Many of Austen’s indirect themes are still relevant in today’s society and most likely will be relevant in decades to come. Women are perceived as less than men and are often deemed less important or even less qualified. In Austen’s society, women were made to be wives and mothers. They had very little legal rights and very little to do with their lives other than look pretty and become a wife to a very wealthy man. In today’s society women have been given more rights, can have professions, and are more than a wife, but they are still somehow noticed as less equal. This is why Persuasion is still considered a classical book and why it will be read for many years to come. This book gives us a new perspective on our society today while also showing how society was 200 years ago. This novel was very eye opening, well written book towards equality towards

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago… I have loved none but you.”

A story is never complete without a setting. These locations often influences the way people act, and how people feel towards a place. In some of these stories the setting is very important, as seen in Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion. In her novel, each character portraits different emotions concerning each location. Austen also emphasizes differences between Kellynch and Uppercross, and between Lyme and Bath. Another aspect of the story that Austen accentuates is the usefulness of Anne Elliot; depending where she is.

Jane Austen’s Emma follows the life of an overindulged, upper class young woman who, after enduring a crisis brought on by her own pride, is transformed from callow and vain, to a state of mental and emotional maturity. On first reading, the audience may perceive Emma’s actions as a repression of feelings, but upon closer inspection one can see that she is not suppressing her emotions but simply does not have the level of self-awareness that would allow her to clarify the difference between right and wrong. It is important to bring to light the connections between self and society, which Austen has embedded into narrative, as they raise the question of who is to blame for Emma’s harmful conduct. She struggles with shedding her arrogance, and the fear she has of facing her feelings causes her to misunderstand those around her, wreaking havoc in the lives of others. Her immaturity is not confined to contextual milieu – Austen’s examination of character and society has universality in its comment on our sense of self and culture, and is as relevant today as it was in the 19th century.

The importance of climbing the social ladder during the 19th century was perhaps the single most important accomplishment one could make. There were such great amounts of focus on material possessions and titles that many became desensitized to the core values of humanity. The social class a person belonged to during the 19th century quite literally define their importance and the role they played in society. Also because a family name was such a highly valued thing during this time, if one’s name were associated with the highest possible social class they would automatically be highly respectable and very eligible for marriage. The Social Ranking of a person was so highly valued that happiness or self-respect was almost

Jane Austen is know for writing sympathetic but realistically flawed female characters. Elizabeth Bennet is witty but prideful, Emma Woodhouse is well meaning but frightfully un-observant, and overcoming these flaws is what drives these characters’ arcs throughout their respective books. Yet in Austen’s novel, Persuasion, at first, Anne Elliot seems as if she is the perfect woman. She is a woman of “birth, beauty, and mind,” (Austen 20), she manages to be liked by nearly everyone she meets, and she was the only one to keep a calm head when Louisa fell in Lyme (79). However ideal she may seem though, she is not flawless. Anne Elliot’s greatest fault is that she suffers from a lack of courage and nerve, and

Chapter One of Persuasion by Jane Austen Chapter one of Persuasion makes use of a highly economic narrative style, which celebrates Austen’s success as a novelist. Austen’s narrative style is so successful in chapter one of Persuasion as many of the characters are introduced to the reader along with the majority of the main themes which concern them in the novel. Austen clearly underlines that she is writing with a novelist’s voice, using traditional conventions of third person with past tense. This first hint of Austen’s narration style is shown in chapter one and reappears again in chapter eleven where it is evident that Austen has become an omniscient narrator.

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) is a world famous English novelist, primarily known for her six major novels which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen 's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. In particular, Austen’s novel Emma, published in 1815, displays these aspects of of traditional English life in that period, however the classic piece is still enjoyed by many all over the world today. Emma has seen many on screen adaptations, some which do the novel justice and follow the plot to the tee, whilst others loosely base the plot along the lines of the novel. Aisha is a 2010 Indian comedy-drama film starring Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor in the lead roles. It is set in the upper class society of Delhi, India and is an adaptation of Jane Austen 's 1815 novel Emma with the same tone as the 1995 cult Hollywood film Clueless which is also an adaptation of Austen 's novel. The film released on 6 August 2010, received an average to a moderate critical response eventually becoming an "average" grosser at the box office. Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma, and Aisha, the 2010 Bollywood adaption directed by Rajshree Ojha are almost completely different in terms of a materialistic view due to the time period, location and culture, however the relationships between the characters and the values they hold are essentially the