Rereading Austen’s Last Finished Novel: A Review of Persuasion
Book: Persuasion. Original Date of Publication: 1817. Genre: Novel. Pages: 256.
I reread an old classic recently — Persuasion. Jane Austen’s rather overlooked novel has a ton of things to recommend it to readers, from layered characters to a poignant second chance romance. However, it often goes ignored in favor of her other novels. Perhaps this is because Persuasion feels so different in tone to the others, being much more serious and melancholic in nature.
The story is a simple one, in many ways. It’s about Anne Elliot, who falls in love with the handsome young naval officer Frederick Wentworth at the age of nineteen. Wentworth isn’t at all a suitable match for the daughter of a titled gentleman. Anne’s family disapproves and Anne refuses Wentworth, breaking both of their hearts. But she never marries anyone else and remembers her first love fondly. When Wentworth comes back, years later, having made his own fortune, Anne finds herself rethinking her past actions and choices.
The book is very much driven by the character of Anne, as are most of Austen’s books. She isn’t the dynamic, young, lively protagonist of other books like Pride and Prejudice or Emma. She’s much more mellow and quiet. Anne is a passive observer of life all around her and her narration is tinged with a hint of sadness. As such, she isn’t the most sympathetic of protagonists. It’s difficult for a modern audience to understand Anne’s point of view, given the kind of choices that she seems to make. Yet, Austen treats her with great empathy. The fact that she never seems to feel sorry for herself and has a lot of determination goes a long way in endearing her to people. Anne does not even castigate herself for sending Wentworth away the first time, although it would have been natural for her to do so. No, she is firm that she wasn’t wrong for listening to her family and would have regretted it if she ran away with Wentworth like he wanted her to. She definitely isn’t a modern heroine but her thoughtful narration and introspective courage makes her a multidimensional one.
Wentworth, on the other hand, has many more layers than the typical Austen hero. Most Austen heroes are just the object to be won, at the end of the book. It’s a fascinating inverse of the way women characters are treated in many novels. Not so with Captain Wentworth. He has his own set of flaws which humanize him and he suffers the consequences of his actions. His pride leads him to cutting off contact with Anne for many years. His thoughtlessness in flirting with young Louisa Musgrove almost ends in him being trapped in a loveless marriage. His love confession, written in a letter, is the most eloquent of any of Austen’s heroes. This is a much more mature love-story than Pride and Prejudice, filled with emotion and pathos.
This is Austen, of course, so it’s not complete without a host of comic side characters. Anne’s foolish fathers and sisters exist to highlight Anne’s own qualities. The good-hearted but empty-headed Musgroves are caricatures of country squires. The charming but malicious cousin, William Elliot, is quite the villain, full of plots and schemes.
In many ways, Persuasion doesn’t feel right for a modern audience. But where the hero is concerned, it might be the most modern of all of Austen’s works. In all her other novels, the hero was a man of property. Marriage to him meant financial security and stability for our impoverished protagonist. But Wentworth is a self-made man. He has a career in the navy. In marrying him, Anne settles into a life of uncertainty and excitement. This novel is wary of landed gentry like Anne’s father. His world isn’t a world meant to last. The time of the modern man who makes his own fortune has arrived.
Austen’s language is simple but poetic. Some of this is undoubtedly because the book is almost entirely from Anne’s point of view. We as the readers only get her perspective on all the events of the novel. This can be quite limiting at times because we are also bound by Anne’s innate prejudices. Perhaps the characters are entirely different from how she perceives them but we only have her view on the matter.
My takeaway from this reread was that this is undoubtedly my favorite Austen novel. I could come back to it over and over again and find nuances that I have previously missed. Certainly, it’s more thought-provoking than many of her earlier works. But if you’re a fan of her lighter books, you’d be disappointed with Persuasion. It’s not quite ‘Austenesque’.
