Persuasion is a mature work by Jane Austen. It’s also called her best work. After many rereadings, I quite agree. Persuasion is quite different from most of her preceding work. Jane Austen is known for her “sparkle and spirit”. Most of the time, her writing brims with exuberance. Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Northanger Abbey are perfect examples. But, like in Mansfield Park, Persuasion has replaced her signature style with an emotional earnestness. It is still light, but there is more warmth, depth, and colour. In short, Jane Austen has written Persuasion with so much feeling to make it stand tall among all her other works.
The female protagonist is Anne Elliot. She has lost her “youth and bloom” over the years as a result of pining over a lost love. She is unloved and neglected by her family, and is only held dear by Lady Russel. But Anne is strong and courageous. Her mind is superior and cultivated, and she bears her lot with equanimity and without resentment. Anne strongly reminded me of Cinderella; the only difference was that she had an indifferent father instead of a wicked stepmother. Anne stands out from most of Austen’s heroines. She is equal in stamina to our much beloved Elizabeth Bennet. I don’t know if it is because of my partiality to Elizabeth Bennet, but I couldn’t help seeing Anne as a sort of mature version of Elizabeth, only Elizabeth would not have been so easily persuaded. The male protagonist, Captain Wentworth, is another beloved hero and could be easily placed in line with Darcy, Knightley, and Colonel Brandon. I’m amazed at Jane Austen’s ability to make her heroes and heroines feel so real. They undoubtedly occupy a place in all readers’ hearts. No Austen hero or heroine is ever forgotten, and for centuries they have survived to become “immortal”.
As in all of Jane Austen’s works, Persuasion also has a sweet love story. But it is a mature love; one that was found, lost, and found again; one that has endured eight and a half years of separation. Jane Austen’s excellent emotional writing brings Anne’s feelings to life. Her pain and suffering over losing the man she loved, her painful situation at having to meet him after eight and half years and enduring his cool reception, her agony at watching him pursue another woman very much younger to her, her feeling that her once pretty looks were lost and that she’d no longer look attractive to him, her painful knowledge that she has lost her chance of being happy, and her realization that she still loved him deeply and dearly are detailed beautifully in a heartbreaking manner. In my honest opinion, Persuasion is the most emotional of Jane Austen novels.
The novel is also a social commentary and criticism. The characters of Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Mary show the vanity of the titled. Austen demonstrates that they have no real superiority, only an air of superiority. At the same time, Jane Austen gently hints at the slow decline of the mock superiority of the titled class. The declining wealth of Sir Walter and the emerging new wealthy class of Naval Officers show that the Regency period is about to witness a change in social situations. Austen describes the newly elevated status of Naval Officers with respect and admiration. Two of her brothers served in the Royal Navy. Perhaps, this may be her tribute to them.
Persuasion is a beautiful book. Words fail to describe how much I love and adore it. For a long time, my most favourite of Jane Austen wavered between Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion. But now I’m convinced that Persuasion is my most favourite novel of Jane Austen.
Rating: 5/5
