Bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages and

Management

Socio-Cultural History of Arts Through Literature

Academic Paper

Jane Austen’s reflection of society and human morals in

Persuasion

Sara Costell Villaverde

Bilbao, Wednesday 15th of May, 2019.

 Abstract

This paper examines multiple aspects of “Persuasion”, Jane Austen’s ultimate piece of

work. Having been the focus of many studies, the writer not only shows great skills to depict

the pretentious social norms of the XIX century in a high class society (Landed Gentry), but

she also challenges these established patterns with a meticulous study of the human’s mind

through the use of language. This analysis focuses on sources including books and articles

such as those written by Page (1972) and Wright (1964), which treat various elements of her

writing, from her style to the constantly shown values in her novel. This essay has the

purpose of demonstrating her critique towards society’s manners hidden by an ironic writing.

Conclusively, it can be said that her literature is not a political critique, but a human’s mind’s

one and how it can be persuaded following the guidelines of a society based on appearances.

Keywords: ​human integrity, Persuasion, Landed Gentry, rhetoric, Austenian literature.

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Index

Abstract………………………………………………………………………….…………… 2
Index…………....………………………………..…………………………………………… 3
Introduction……….……………………………………………………………….………..... 4
The depiction of human’s character……………………………………………….…………. 5
The use of language to illustrate human’s mind………………………………….…………... 7
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….………… 9
References………………………………………………….……………………………….. 10

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Introduction

“Persuasion”, the latter novel written by Jane Austen, depicts how humans act

following the rules of social appearances. This paper will attempt to analyse the society

illustrated throughout the writer’s literature, as well as how she challenges the established

norms with a thorough study of the human’s mind and behavior. In addition, the use of

rhetoric in terms of the realm of style will also be examined as the writer makes use of a

powerful irony to exemplify her intentions and beliefs.

The novel vividly represents the customs of a society in the historical era in which

Jane Austen lived: a prosperous but at the same time hierarchical period, somewhere between

the Georgian and Victorian England, characterized by its cultural sophistication, by the

flourishing of new trends in architecture and fine arts, by the elegance in social behavior and,

in general terms, by numerous changes and advances in all areas.

The fact that the author wrote about the upper-class society in the XIX is a key point

to understand the socio historical context of the period. Even if she did not focus her work on

a social framework, Jenkins (1990) stated that Austen was greatly aware of the

circumstances, mainly because her brothers worked in the British Army and her family itself

was part of the Landed Gentry, a British high social class to whom landowners belonged. The

novel presents an extremely Austenian family picture: a presumptuous widower, a single

daughter full of pretensions, a married hypochondriacal and capricious daughter, a noisy

crowd of relatives and neighbors who appear everywhere... And, in the background, a

sensitive, patient and despised heroine. This way, the reader is able to identify a faithful

portrait of the society in which she lived, through constant references to traditional aspects,

reflecting the behavior of social classes and their main concerns, places and objects.

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The depiction of human’s character

However, this remains in the background as the main theme of the novel is love, or

more specifically, how social norms are able to transform the characters’ feelings or

behaviour. Despite the apparently identical personality of all her novels, only Persuasion

could be tagged as a love novel by all means. Whilst her work puts special focus on love and

marriage, her last novel is perhaps the most matured one: the protagonist is presented as an

already grown-up character from the very beginning, unlike the rest of her novels, whose

protagonists experience a coming-of-age process. ​Davis (2013) affirmed that Austen suggests

that it is necessary to release the soul of any social patterns to reach maturity, and Walzer

(1995) also referred to the liberty of one’s soul as the constant line which the novel follows.

Indeed, Austen produced a character which breaks all established labels of what a

high-society woman is expected to be. During her conversation with Captain Harville

(Austen, 2013, p.165), he states:

“I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon

woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps

you will say, these were all written by men.”

It can be seen how she does not show concern to answer with her opinion:

"Perhaps I shall. Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have

had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so

much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove

anything.”​ (Austen, 2013, p. 165).

She does not let the flawless roles of womanhood affect her personality, nor is she afraid of

showing her contrasting beliefs towards these standards. Despite her resignation to take care

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of her family, she is not reluctant to demonstrate her feelings towards it, criticising the

submission of women towards men:

“Yes. We certainly do not forget you as soon as you forget us. It is, perhaps, our fate

rather than our merit. We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and

our feelings prey upon us. You are forced on exertion. You have always a profession,

pursuits, business of some sort or other, to take you back into the world immediately,

and continual occupation and change soon weaken impressions.” (Austen, 2013, p.

166).

The Austenian work focuses on the hollow aspects of daily life in a wealthy social

class, aspects that the author analyzes with subtle precision. Not only does she ironically

examine the vices and virtues of a portentous society, but also makes a deep analysis of how

the human mind reflects the individual’s acts basing on the social rules. Therefore, it could be

said that the novel examines the moral values and integrity of the human mind and its

contrast with the pretensions a high class society doomed to ignorance. It powerfully depicts

the victory of love against the snobbish, avaricious manners and beliefs of the period.

The creator of a work whose value would only be recognized post-mortem, uses a

realistic and authentic writing and a sober, elegant and balanced style, tinged with an ironic

characteristic of her literature. Her “intense moral preoccupation” (Leavies, 2011, p.7) is

deliberately covered by the depiction of the daily banal issues of the domestic scope of the

novel. In fact, the innocence shown in Austen's works is merely a facade. ​As Page (1972, p.8)

stated, “This disparity between surface and content, between apparent narrowness and

shallowness and actual comprehensiveness and profundity, is of course a commonplace of

Jane Austen criticism”.

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The use of language to illustrate human’s mind

As Rovira (2007) claimed, a contemporary of Austen, Walter Scott, referred to the

author’s realm of style to skillfully depict the depth of human mind. Anyone who pays

attention to their language and the forms they use to express themselves will understand that

behind the apparent candidness and ingenuity, lies a keen and sharp mind.

Certainly, the author makes an intelligent use of the language with euphonious

sentence structures or cultural and literary references.  ​Within this rhetorical features, she

highlights the constant use of irony and sarcasm, as well as the priority given to the detailed

but concise description of the characters and situations.  ​Her magistral use of tense is shown

throughout the entire novel when she describes scenes with an intense sense of immediacy,

with no further need to apply the dramatic present which many contemporaries of her used. In

addition, her descriptions have no need of fully detailed elements because she shows a great

ability to transport the reader to, for instance, an enchanting picture of autumn. Certainly, the

most lengthy extract on this period of the year can be labeled as mocking:

Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of

the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from

repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn,

that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and

tenderness, that season which had drawn from every poet, worthy of being read, some

attempt at description, or some lines of feeling. (Austen, 2013, p. 60).

In spite of her irony towards this depiction, she might provide a suitable fresh, delicate touch

to a decadent season. Another example of her brief but yet vivid illustration of the scenery

can be found few lines below: ​“The brow of the hill, where they remained, was a cheerful

spot;” (Austen, 2013, p. 62).

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 The way she describes dialogues and characters make the reader immerse into the

characters’ thoughts: “Everything now marked out Louisa for Captain Wentworth; nothing

could be plainer; and where many divisions were necessary, or even where they were not,

they walked side by side nearly as much as the other two.” (Austen, 2013, p. 65). Her

statement is eager to make the reader internally doubt whether these two characters are

together or Anne is mistaken. Certainly, the author consciously leaves room for doubt, which

makes the reader absorb in the protagonist’s perception.

Wright (1964) went as far as to suggest that the “indirect discourse” (p. 74) might

have been used for two main purposes: the first one to contract the length of an otherwise

heavily ordinary conversation, as well as with the objective of presenting a conversation that

she could not much trust her ear to listen to. Despite this unfavourable critique of her, what is

undeniable is that Austen’s ability for speech constantly symbolizes the vivid features of

Persuasion​.

Though not only does she achieve this excellence by making use of the free indirect

speech, but also with lively conversations among the characters. Moreover, the critic she

might want to express behind the banality of the dialogues invites the reader to question

whether the British was actually ahead of her time. Dialogues play an important role since

she often dispenses descriptions and the narrative is achieved through brilliantly depicted

conversations, a form that the author manages enormously well. Austen masterfully uses a

fine, clear and fun irony that goes from ridicule to criticism with the passage of time. She

might mock and ridicule silly characters to illustrate the stupidity of the society.

Another commentary on the Austenian literature criticises her traditionalist manners

and how they are illustrated throughout the novel, as well as questioning her view of

morality.

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 At some point it is necessary to come to terms with what cannot be explained away.

Jane Austen is conservative in a sense no longer current. Her morality is preconceived

and inflexible. She is firm in identifying error, and less interested than other great

novelists in that type of perception for which the novel is so peculiarly well adapted—

the perception that thoroughly to understand a character is to forgive him. But if this

is true, are we right to call her a great novelist at all? (Butler, 1989, p. 298)

Certainly, Butler questions the limits of morality that Austen establishes, and Davis (2013)

affirms that “I do not see Austen offering a comprehensive political education in Persuasion.

But I am forced to suggest that Austen had a great understanding of the human soul” (p. 238).

Conclusion

It is necessary to consider that the writer did not focus her writings as a political

claim, but more on the individual’s behaviour following the patterns of society. The irony of

the author is a fundamental element of balance; although it is not a direct judge of society, it

is in a less explicit way through the criticism towards certain characters; and, through her

narrative, she also portrays the structural society of the static English countryside that she

knew how to arrest, capture and freeze in time with such dignity and efficiency. Therefore,

her work is not a political critique, but a deep analysis of the human’s mind dramatically

illustrated in a patronizing Landed Gentry. Certainly, a parallelism might be seen between the

current society and Austen’s one: it explores how individuals act upon what they are expected

to say, think or behave. She constantly highlights that appearances have a powerful role when

it comes to taking a decision, from dressing to getting married, and how easily people can be

persuaded to do so.

2259 words

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References

Austen, J. (2013). ​Persuasion​. New York: W.W. Norton.

Butler, M. (1989). ​Jane Austen and the war of ideas.​ Oxford: University Press.

Davis, K. E. (2013). Liberty in Jane Austen's "Persuasion", ​ProQuest Dissertations and

Theses.​ Retrieved from

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F/2E628C67F3D945A5PQ/6?accountid=14529

Jenkins, E. (1990). ​Jane Austen: A biography.​ London: Victor Gollancz.

Leavies, F. R. (2011). The great tradition: George Eliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad.

London: Faber & Faber.

​ xford: Basil Blackwell.

Page, N. (1972). ​The language of Jane Austen. O

Rovira, J. (2009). Receiving Austen and Scott. ​College Literature, 36​(2). Retrieved from

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&sid=866cc853-fdb2-4fa5-a17a-401d4f8b28c5%40sessionmgr4007

Walzer, A. E. (1995). Rhetoric and gender in Jane Austen's “Persuasion.”. ​College English​,

57​(6). Retrieved from

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Wright, A. H. (1964). ​Jane Austen’s novels: A study in structure.​ London: Penguin Books.

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