Persuasion

Persuasion by Jane Austen copyright 1818 (published posthumously)

Let's get one thing straight at the get-go-- I love Jane Austen's novels. (The exception being Mansfield Park which I think has some of the lamest main characters ever!) Now, I'm sure that I'll do a post on each of her novels eventually, but since Persuasion is my favorite, it gets first billing.

Persuasion was written in a race against failing health in 1815-16. Although Ms. Austen's wit and social satire is as sparkling as ever, her hero and heroine have an extra depth when compared to her other novels. This may be due to their both being older than her previous subjects. Anne Elliot and Capt. Fredrick Wentworth are 27 and 31 at the outset of the book. The beginnings of their connection happens much earlier in their lives (19 and 23), but are separated by the conventions of the day-- no money, his lack of family connections, etc. (As a modern American, sometimes these upper-class, British social rules can seem so annoying.) They break off the engagement, but Anne pines away her days knowing that her one true love has passed her by. Don't think she is an insipid character. She isn't. Anne is well-educated, extremely observant and naturally a peacemaker. Her father and sister are selfish idiots only concerned with appearance- physical and social. They really underestimate and under esteem Anne. In the first chapter, one is struck by Anne's "aloneness." She does have a good friend in a neighbor, Lady Russell, but this friend fulfills a mothering role as Anne's mother died many years previous. One can well understand her loss of losing Capt. Wentworth as not only a husband, but a true friend.

To make a long, twisted story short. . . As fate would have it, Anne and Wentworth are thrown together again, but he has vowed to love anyone, but her. Months pass with them continually in the same social circle; he pursuing (well, sort of) other women; she feeling the loss and struggling to not be overcome by her feelings. As Austen would have it, there must be a time when Wentworth realizes he still loves Anne, but because of his foolish behavior, he may not be able to get her back. (Did you know that Austen's plot line in Pride and Prejudice of Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship was the invention of this particular invention in popular fiction? Notice it in almost every romantic movie or book you read. Again, proof that Austen is amazing.)
The story continues through twists and turns and finally ends with satisfaction. The scene where they finally are able to come to understand one another's feelings is a classic for the ages. I'd type it all out here for you, but you really need to read the entire book to properly feel the weight of the matter. Wentworth's letter--love it! However, a most insightful addition to their reuniting is after they've come to an understanding and are at the Elliot's evening party, while jointly admiring some "fine greenery" Wentworth comes to this realization.
"But I too have been thinking over the past, and a question has suggested itself, whether there may not have been one person more my enemy even that that lady? [referring to Lady Russell's original interference in the match] My own self. Tell me if, when I returned to England in the year eight with a few thousand pounds, and was posted into the Laconia, if I had then written to you, would you have answered my letter? would you, in short, have renewed the engagement then?"
"Would I!" was all her answer; but the accent was decisive enough.
"You would! It is not that I did not think of it, or desire it, as what could alone crown all my other success. But I was proud, too proud to ask again. I did not understand you. I shut my eyes, and would not understand you, or do you justice. This is a recollection which ought to make me forgive every one sooner than myself."

Ah, once again pride can make or break a person.
FYI: The BBC has done some great movie adaptations of this novel. One was produced in 1997(?) and the other was just this year. Both movies have their merits. The first one more strictly follows the book, which I really love, but the new film has its advantages, too. For one, there are scenes added that instead of being an explanatory note by Frederick to Anne after their reunion are included into the story when they actually would have taken place. --And I doubt they could have found a more handsome man to play Wentworth than Rupert Penry-Jones, even if his real name is awful.