Anne Elliot is an intelligent, overlooked middle
daughter of the vain Sir Walter Elliot, who cares only for good looks and rank,
who over spends and forces the family into retrenching to Bath. Elizabeth, the
self-involved older sister resembles her father in temperament. Anne’s younger
sister, Mary, is a nervous, clinging woman who has made an unspectacular
marriage to Charles Musgrove of Uppercross Hall, the heir to a rural but
respected local squire.
Ann, at age 19, considered accepting a proposal of
marriage from the handsome, young naval officer Frederick Wentworth. He was
clever, confident, and ambitious, but poor and with no particular family
connections to recommend him. Her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting
in place of Anne's late mother, persuaded her to break the engagement. Lady
Russell questioned the wisdom of Anne marrying a penniless young naval officer
without family or connections and whose prospects were so uncertain. Wentworth
is left bitter at Lady Russell’s interference and Anne’s own want of fortitude.
Now 27, and still unmarried, Anne re-encounters her
former love when his sister and brother-in-law, the Crofts, take out a lease on
Kellynch. Wentworth is now a captain and wealthy from maritime victories in the
Napoleonic wars. However, he has not forgiven Anne for rejecting him. While
publicly declaring that he is ready to marry any suitable young woman who
catches his fancy, he privately resolves that he is ready to become attached to
any appealing young woman with the exception of Anne Elliot.
Through
a series of events, Anne and Frederick realize they still admire and love each
other, but neither is sure if their feelings are reciprocated. Sir Walter’s
heir, William Elliot reunites with the family and everyone is delighted with
the reunion, but Ann, who is suspicious of his motives and character. Mrs.
Smith, an former school friend of Ann’s, warns Ann about William Elliot’s true
character and self center motives. The Musgroves, Crofts, Captain Harville and
Wentworth all converge on Bath. Wentworth overhears Ann and Captain Harville
discussing the relative faithfulness of men and women in love. Wentworth writes
a note to Anne detailing his feelings for her. In a tender scene, Anne and
Wentworth reconcile and renew their engagement.
The
match is now more palatable to Anne’s family — their waning fortunes and
Wentworth’s waxing ones have made a considerable difference. Also, ever
overvaluing good looks, Sir Walter is favorably impressed with his future
son-in-law’s appearance. Lady Russell admits she has been completely wrong
about Captain Wentworth, and she and Anne remain friends.
Prudence (privilege, disguised as wisdom, going by the
rules) versus romance, in which prudence comes up against romance and its
transformative capacities and possibilities. Ann had been forced into prudence
in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older. This well describes the
way in which Austen reverses the usual narrative associated of youth with
romance and feeling and age with reason and wisdom.
The
relationship between Ann and Frederick represents the avoidance of both cold
alliance for social privilege and the moral risks of passion. As the novel
brings the lovers together in its final chapters, their reunion is said to be
better than the first love because it is “fixed in a knowledge of each other’s
character, truth, and attachment” – in other works, in realism and mutuality
(like the Crofts) which makes them more justified in acting. (p. 227)
Mrs. Croft reprimands Captain Wentworth because he
speaks of women as if they “were all fine ladies, instead of rational
creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days.” (p. 66) She
is a woman willing to exert herself and bear discomfort rather than aim for the
social status of the privileged fine lady. In this, she repudiates the fixed
hierarchical idea of women as weak vessels who are unreasonable, delicate, and
docile by nature.
Before the 19th century, marriage was a
practical consideration viewed as an economic alliance and a guarantor of
status in society. It was also potentially a source of emotional sustenance,
although that was not the primary reason to enter into marriage. The marital
relationship was the keystone of the early modern family economy. Only those
who married had the opportunity to establish their own household, and many European
states made economic viability a condition before permission to marry was
granted. The financial and material contribution of both spouses was essential.
(Simonton, p. 24). Social class was also an important consideration when
deciding who was appropriate to marry; if both people were not of the same
social class, there was not enough motivation to enter into married. Marriage, love, and romance were not the first
considerations to get married before the late 18th century. The
rise of individualism (a result of the French Revolution) together with a new
respect for the individual pursuit of happiness in the late eighteenth
centuries brought about the rise of a companionate marriage. (Class
discussions).
Sherry Measom
