Austen's Final Debut

Persuasion, Jane Austen's last novel, was written during the time of the Napoleonic wars which affected the English social and economic circumstances.  The book ties these aspects in with its characters.  The situation of Captain Wentworth, a naval officer who earns a lot of money, demonstrates the “shift in the balance of power” between the aristocracy and middle class, and there’s a thread of nationalism intertwined in Austen’s novel (Cantor).

Austen has a lot to say about the aristocracy.  It isn’t them in and of themselves that she disapproves of but rather that the “aristocratic status was in effect self-justifying" (Cantor).  These perceptions are portrayed through the characters’ and their dialogue.  As in Pride and Prejudice, characters aren’t always who they initially seem to be, which can be good and bad.

Another prevalent theme is marriage and the social circumstances women faced in a patriarchal society.  In current society in many parts of the world, women aren’t limited by social circumstances or marital status; they are free to obtain education, pursue careers, own land, and much more.  There’s a stark contrast between this and the 19^th-century perspective of women.  The famous first sentence of Pride and Prejudice indicates, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”  One of the ideas this statement implies is that social status was tied closely with economic status.

The form and genre of her writing reflect the novels of the 19^th-century in its non-heroic protagonists, less formal tone, everyday content, and personal experience.  Jane Austen drew upon her own personal experience in writing her novels. 

Image Source: Persuasion (via Girl ebooks Blog)

Cantor, Paul A. "A Class Act: Persuasion and the Lingering Death of the Aristocracy." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by Kathy D. Darrow, vol. 222, Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1420097305/LitRC?u=byuprovo&sid=LitRC&xid=5bc9435d. Accessed 19 Oct. 2018. Originally published in Philosophy and Literature, vol. 23, no. 1, Apr. 1999, pp. 127-137.