Persuasion

             Jane Austen presents a changing society in which the best characters are not of the best classes necessarily.  On the one hand the reader is presented with a Sir Walter Elliot, who is the highest class of the primary characters in the text.  But his situation degrades in his time, and is also shown to be one of the negative personalities in the novel.  Jane Austen ascribes what is important to Sir Walter, and his juxtaposition, Admiral Croft.  Walter’s compliment of Croft was that “He should not be ashamed of being seen with him any where” (Austen 38).  In contrast Crofts compliment was that “The Baronet will never set the Thames on fire, but there seems to be no harm in him” (Austen 38).  These differences in compliments point to the differing values of the people, Walter values the look both physical and class position wise of his company, on the opposite end lies Croft, who places value on the quality of the man holistically.  These statements taken as characterization however are just that, characterization. However, considering the work is satirical the two men likely represent portions of their social strata, with Croft representing the self-made man, and Sir Walter the landed gentry.  Another important aspect to note is that the wealthiest persons in the book are self-made (withholding the exception of Mr. Elliot, who gained his wealth largely through marriage), Captain Wentworth, and Admiral Croft are both wealthy, and at the same time the character representing the landed elite is in both in debt monetarily, and weak in character.

            Another notable comparison is the characters of both Wentworth and Mr. Elliot, the representation of the self-made, and gentry youth respectively.  Wentworth is presented as a moral paramount, kind, honorable, courteous and respectful.  Mr. Elliot also appear to be a good enough character on the surface, but is in reality a manipulative plotter.  So in many ways Austen portrays the faults of the elite in the way she creates the elite characters, presenting them as greedy, overly proud, deceitful and envious, while on the opposite end portrays the everyman as the paragon of moral virtue.  Ultimately the self-made man can also be seen as the winner in the courtship of Anne, and Wentworth, not Mr. Elliot is ultimately successful in the pursuit.

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Persuasion. Mineola: Dover Publications, 1997. Print.