More handpicked essays just for you.
Jane Austen as a social norm novelist
Jane Austen in social class
Jane austens views on social class in pride and prejudice
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the early 1800s Jane Austen wrote what would be her last novel, Persuasion. Persuasion is set during the “Georgian Society” which greatly affects the character's views and actions throughout the novel. Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth quickly fell in love when Anne was just nineteen years old, but because he wasn't wealthy enough, Anne was not given the permission by her father, Sir Walter, to marry him. Eight years after this incident, the roles have reversed; Sir Walter has lost all of his money and Frederick Wentworth is now known as Captain Wentworth. Throughout the novel, Anne tries to overcome struggles with social class in order to fulfill her longing of being with Captain Wentworth. Therese Anderson's statement about the foundation of society in “The Importance of Class and Money” justifies the actions of those in Persuasion. “Marx argued that the real foundation of society was the economic structure, that political and legal superstructures rose from this... it is on the contrary their social existence which determines their consciousness” (1-2). Sir Walter focuses only on the economic factor which is what creates his narcissistic personality. Because of Captain Wentworth's lack of social class, Anne Elliot is unable to further her love and commitment for him. Jane Austen uses heavy irony throughout the plot line to show that there is no correlation between the amount of money one has and their quality of love. The difference in social class between Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth affect their ability to get married. Sir Walter doesn't like the idea of having equality with men in the service, because he thinks it makes them unworthy of certain attributes, which is not uncommon for this time period. In this situ... ... middle of paper ... ... Factor” Jasna. 1984. Web. 28. Feb. 2014 Works Consulted Armstrong, Nancy. Persuading the Navy Home: Austen and Married Women's Professional Property. JSTOR. JSTOR, 2004. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. Duffy, Joseph M. Structure and Idea in Jane Austen's “Persuasion.” JSTOR. JSTOR, 1954. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. Eagleton, Terry. Marxism and Literary Criticism. Berkeley: University of California, 1976. Print. “Marxism.” Alpha History. 2005. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. Monaghan, David M. The Decline of the Gentry: a Study of Jane Austen's Attitude to Formality in Persuasion. JSTOR. JSTOR, 1969. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. “Political Changes.” HistoryLearningSite. 2013. Web. Jan 15. 2014. Stevens, Laura M. Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature. JSTOR. JSTOR, 1982. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. Young, Kay. Feeling Embodied: Consciousness, Persuasion, and Jane Austen. JSTOR. JSTOR, 2003. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.
Fowler, Karen J.Introduction. Persuasion. Jane Austen: The Complete Novels. By Jane Austen. New York: Penguin, 2006. 1091-1231. Print.
Wallace, Tara Ghoshal. Jane Austen and Narrative Authority. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. 17-30.
Southam, B.C., (ed.), Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage. Landon, NY: Routledge & Kegan Paul - Barres & Nobel Inc., 1968.
To summarize Persuasion, Anne Eliot, on the advice of her friends and family, declined the marriage proposal of a naval captain named Wentworth eight and a half years prior to the start of the story. Wentworth was not thought of as noble prospect for the daughter of a baronet by Anne’s friends and family. In search for a wife, Captain Wentworth returns home only this time he would be consider a noble prospect for Anne to marry due to the fact that he is rich from prizes taken in the war. Even though the captain shows disdain and is cold
New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1979. Le Faye, Deirdre, ed. Jane Austen's letters, 3rd. ed. Oxford University Press, 1995.
Johnson, Claudia Durst, ed. Issues of Class in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Persuasion, by Jane Austen is a story of a maturing heroine and her second chance at love. Eight years before Persuasion picked up the story, Anne Elliot let herself be persuaded to refuse the man she loved because her family and friends told her she was above him. He left, his heart broken, and resented her for the next eight years. She never loved anyone else, and at the start of this romance novel, she was twenty seven years old, and unmarried. In Persuasion, Austen provides a character study of Anne Elliot who transforms from an easily persuaded young girl to a strong, independent woman; and in doing so changes the lense through which her family, friends and the man she loves view her.
Vanity is a reoccuring theme in Persuasion and is particularly portrayed through the character of Sir Walter Elliot and it is evident that the cause of this is the abundance of wealth that seemingly elavates the upper classes. His arrogance is immediately highlighted in chapter one where the narrator declares how “vanity was the beginning and end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character.” He prides his appearance and that of others beyond most things, even his daughter Anne who he can find “little to admire in.” His disaproval evokes his own self importance as her “delicate features an...
Austen. Critical Insights: Jane Austen. 2010: 8-14. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
...an only find true happiness in marriage with someone who shares similar manners and treasure people’s qualities over their look and status. This is when Anne’s sensibility allows her to disregard her family’s persuasion and become determined to fulfill her love with Wentworth.
Over the centuries, women’s duties and roles in the home and in the workforce have arguably changed for the better. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen teaches the reader about reputation and love in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries by showing how Elizabeth shows up in a muddy dress, declines a marriage proposal and how women have changed over time. Anything a woman does reflects on her future and how other people look at her. When Elizabeth shows up to the Bingley’s in a muddy dress, they categorize her as being low class and unfashionable. Charles Bingley, a rich attractive man, and his sister had a reputation to protect by not letting their brother marry a ‘low class girl’.
Shannon, Edgar F. `Emma: Character and Construction', Jane Austen: Emma, (130-147) London: MacMillan & Co. Ltd., 1968.
Kaplan, Deborah. Structures of Status: Eighteenth-Century Social Experience as Form in Courtesy Books and Jane Austen's Novels. Diss. University of Michigan, 1979.
In order to analyze Austen’s treatment of class system in Persuasion, the novel can be split into two somewhat contradictory halves. Austen spends much of the first half of the novel attempting to convince the audience of the importance of a system of manners, upon...
Fergus, Jan. “Biography.” The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen. Ed. Janet Todd.