In today’s world, no matter what scale or situation, there are advisors or counselors for those in need. Whether it is the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or an average-Joe, both pursue advice from a trusted professional, for example, a financial advisor or a therapist. Has it always been like this? Have all spectrums of the social sphere sought out counsel from trusted individuals? In her novel, Persuasion, author Jane Austen examines the relationship between advisor and advisee during the eighteenth century. While not all classes are accounted for, Austen depicts the relationship by using a wealthy family, the Elliot’s, and their family friend/advisor, Lady Russell. The Elliot family consists of Sir Walter and his three daughters, Elizabeth, Anna, and Mary. Lady Elliot died some fourteen years prior to novel’s main setting. Lady Russell was Lady Elliot’s best friend and since her death, she has remained close with the Elliot’s especially her goddaughter and the middle child, Anne. Lady Russell is the most persuasive character and describes the role of advisors in an individual’s ethical decision-making process throughout the novel. Two instances demonstrate Lady Russell’s persuasion and its effectiveness, Sir Walter’s spending habits problem and Anne’s decision whether to marry Captain Fredrick Wentworth or not.
As a jab towards the upper class of her time, Austen’s Sir Walter is a conceited, silly, vain, man with a problem of extravagantly overspending. (5) His irresponsibility has brought debt onto the family. Lady Russell, along with help from another family friend, Mr. Shepherd, devised a plan to free the Elliot’s of their debt. First, they suggested that Sir Elliot cut his spending, a concept, which strongly he o...
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... was wrong in her advice, she was in the right to offer her opinion, further proves the importance of an advisor in the role of an individual’s decision-making process.
Austen, through the events in her novel Persuasions, proves that advisors do have a very important role in the decision-making process of an individual. They are there to guide the advisee when facing a tough decision, or when a change in lifestyle must be made for the better. Advisors might not always be right, and can even misguide the advisee, but they are doing so with the right intentions in mind. Austen’s closing to the novel leaves the reader questioning the advisor role and importance, but as Anne admitted, despite the classic Austen fashion of ending novels with a happy ending, Lady Russell was in the right to misguide Anne at such a young age. Everything seemed to work out in the end.
Through the character of Silas, Howells illustrates the themes of affluence, ambition, rise/fall as Silas undergoes challenges with social standings throughout the novel. One would think that as a result of Silas’ huge fortune attained through his work in the paint business, that he would rank high in the social standings. However, in giving the reader a clearer sense of the Lapham’s wealth, Howells states, “They went upon journeys, and lavished upon cars and hotels; they gave with both hands to their church and to all the charities it brought them acquainted with; but they did not know how to spend on society” (pg. 25). Howell’s parallel structure in repeating “they” followed with a distinct action- evidenced through the words went, lavished, and gave— emphasizes and builds momentum to the contrast seen in the phrase “they did not know” in referring to their inability to connect with society. Due to Silas’ extreme wealth in addition to his exceedingly strong desire to ...
The first sentence of Persuasion commences with; “Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage.” This opening immediately introduces us to the fact that one of the main themes of the novel is the concept of the class system. With “Sir”, we immediately see that Walter Elliot holds one of the highest positions of social rank. We can also see that Mary has wed “Charles Musgrove, Esq. of Uppercross.”
situation is best summed up in the book by Jane Austen as we are given
Jane Austen completes her story with a “Cinderella ending” of Catherine and Henry marrying. However, her novel is more than a fairytale ending. Although often wrong and misguided in their judgments, she shows the supremacy of males that permeated throughout her society. Jane Austen takes us from a portrayal of men as rude, self-centered, and opinionate to uncaring, demanding, and lying to downright ruthless, hurtful, and evil. John Thorpe’s and General Tilney’s total disregard for others feelings and their villainous ways prove Austen’s point. Whether reading Northanger Abbey for the happy ending or the moral lesson, this novel has much to offer.
Johnson, Claudia Durst, ed. Issues of Class in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
In the term of realism, Emma’s society value view represented the problematic old society. Austen was very suspicious to sustain the significance of social class construction in “Emma.” The exi...
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...
Each of Jane Austen’s characters in her novel, Pride and Prejudice, experiences a significant character development. Whether the change occurs by self-realization or through the assistance of another character varies from each individual character. For Austen’s leading man, Mr. Darcy, his character improvement is documented through his two marriage proposals to Elizabeth Bennet and her subsequent first rejection of his proposal. His first proposal demonstrates his extreme arrogance, elitism, and blindness to his many flaws. While his latter proposal shows not only the recognition of his deficiencies, but the overall improvement in his mentality. Mr. Darcy’s two proposals, though having the same intended end result, are completely different
Web. 12 Apr. 2014. Wikipedia.org. Jane Austen. Landed Gentry.
This novel is mainly focused on Elizabeth Bennet as she struggles to overcome her prejudices about Darcy, a rich and handsome suitor who has taken a liking to her, while the tales of the other Bennet sisters as they grapple with their own prejudices and search for the truth unfolds concurrently. Jane Austen suggests through events in the novel that structuring the truth to fit one’s personal idealism and prejudices can unfairly color one’s opinion of another and inhibit one from finding self-fulfillment. The interplay between truth and idealism will be explored in this essay by analyzing how idealism influences truth, the difference between the idealistic interpretation and reality in Pride and Prejudice, and the effect of using idealism to construe the
The short story Girl written by Jamaica Kincaid is a mother’s compilation of advice, skills, and life experience to her daughter. The mother believes that her offer of practical and helpful guidance will assist her daughter in becoming a proper woman, and gaining a fulfilling life and respectable status in the community. Posed against the mother’s sincere concern for her daughter’s future is Sir Walter’s superficial affection to his daughters in the novel Persuasion written by Jane Austen. Due to his detailed attention for appearance and social rank, Sir Walter has been negligent to his daughters’ interests and fails to fulfill his responsibility as a father. Throughout both literary works, the use of language and tone towards persuasive endeavors reveals the difference in family dynamics and the success of persuasion on the character’s transformation.
In her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen brought to life the struggles and instability of the English hierarchy in the early 19th century. Through the heartaches and happiness shared by Elinor Dashwood, who represented sense and her sister Marianne, who stood for sensibility, Austen tells a story of sisters who plummet from the upper class to the lower crust of society and the characters that surround them. Austen juxtaposes the upper and lower classes in English society to give the reader a full understanding of the motivation to be a part of the upper class and the sacrifices one will give up to achieve such status. Austen exposes the corruptness of society, the significance of class and the fundamental building blocks both are to the decision-making surrounding her protagonists, Marianne and Elinor.
In the article "Pride and Prejudice": Power, Fantasy, and Subversion in Jane Austen of Judith Lowder Newton, Judith Lowder Newton determines the comparison between the socioeconomic factors of men and women in the novel and in the eighteenth century of the English society.
Austen was raised in an unusually liberal family where her father was a part of the middle-landowning class. They had a moderate amount of luxuries, but were not considered well off. Unlike many girls of her time Austen received a fairly comprehensive education. She received this mainly through the undivided support of her family. Austen and her sisters, like most girls of their time, were homeschooled. Austen’s zealous parents encouraged the girls to play piano, read and write. Her parent’s encouragement led to her interest in writing. Austen’s father housed an extensive library filled with books which kept Austen occupied for years (“Sense and Sensibility” 119). Through her observant nature and passion to read and write, Austen was able to eloquently write of the many “hidden truths” of social and class distinction during her time. They included daily societal changes some of which foreshadowed future societal leniency. Familial support also extended societal norm of marriage. Her parents attempt...
Jane Austen’s works are characterized by their classic portrayals of love among the gentry of England. Most of Austen’s novels use the lens of romance in order to provide social commentary through both realism and irony. Austen’s first published bookThe central conflicts in both of Jane Austen’s novels Emma and Persuasion are founded on the structure of class systems and the ensuing societal differences between the gentry and the proletariat. Although Emma and Persuasion were written only a year apart, Austen’s treatment of social class systems differs greatly between the two novels, thus allowing us to trace the development of her beliefs regarding the gentry and their role in society through the analysis of Austen’s differing treatment of class systems in the Emma and Persuasion. The society depicted in Emma is based on a far more rigid social structure than that of the naval society of Persuasion, which Austen embodies through her strikingly different female protagonists, Emma Woodhouse and Anne Eliot, and their respective conflicts. In her final novel, Persuasion, Austen explores the emerging idea of a meritocracy through her portrayal of the male protagonist, Captain Wentworth. The evolution from a traditional aristocracy-based society in Emma to that of a contemporary meritocracy-based society in Persuasion embodies Austen’s own development and illustrates her subversion of almost all the social attitudes and institutions that were central to her initial novels.