Jane
Austen’s tale of Persuasion fascinates me on an entirely different level than
her other novels have. The main character – Anne Elliot – is one of such beautiful strength that it leaves all her others, in my opinion, behind.
“But Anne, with an elegance of mind and sweetness
of character, which must have placed her high with any people of real
understanding, was nobody with either father or sister; her word had no weight,
her convenience was always to give way – she was only Anne.”
How
do you explain a person with enough character to always do right by everyone
else? To put their happiness, their joy, their hope for a future beyond her
own? How do you find words to explain someone who, while in the very depths of
love itself, would leave behind the only person who has ever truly loved her
back as she ought to be loved, to make others happier?
Anne
Elliot is extraordinary not because she speaks her mind, or weaves words of
elegance, or is the funniest, prettiest, best character to read. In fact,
through much of the book, you hear very little of what she says. But her
strength is the way she faces every pain and evil put upon her with grace.
She’s
thought of as nothing by her family, her opinion only sought to settle debates,
which she avoids so as no one will be angry with her. Her joy only thought of
by a few, and even then only after everyone else’s. Everyone uses her to voice
their complaints of everyone else, and then insists upon her solving their
problems.
The
book takes place many years after Anne’s youthful romance was cruelly ended by meddling
family and friends. Her former love – Captain Wentworth – returns to the
countryside near her and the grounds under which he was disapproved before have
become nothing: as now he is a navy captain. Most were unaware of the
attachment or didn’t care, as “after all, it is only Anne”, and hardly even
remembering him at all. In fact, now he is held in the highest regards by
everyone.
And
so, sweet Anne, must now sit through endless conversations on his worth, his wonderful
manners, his kindness, and how loved he is by everyone. Sweet Anne, who had
been promised to marry him, and is not yet over the pain of the forced separation.
Things
do not get better from there for our precious Anne. Indeed, they get worse.
Captain Wentworth doesn’t only ignore her with icy politeness, but she
overhears conversations with him to other young ladies that insinuate how weak-minded
and – indeed – pathetic he found her behavior for backing out of their engagement.
He makes it clear that he is only looking for a young lady who cannot be
persuaded by others.
Now
in close circles with him once again, as a favorite among the ladies, she
watches as there is a war for his affections. With grace, she keeps her
silence. With grace, she converses politely about him with everyone. And with
grace, she listens as her sister and her husband make bets on which young lady
will end up Captain Wentworth’s wife.
Yet, despite it all, and the years of separation,
she still loves him.
I will not tell you how the book goes from there,
only that there’s much more to the tale of Anne Elliot. I found this book of
Miss Austen’s the most compelling of her work, the most baffling. I could not
predict the next turn, and often was surprised by the newest developments. And
through it all, I found myself surprised again and again by Anne’s strength of
character, in a family that had little care for such things.
I think she is a beautiful example for how we
should face life, yet with captivating flaws that keep her a realistic heroine.
Persuasion is, by far, my favorite classic I’ve
read.
