Chapter I: Introduction
Jane Austen’s Life
and Works
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born at Stevenson
Parsonage, Hampshire, England she was the seventh child of eight children. She
was educated, in the main, by her minister-father. She began her literary career
by writing parodies with satire and irony tools and sketches for the amusement
of her family. In 1801, the Austen family moved to Bath in an attempt to
restore the health of her father. After her father’s death in 1805, they moved
to Southampton, and finally to Hampshire in 1809. Though her life was
uneventful, placid, and circumscribed, Jane Austen was highly sensitive to what
went on around her. Jane Austen as a novelist is noted for her witty studies of
early-19th-century English society. Austen has portrayed the quiet, day-to-day
life of members of the upper middle class. Her works combine romantic comedy
with social satire and psychological insight.
Two common themes in Austen’s books are the loss of
illusions—usually leading characters to a more mature outlook and the clash
between traditional moral ideals and the everyday demands of life. In most of
her novels, her characters correct their faults through lessons learned as a
result of tribulation. Because of her sensitivity to universal patterns of
human behavior, many people regard Austen as one of the greatest novelists of
her age.
She encountered with different types of
difficulties most of her among the same kind of people about whom she
wrote. Her lifelong companion and
confidant was her older and only sister, Cassandra. Neither of them ever
married. Jane Austen had almost no formal education, but she read extensively
and critically. At the age of 13, she was already writing amusing and didactic
parodies and variations on 18th and 19th century
literature based on sentimental to historical novels.
By the time she was 23 years old, Austen had written
three novels: Elinor and Marianne
(1793), First Impression (1796) and Susan (1793); Sense and Sensibility
(1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), and Northanger Abbey (1818)
are also her other novels. All of Austen’s novels were
originally published anonymously. Several of them went through two editions in
her lifetime. Her observation on the manners of her time and of her class have
been incorporated in her novels: Sense
and Sensibility (1811), Pride and
Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park
(1814), Emma (1816) and Persuasion (1818).
The main theme of Austen’s
first full novel, Sense and Sensibility (1811), is that sensibility, responsiveness, openness
and enthusiasm are highly desirable but they must be tempered by good sense and
prudence. Her novel Pride and Prejudice
(1813) has satirized the attitudes of the rural middle and upper middle
classes. Austen has centered her story on the Bennett daughters: Elizabeth,
Jane, and Lydia. Elizabeth, a spirited girl, is “prejudiced” against the
wealthy land owner. The central character of Mansfield Park
Persuasion opens with a brief history
of the Elliot family. We learn that the Elliots are a respected, titled,
landowning family. Lady Elliot, Sir Walter's wife died fourteen years ago and
left him with three daughters: Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary. Both Elizabeth and
Anne are single, but Mary, the youngest is married to a wealthy man named
Charles Musgrove; they live close by. Sir Walter, who lavishly overspends, has
brought the family into great debt. When Lady Russell, a trusted family
advisor, suggests the Elliots to reduce their spending, Sir Walter is
horrified. He is exceedingly vain and cannot bear to imagine life without his
usual comforts. But with no other option, the Elliots decide to relocate to a
house in Bath
where their expenses will be more manageable. They intend to rent the family
estate, Kellynch Hall.
They soon find excellent tenants,
the Croft family, to rent their home. Admiral and Mrs. Croft are wealthy and
well-mannered Navy people who have a model marriage. Sir Walter is relieved
that the Admiral Croft is a good-looking man. Though Sir Walter dislikes that
the Navy brings men of obscure birth into undue distinction, he is satisfied
with Admiral Croft and Mrs. Croft as tenants for his home. Anne Elliot, the
middle daughter, is also excited to meet the Crofts; Mrs. Croft is the sister
of the man to whom Anne loves. Eight years ago, she was engaged to be married
to Captain Frederick Wentworth, but Lady Russell persuaded her that Captain
Wentworth was not a man of high consequence, and Anne called off the
engagement. With the Crofts at Kellynch, Anne hopes to see Captain Wentworth
again.
Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Mrs.
Clay leave for Bath .
Anne goes to stay with her sister Mary at Uppercross Cottage for a period of
two months. Mary complains often and Anne patiently listens to her sister's
worries. At Uppercross, Anne finds the Musgrove family absolutely delightful.
Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove have three grown children: Charles (Mary's husband),
Henrietta, and Louisa.
Captain Wentworth proposes them to
take a trip to visit his friends, the Harvilles. While they are there, a
good-looking gentleman takes notice of Anne; they later discover that this man
is Mr. Elliot, Anne's cousin and Sir Walter's heir to Kellynch. The group
decides to go for a morning walk on the beach. Louisa Musgrove has a bad fall
and is knocked unconscious. Anne keeps a level head and does all she can to
care for Louisa. The doctor assures that Louisa will recover, but she will have
to remain in Lyme for several months. Captain Wentworth blames himself for
Louisa's fall and tries to help the Musgrove family. Anne returns to Uppercross
to help Mr. and Mrs. Musgrove for caring their younger children. After a few weeks,
she leaves to stay with Lady Russell.
After Christmas, Lady Russell and
Anne decide that they must rejoin the rest of the Elliot family in Bath. Much
to Anne's dismay, Sir Walter and Elizabeth care little about her, but they are
glad to have her come to Bath. In Bath, she is formally introduced to her
cousin Mr. Elliot, who has made peace with his once estranged uncle Sir Walter.
Though she questions Mr. Elliot’s motives for his sudden apology, she accepts
him as a pleasing gentleman. Mr. Elliot is extraordinarily appreciative of
Anne, and it is soon apparent that he seeks to make her his wife. Anne learns
about Mr. Elliot's hidden past from her old school friend Mrs. Smith. Anne is
appalled to hear this news.
The Crofts arrive in Bath with news
of two engagements; Henrietta will marry her cousin Charles Hayter, and Louisa
will marry Captain Benwick, a man she met at Lyme while she was convalescing.
Anne is happy that Captain Wentworth is not promised to Louisa and is free once
again. Captain Wentworth soon arrives in Bath .
He is now a much richer man than he was eight years ago and Sir Walter
reluctantly admits him into their social circle. Wentworth grows jealous
because he believes Anne is attached to her cousin Mr. Elliot. Yet he writes
Anne a love letter in which he pours and describes his true, constant, and
undying love for her. Anne is thrilled and they become engaged. Finally, Sir
Walter and Lady Russell give their approval for the marriage between Anne and
Captain Wentworth.
Thus, after long patience and
courage, Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth got success in their true love as a
marriage. They became very happy. The great novelist Jane Austen has drawn the
real meaning of love and marriage against traditional orthodox marriage in her last
famous novel.
Literature
Review
Persuasion is a word derived from the
Latin for "advising" or "urging" for recommending that it
is good to perform or not perform a particular action. Persuasion by definition is a form of education: an education with
a particular point of view designed to change an impressionable individual's
mind.
Actually,
change is symptom of development, and development means generating newness out
of degenerating old. While there is development, there the old values collapse;
Persuasion has received highly intelligent criticism in recent years. As a
great novelist of Victorian period, her novels have always become popular and
literary property for the people of all the generations. Critics have been
concerned with the 'personal' quality of the novel and the problems it poses
for biographical interpretation. We find a lot of critics on her. Tony Tanner a
well known critic for Persuasion says
about the novel:
‘Persuasion’ implies some sort and source of
‘authority’- preferably moral authority;
mere power can work by simple imperatives or prohibitions backed up by force.
But what is striking about the world of persuasion is the absence of any real
centre or principle of authority. Among the possible traditional sources of
authority we might include the family . . . or true love so certain of itself that it
becomes self-authorizing.(109)
A
well known critic V. Rai remarks that Persuasion
is a love story which ends happily. According to him, her style is logical and
lucid, with balance and antithesis, but free from rhetorical flourishes and
purple patches. She employs elevation of language for producing ironical
effects and shows such other traits as detachment, objectivity and conscientiousness
(81).
D.W
Harding considers Lady Russell as Anne’s god mother and says that Anne cannot
blame Mrs. Russell in spite of wrong advice about her relationship with Captain
Wentworth:
The novel opens with her being completely
convinced of the wrongness of the advice she received, and yet strongly
attached to Lady Russell still and unable to blame her. Her attitude is, and
throughout the book remains, curiously unresolved. . . . But for all that the
rest of the book shows Anne repeatedly resisting fresh advice from her
god-mother and being completely vindicated in the upshot. (273)
In
the context of showing fewer charming and fewer bores about the novel Persuasion next well known critic Gene
W. Ruoff focuses that Persuasion embraces
fewer charming eccentrics and tolerates fewer bores, and it proposes few
startling information after the close of its dramatic action: no Kitty to be
“improved,” no Marianne to learn to love Colonel Brandon, no Sir Thomas Bertram
to gain a rejuvenated sense of parental responsilibility (54).
Marriage
represents the real social life of 19th century intending this point
J.P Brown Professor English Department at Boston University says:
That in
Jane Austen marriage represents reorganization of social life. Anne sees her
marriage in part as the formation of a new social group, and regrets that in
that respect she can offer so little: “[Anne] had no other alloy to the
happiness of her prospects, than what arose from the consciousness of having no
relations to bestow on him which a man of sense could value. There she felt her
own inferiority keenly” . . . . The marriage that ends Persuasion is viewed [.
. .]. (77)
Susan
Morgan Professor of English at Miami University a renowned critic puts her view
about action of Persuasion that the
action of Persuasion is the course of
renewing love with Captain Wentworth and renewing hope with Anne. Produced by
that conversation in the octagon room before the concert when Anne first
concludes that “all declared that he had a heart returning to her at least”. Persuasion is above all a love story,
one in which love reawakens love in a reciprocal cycle of feeling (81). (? )
Pain
is the sign of struggle in life. To get some, it is necessary to invest in the
indicated sector. Perhaps that’s why, a famous critic John Wiltshire in “Persuasion: The Pathology of Everyday
Life”adds:
Persuasion
depicts spiritual or mental pain and physical pain in the same terms, as
when Wentworth speaks of Ben wick’s ‘pierced, wounded, almost broken’ heart.
It’s concerned with the ways people adjust to loss, or curtailment of life and
live through, or cope with, its deprivations. Mrs. Smith appears now as an
important figure, a significant commentary on the position of Anne.(175)
By
presenting the value of the word of Anne Elliot to indicate the weight of Jane Austen’s
novel Persuasion famous critic Stuart
M. Tave intends that Persuasion is to
say that it begins when Anne’s word has no weight and it ends when her word pierces
a man’s soul (11).
In
the context of Persuasion, a renowned
critic Claudial L. Johnson views:
Persuasion
is above all the last novel, the apparent conclusion that determines the shape
of everything that has come before. The critical tradition has designated Persuasion the “ autumnal “ novel, and
this adjective brings with it a parcel of value-laden and often quite
pedestrian assumptions about both the course of Austen’s career and the course
of literary history in general. (143)
In
the introduction part of Jane Austen The Critical Heritage, Moyra
Humpries delivers a stern admonition to readers who have biased attitudes
towards women novelists. Specially, she also mobilized the girls and said,
‘Girls who complain that life is dull should read Miss Austen’s novels’ (88)( Emma is representative of feminist
voice) To check it.
By
emphasizing on the social threats to woman’s autonomy, a well-known critic
Adela Pinch says that in Persuasion, Austen registers the social threats to
women’s autonomy, but is skeptical of offering up consciousness as a realm of
freedom impervious to others. The novel warns that mental space is always
impinged upon (223). The love plots, far from freeing Anne from the pressure of
others, structure the representation of her consciousness in a way that
heightens their effects. Austen represents consciousness as a form of
resistance only by showing how it is paid over with recollections.
In
the life many ups and downs come, sometime forward and sometime backward they
are the sign of innovations. In the context of Persuasion, Claude Rawson denotes:
Persuasion
also shows change, prefiguring Sanditon
in some ways, but its innovations similarly look forward and backward. Its
accentuated‘ romantic’ emphasis does not signal any abandonment of satire, and
some traditional satiric routines are closely bound up with what is regarded as
one of the innovative features of Austen’s style, her use of free indirect
speech‘.(228)
The
most popular critic Harold Bloom says that that kind of communication in Persuasion depends upon deep
“affection,” a word that Austen values over “love.” “Affection” between woman
and man, in Austen, is the more profound and lasting emotion. (2)
By
showing the easy generalization and requirement of discrimination of all Jane
Austen’s major works, renowned critic A. Walton Litz comments :
Of all Jane Austen’s major works, Persuasion suffers the most from easy
generalizations, and requires the most minute discriminations. For example, my
own remark that ‘more than has been generally realized or acknowledged, [Jane
Austen] was influenced by the romantic poetry of early nineteenth century . . .
but I now feel that it needs severe
definition.(36)
In
Miss Austen’s six novels J. Kavanagh says
that Jane Austen presents “an interpretation of life” (18). Moreover, these
views of Kavanagh and Simpson couldn’t have immediate effects on Austen. Austen
was simply taken as a popular monotonous epithet like real and natural. The
interpretation of Austen’s circle was that she creates her factious characters
and kind of situations and interest that we encounter in our actual life. (a study of irony In Jane Austen’s Emma By
Dev prd Rai.) To check it.
While
commenting about Persuasion, David
Daiches talks of Jane Austen as an uncommon sort of novelist and her typical
heroine, Anne Elliot:
A heroine, who can admit, after eight years of
bitter regrets at having to part with a man whom she loved and who loved her,
that the person who parted them may have been right after all, at least in some
sense, is an uncommon sort of heroine in English fiction. But then Jane Austen
is an uncommon sort of novelist, a novelist of manners with a brilliant ironic
with, an affectionate understanding of the ordinariness of human life, a
mastery of plot structure, . . . all her novels. (765)
To
the context of Persuasion, David
Daiches says that Jane Austen brought the novel of family life to its highest
point of perfection. Her novels are full of domestic life. He says “in the
duties, errands, engagements, irritations, worries and pleasures of daily
domestic life” her novels are able to follow the exact carve of experience, and
render it with a precision that inevitably suggests, if not love, then that
special relationship with one’s subject that artist’s form of love. This is far
from photographic realism. The moral pattern is always strong in Jane Austen’s novel,
Persuasion. The gradations of
character and action create a background of moral feeling that is rich yet
hidden (764).
Legouis
and Cazamian, the French critics, in History
of English Literature make very important comment about Jane Austen as a
novelist of the classical temperaments:
In Mansfield
Park and Persuasion there is a warming of the thought, a greater tenderness
of feeling, and an easier reconciliation with the tone of the epoch. She allows
it to be seen here that sees not in complete agreement with the hierarchy of
social order. But to the end her vision of life remains primarily clear, though
not dry. (965-70)
Marvin
Mudrick’s article “Jane Austen: Irony as Defense and Discovery” (1-2) is
probably the most original and fully developed interpretative study of Jane
Austen. It takes Austen as: “having a relationship to the social world” (1-2).
It does not only talk about her use of irony but it also shows the major theme
of her novels. I.e. irony. And the development of her irony is determined by
her temperament, sometimes employed by the novelist as a defense against of her
own personal involvement and still sometimes employed as a means of exploration
devising the essential significance of a character and situation. (Dev Rai )
Thus,
Jane Austen has been commented by many famous critics about her work and life
dint her popularity and fame as a great novelist in her time. Most of the
critics agree that the real picture of 19th century society is the
main theme of the novel. In the II chapter ‘Realism’ is discussed as a
‘Theoretical Modality’ which will help to study the Thesis topic.
Chapter II: Methodology
Realism
Realism is an ideology which
represents of reality. It studies everything from the realistic point of view
and realistic picture of life. In literature, realist writers have attempted to
sketch the various aspects of life. This literary term has revealed an opinion
of 19th century writers and artistic movement. Not only is this
naturalism also supposed as an intimate part of realism which began in France
in the 1850s. The popularity of realism grew with the introduction of
photography a new visual source that created a desire for people to produce
things that look “objectively real”.
Realists positioned themselves
against romanticism. A genre dominating French literature and artwork in the
late 18th and early 19th century. Undistorted by personal
bias, Realism believed in the ideology of objective reality and revolted
against exaggerated emotionalism. Truths and accuracy became the goals of many
realists. Naturalists say that
literature has been impressed by scientific truth and animalistic feature of
characters . . . realist writers sought
to create truthful portraits but did not set out to emphasize the negative, the
distorted or ugly. ?
Realists render everyday
characters, situation, dilemmas, and objects, all in a “true to life” manner.
Realists tend to discard theatrical drama, lofty subject and classical form of
art in favor of common place themes. Many early American realists depicted
everyday life and the common person with certain affection and respect; after
the civil war, however, a disillusioned strain developed in realistic fiction
that portrayed ordinary men and women as having their share of petty vices.
Many realists, American and otherwise, have also embraced what might be termed
psychological realism as they have turned from emphasizing the accuracy of
external detail to reporting internal detail, the thought process of human mind
or consciousness. Unlike romantic writers, who emphasized emotion, imagination
and individuality.
Realism is applied by literary
critic in two diverse ways: (i) to identify, a nineteenth-century movement in
the writing of novels that included Honore de Balzac in France, George Elliot
in England, and William Dean Howells in America, and (ii) to designate a
recurrent mode, in various eras and literary forms, of representing human life
and experience in literature.
Realistic fiction is often opposed
to romantic fiction. The romance is
said to present life as we would have it be –more picturesque, fantastic, adventurous,
or heroic than actuality; realism on the other hand, is said to represent life
as it really is. This distinction in terms of subject matter, while relevant,
is clearly inadequate. Casanova, T.E Lawrence, and Winston Churchill were
people in real life, but their biographies demonstrate that truth can be
stranger than literary realism. It is more useful to identify realism in terms
of the effect on the reader: realistic fiction is written so as to give the
effect that it represents life and social world as it seems to the common
reader, evoking the sense that its characters might in fact exist, and that
such things might well happen. To achieve such effects, the novelists we
identify as realists may or may not be selective in subject matter-although
most of them prefer the commonplace and everyday over rarer aspects of life-but
they must render their materials in ways that make them seem to their readers
the very stuff of ordinary experience.
Some theorists draw the conclusion
that, since all literary representation are constituted by arbitrary convention;
there is no valid ground for holding anyone kind of fiction to be more
realistic than any other. It is, however, a matter of common experience that
some novels indeed have the effect of representation the ordinary course of
events skepticism about the possibility fictional realism is not an empirical
doctrine which is based on widespread experience in reading literature, but a
metaphysical doctrine that denies the existence of any reality that is
independent of altering human convention and culture formation.
Social Realism was a term used by
Marxist critics for novels which they held to embody or “reflect” characters
and events that accord with the Marxist view that the struggle between economic
classes is essential dynamic of society. After the 1930s, and until the recent
past, “Socialist Realism” was the official doctrine governing the literary
writings of authors in the former Soviet Union. In its crude version, it was a
term of approbation applied mainly to novels which adhere to the communist
party line and emphasize the oppressions by bourgeois capitalists, the virtues
of the proletariat, and felicities of life Soviet Socialism.
Both philosophers and literary
critics have concerned themselves with the logical analysis of the types of
sentences which constitute a fictional text, and especially with the question
of truth.
Magic Realism has a long and quite
distinctive history in Latin American criticism, was first used in a wider
post-colonial context in the foundational essay by Jacques Stephen Alexis, ‘Of
the Magical Realism of the Haitians’. Alexis sought to reconcile the arguments
of post-war, radical intellectuals in favor of social realism as a tool for
revolutionary social representation, with recognition that in many
post-colonial societies a peasant, pre-industrial population had its
imaginative life rooted in a living tradition of the mythic, the legendary and
magical. The term became popularized when it was employed to characterize the
work of South American writers widely translated into English and other
languages, such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Realism and the problem of knowledge one of the major problems
confronting Realism involves the distinction between private, public, and
so-called ontological objects. A private object is a sheer datum ( such as a
perceived patch of yellow) taken purely as an uninterpreted item in the knower’s
own inner experience; a public object that the mind has constituted as a
percept ( such as the perceived Moon)-though it is still acknowledged to be in
part mental (e.g., its yellowness; or its visual size, which is larger when it
is near the horizon); and an ontological object is the Kantian “thing in
itself” ( the Moon as it really is), which may as well consist of monads, of
God’s thoughts, of will, or of action, as of force and matter . . . . The
Idealist may, in fact, surmise that the nature of 0nta is conveyed more faithfully in the fundamental tone of the
public object- in the colours, feelings, and durations (which are of nature of
mind)- than in its specific material properties. (539)
Philosophical sense of Realism Even in philosophy Realism has a
wide range of applications. Though a definitely modern term, Realism is freely
used today for tenants of Greek and medieval epochs, as well as for the modern
period.
Basic kind of Realism Among
philosophical realisms, two fundamentally different kinds can be distinguished:
the Realism of nature and the Realism of thing. In the Realism of natures, that
which is viewed as having an existence external to the mind is an entity that,
in some sense, is set apart in the world of things-an entity that is variously
understood as the Form or Idea in which a thing participates, such as “manness”
or “bedness” , . . . In the Realism of things, on the other hand, that which is
viewed as having an existence external to the mind is the total, concrete, and
individual object of experience, which the Realist regards as retaining its
chief properties even when left unseen. (540)
Though different realism terms are described
as above mentioned to clarify realism some criticisms are kept below:
About realism’s various degrees, in
A History of Literary Criticism, M.A
Habib indicates that in England different types of novel-political, historical,
religious which had been written by major figures such as a Thackeray and
Dickens during the 19th century. But it was with the novels of
George Eliot, Antony Trallope, George Meredith and Thomas Hardy; Jane Austen
etc. are realist fiction flowered (473).
(Sher) To keepable in Literature Review.
According to Lois Tyson, for
Marxists, realism is the best form in literature because it clearly represents
the real world with all its socio-economic inequities and ideological
contradiction. It encourages readers to see the unhappy truth about material
reality. Tyson writes:
Realism, for example gives us
characters and plot as if we were looking through a window onto an actual scene
taking place before our eyes. Our attention is drawn not to the nature of the
words on the page but to the action those words convey . . . we relate to the
events in our own lives, and the characters it portrays are believable, much
like people we might meet. (66) ( Sher)
The definition about realism,
according to “The Hutchinson Encyclopedia” defines as below:
Realism in the arts
and literature generally, an unadorned, naturalistic approach to subject
matter. More specifically, realism refers to movement in mid-19th
–century European art and literature, a reaction against Romantic and classical
idealization and a rejection of conventional academic themes ( such as
mythology, history, and sublime landscapes) in favor of everyday life and
carefully observed social settings. (799)
To characterize the realistic
novel, M.H Abrams in “Glossary of Literary Terms” defines as:
The realistic novel is
characterized as the fictional attempt to give the effect of realism by
presenting complex characters with mixed motives who are rooted in a social
class, operate in a highly developed social structure; interact with many other
characters and undergo plausible and everyday modes of experiences. (132)
Showing
the opposition of Realistic fiction to romantic fiction M.H. Abram in ‘Glossary
of Literary terms’, says:
Realistic fiction is
opposed to romantic fiction. The romance is said to present life as we would
have it be more picturesque, fantastic, adventurous, or heroic than actuality;
realism, on the other hand is said to represent life as it really is. This
distinction in terms solely of subject matter, while relevant, is clearly
inadequate. . . . It is more useful to identify realism in terms of the
intended effect on the reader. Realistic fiction is written to give the effect
that represents life and social world as it seems to the common reader, evoking
the sense that its characters might in fact exist, and that such things might
well happen. (269)
Thomas Hobbes in “Answer to
Davenant’s Preface to Gondibert ” begins with a conventional review of the
major genres and then proceeds to some remarks about whether or not the poet
can properly exceed the possibility of nature in his inventions. Hobbes, in
deciding that the poet cannot do so, seems to limit the poet’s activity to a sort
of “realism.” The poet must rely on his own “experience and knowledge of
nature,” particularly human nature.(200)
By focusing on the importance of fact within
“The Experimental Novel” Emile Zola quotes:
The Experimental novel
is a consequence of the scientific evolution of the century; it continues and
completes physiology, which it leans for support on chemistry and medicine; it
substitutes for the study of the abstract and metaphysical man the study of the
natural man, governed by physical and chemical laws, and modified by the
influences of the surroundings; it is one of the literature of our scientific
age, as the classical and Romantic literature corresponded to a scholastic and
theological age. (649)
According to Oxford Dictionary Realism is a way of seeing, accepting and dealing
with situations as they really are without being influenced.
Raymond Williams says that realism
is a way of describing certain methods and attitudes in the ordinary expression
of experience. He says realism appeared as a revolt against the bourgeois view:
A common adjective
used with ‘realism’ was ‘startling’, and , within the mainstream of ‘ordinary,
contemporary, everyday reality’ a particular current of attention to the
unpleasant, the exposed, the sordid could be distinguished. Realism thus
appeared as in part a revolt against a ordinary bourgeois view of the world;
the realists were making a further selection of ordinary material which the
majority of bourgeois artists preferred to ignore. (582)
According to Pam Morris in “The Practice
of Literary Realism” says that, aesthetically, realism refers to certain modes
and conventions of verbal and visual representation that can occur at any
historical time. Yet realism is associated particularly with the secular and
rational forms of knowledge that constitute the tradition of the Enlightenment,
stemming from the growth of scientific understanding in the eighteenth century (9).
He explains about realism that the values of accuracy, adequacy and truth are
fundamental to realism. The realist literary modes of writing, broadly
speaking, present themselves as corresponding to the world as it is, using
language predominantly as a means of communication rather than verbal display.
.To show its broadest philosophical
sense, according to “The New Encyclopedia
Britannica” volume 15 William Benton, publisher 1977,
Realism is understood
in its broadest philosophical sense, Realism connotes any viewpoint that
accords to the objects of man’s knowledge an existence that is independent of
whether he is perceiving or thinking about them. Though it may seem strange to
the philosophical layman that the independent existence of objects “ out there”
should be questioned, the philosopher, faced with the many profound challenges
that idealists have posed against the independence of objects, knows that the
problem is far from trivial.
(539)
According to “Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English language”
a. Realism is a manner of treating subject matter that presents a careful description
of everyday life, usually of lower and middle classes.
b. Realism is a
theory of writing in which the ordinary, familiar, or mundane aspects of life
are represented in a straightforward or matter- of –fact manner that is
presumed to reflect life as it actually is.
By asserting nineteenth century
realism’s reflection as a blend of abstract and concrete potentiality in the
formation of character, George Lukacs in “The Ideology of Modernism” says:
“The literature of
realism, aiming at truthful reflection of reality must demonstrate both the
concrete and the abstract potentialities of human being in extreme situations
of this kind. A character’s concrete potentiality once revealed, his abstract
potentialities will appear essentially inauthentic”. (201)
Jean-Francois Lyotard in “Answering
the Question: What is Postmodernism?” argues that realism, whose only
definition is that it intends to avoid the question of reality implicated in
that of art, always stands somewhere between academicism and kitsch. When power
assumes the name of a party, realism and its neoclassical complement triumph
over the experimental avant-garde by slandering and banning it-that is,
provided the “correct” images, the “correct” narratives, the “correct” forms
which the party requests, selects, and propagates can find a public to desire
them as the appropriate remedy for the anxiety and depression that public
experiences.(307)
Legouis and Cazamian, the French
writers, in History of English Literature
say that realism is the movement of the modern English mind. They find
common traits in both the novel of sentiment and the realistic novel. They
write:
Realism was already in
existence; it had been the first to appear; Defoe had given it a very definite
expression. The middle-class spirit and the classical mind were both favourable
to it. . . . Something which is the English mind itself, this general
temperament in which the diverse tendencies of the extreme types are fused
together. . . . The access of the middle classes to social influence had
allowed this psychological mean, this average temper, to work itself out. (160)
Love and Marriage
Love is positive feeling of heart
towards anything or anybody. The positive feeling may be among brothers and
sisters, teachers and students, families and societies, countries as well as animals.
So, According to “Oxford Dictionary” love is a strong feeling of deep affection
for sb/sth. Love is universal and abstract thing. It denotes to various types
of love. Perhaps in this world, nobody is who doesn’t have love. According to
“The New Caxton Encyclopedia” Love is a sentiment of intense devotion,
affection, concern, and involvement directed towards a person, place, object,
activity, or idea. It is used commonly to describe the most profound and stimulating
relationship possible between a man and a woman, but is extended to love of
country, love of music, love of God, love of children and so forth. Love
between people has been celebrated in myth, legend, art, and biography since
the beginning of history. Sigmund Freud used love –Eros- as a psychological
concept to stand for all creative aspects of human psyche, in contrast to
Thanatos, the destructive aspect Sexual desire, or lust, although an important
part of heterosexual love, is to be distinguished from love in so far as it can
exist apart from the tenderness and concern and compassion which are regarded
as necessary components of love. Other incomplete emotions can also masquerade
as love, such as possessiveness ‘smother love’, as it has been called. Love is,
by definition, life giving and liberating. But there lies pin- pointing exactly
what love is. In the last analysis, love is the name for a profound
relationship which people experience personally.
In ancient period, human beings used to live
in the jungle. They were lover of nature. In medieval period, people started to
be attracted towards religion. They were follower of religion though they are
still following different types of religion. They loved religion and were
dedicated to God. In modern period, with the developing of human consciousness
and time, people started to love not only among the families and relatives but
among unfamiliar friends which remained as a way of getting marriage. Being
impressed from western culture young boys and girls are making love as a way of
getting marriage.
Marriage is a social custom and
bond of two opposite sexes. According to “Oxford Dictionary” marriage is the
legal relationship between a husband and wife. Man and woman are involved in
the marriage. Marriage is not possible without male and female. When they get
marriage by inco-operating with each other. They start of new couple life by
dreaming beautiful days. That’s why; According to “The New Caxton Encyclopedia”
marriage is a mating system existing in a human society, through which
co-habiting is given social and legal status and the partners and their
children are secured in accepted obligations and legitimized union is confirmed
by some kind of ceremony or ritual, also called “marriage”, which sets it off
against irregular sexual relationships, designated as pre-marital, extra-
marital, adulterous, etc. Marriage is always fundamental part of social
organization but has taken on many different forms at different times and in
different places. The commonest types of marriage are monogamy, in which only
one legal spouse is recognized, and polygamy, in which a man may have more than
one wife. Polyandry – the marriage of one woman to several men- also exists. As
well as the main types, many minor types are found and also intermediate forms,
as when concubines are accepted and given some legal rights in addition to
those conferred on the ‘first wife’. The existence of intermediate forms makes
it difficult to ascertain how there emerged the principle of emerged the
principle of monogamy interpreted as the exclusive union of one man with one
woman for life, or at any rate at one time. But the trend from polygamy (multiple
marriage) to exclusive monogamy may sometimes be observed and is perhaps to be
interpreted as the consequence of the increased emancipation of women as
society becomes more complex and educated.
Whatever the characteristics mode of marriage
in a society, it is usually controlled by a rigid system of law and custom,
often supplemented by divine sanction as in the Christian concept of ‘holy
matrimony’. Breach of law may be treated leniently or with great harshness. Nevertheless,
attempts to standardize marriage for all time break down because the the role
and relationship of men and women change within society as society changes, and
this leads to changes in the nature of the marriage relationship and,
ultimately, in the law. The attempt to maintain prescribed forms of marriage,
in spite of the tendency of societies and social relationships to change in the
course of time, is partly the reason for dual systems of organized marriage
existing together within one society. Church and register office is an
alternative in many countries. In newly- developed countries one may find, in
addition to civil and church marriage, the survival also of marriage by native
law and custom.
Before 18th and 19th
century, there was a custom of getting arranged marriage. Youths were not
allowed to love and get marriage themselves. They had to follow what their
parents said. With whom their parents decided to get her/his marriage, they had
to follow it. Though, youths were against this culture, they couldn’t have
broken this traditional culture. But when modern period took place, modern
youths started to get marriage by breaking old culture.
Now days, they get marriage through
love. Perhaps except few people, most of the people don’t get marriage without
love. Question can be arisen that Is marriage possible without love? Is love
possible without marriage? Which one is before love or marriage?
Here, love and marriage are
interrelated with each other. Love is done to get marriage and marriage is done
to get love among couples. Before 18th and 19th century,
people didn’t use to get marriage through love because traditional culture
didn’t allow them. They had to get marriage as parent’s wish. After marriage,
they get love each other. Though youths were unsatisfied with traditional
culture. They wanted to break it but couldn’t have done so. So, at that time,
marriage was before love.
But when time changed, with the
changing of time, youths started to break that traditional culture. Against of
traditional culture or feudalistic custom, they started to do love before
marriage. In this modern period (20th and 21st century),
it is taking place everywhere. Only by doing love, youths want to get marriage.
They want freedom to select their own husband or wife. So, they do love first
and get marriage. In this context, love is done before marriage.
Thus, this type of both doing love
and getting marriage, love before marriage and marriage before love is found in
Jane Austen’s novel ‘Persuasion’. She has sketched the real characterization of
arranged marriage (tradition, feudalistic, high class, bourgeoisie thought) and
its failure through Elizabethan and love marriage (modern, capitalistic, middle
class, scientific thought) and its success through Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth.
And in the present context of Nepalese society it is taking place. Nepalese
youths are also attracted towards mobile, e-mail, internet, face book which is
being a way of doing love and getting marriage.
Jane Austen is a novelist whose
works reflect the society of early 19th century. Her motive for
writing is to strip reality of individual distortion. Her prescription for
dislocation of fantasy and reality is clarity of vision and rational
interpretation of evidence that can come only with a selfless concern for
others. Jane Austen convincingly enhances the limited sphere through a
realistic portrayal of setting and character.
Now,
in third chapter textual analysis will be dealt to prove the thesis topic ‘A
Study on love and marriage in Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion’.
Chapter III: Textual Analysis
A
Study on Love and Marriage in Jane Austen’s Novel Persuasion
In the novel most of the characters
are triggered around love and marriage.
Some represent of high class
society, some represent middle class society and some represent low class
society. Among them, some show the proudness of their high class society and
not allow to marry with low class society of characters. Sir Walter Elliot does
not want to join his family’s relation with Captain Wentworth member of low
class society. But also his second daughter Anne Elliot shows her fully
dedication towards her lover Wentworth. And on the other hand, Croft’s family
is seen as an example of middle class society of peasant class. They are very
happy.
The writer informs the reader about
the family condition of Sir Walter Elliot and its relation with neighbors. In this
context, she says:
This friend, and Sir
Walter, did not marry, whatever might
have been anticipated on that head by their acquaintance. - Thirteen years had
passed away since Lady Elliot’s death, and they were still near neighbors and
intimate friends; and one remained a widower, the other a widow. (5)
The above mentioned extract shows
the relationship and family condition of Lady Russell and Sir Walter Elliot. It
was “anticipated” that Lady Russell and Walter Elliot would get married but
they remained only “intimate friends”. The above lines hint that they had a
type of love relationship which did not turn to marriage. In this family a
chaos environment takes place when Lady Elliot, life companion of Sir Walter,
passed away thirteen years ago. On another side, Lady Russell whose husband has
also left the world for ever is widow. Though, she is alone she is supporting
as a guardian to Elliot family. Mrs. Russell is happy to get them as her
intimate neighbors. They have their hidden internal interest within them which
could not be materialized because of their status and rigid norms of society.
Lady Russell has a vital role in
the novel as a god mother and friend of Anne Elliot. Lady Russell was a most
dear and “highly valued god-daughter, favorite and friend”. Lady Russell loved
them all, but it was only in Anne that she could fancy the “mother to revive
again” (6).
Here, the role of Lady Russell is very
important. She loves all and helps them indeed. The above mentioned words
“god-daughter” and “favorite, friend” hint that Anne Elliot is like a daughter,
favorite, and friend of Lady Russell. Their relation can be said of daughter
and mother. It is because they help each other in their difficulties and
problems. They solve everything by consulting each other honestly. It could be
expected that Lady Russell, god-mother of Anne Elliot, would surely help with
her love and marriage.
When Elliot family is
fallen in debt due to their aristocratic ways of living. By taking the help of
family advisor Lady Russell, she wants to bring more vigorous, complete
reformation, release, sexual justice and equity in her family. She wanted “more
vigorous measures, a more complete reformation, a quicker release from debt” (13).
According to this extract, Anne Elliot wants complete reformation in the
family. She is fond of debtless, unsown, freedom family; her words indicate
that her desire is to live on reality by decreasing over expense which may not
remain for long-lasting. Who accepts the reality he/she may be succeeding otherwise
may be failed. So, it is well to live on real base.
By knowing, Anne Elliot’s very
anxious about her family condition and behavior of her father Sir Walter Elliot
and her elder sister Elizabeth. Lady Russell persuades Anne:
‘If we can persuade
your father to all this,’ said Lady Russell, looking over her paper, ‘much may
be done. If he will adopt these regulations, in seven years he will be clear,
and I hope we may be able to convince him and Elizabeth, . . . the true dignity of Sir Walter Elliot will be
very far from lessened, in the eyes of sensible people, by his acting like a
man of principle’. (13)
The above mentioned word ‘paper’
and’ regulations’ mean that Lady Russell and Anne Elliot are planning to make
Sir Walter Elliot agree with an agreement paper which is full of strict rules
and regulations. Of course, if Sir Walter Elliot and Elizabeth agree with that
paper they will have to go to Bath where they can live in cheap expense
maintaining their own social status and in the eyes of sensible people the true
dignity of Sir Walter Elliot will be very far from lessened. Thus perhaps, Lady
Russell and Anne are able to convince them for the paper.
The leaving of Kellench Hall for Bath
is for the purpose of saving money and to fulfill their needs in cheap cost.
They are going to Bath with Mrs. Clay. Lady Russell doesn’t like Mrs. Clay
much, so she says, ‘Forming an intimacy which she wished to see interrupted’
(17). It means that the extending relationship of Mrs. Clay with Elizabeth and
Sir Walter Elliot is not good. The widowed daughter of Mr. Shepherd (advisor of
Elliot family) may draw them in wrong way and which can affect to the expected
matrimony of Elliot family that is neither desirable nor appropriate for them.
Lady Russell doubts on it. Thus here, dull concept of feudalist through Elliot
family who can’t do anything (love, marriage as well as social problems)
without their advisor (Lady Russell) is the real sketch of 19th
century society.
Anne Elliott’s interest towards the
merits of navy or sailor and Sir Walter’s objection are shown on the lines
given below:
The navy. I think, who
have done so much for us, have at least an equal claim with any other set of
men, for all the comforts and all the privileges which any home can give. Sailors
work hard enough for their comforts, we must allow: Very true, very true, what
miss Anne says is very true was Mr Shepherd’s rejoinder and ‘oh! Certainly’ was
his daughters, but Sir Walter’s remark was soon after words-‘ The profession
has its utility, but I should be sorry to see any friend of mine belonging to
it.(28)
In the given extract, the word’ The
navy’ symbolizes the sailors who do very hard work honestly. Like the saying “Honesty
is the best policy.” By looking their honesty on their profession, Anne’s
interest to them is supported by Mr. Shepherd listening to it. Sir Walter
Elliot objects to be relatives with sailors because they are known as lower
class people. High class people do not want to join their relation with lower
class people. According to them, lower class people are vagabond and poor. They
don’t have any honor. They think that their relation with lower class people is
unsuitable. It means they must make their relationships either love or marriage
in the same class of people. It is represented by Sir Walter’s character, who
is totally rooted to custom and culture but, on another side, Anne Elliot’s interest towards
navy is the reality of changing society.
The discussion among Sir Walter,
Mrs. Clay, Mr. Shepherd and Anne Elliot is about Mrs. Croft’s brother. They
keep their own view about Captain Wentworth. Here, Anne Elliot’s word
‘gentleman’ (25) indicates her positive attitude to Captain Wentworth. She is
in favor of him. So, he is addressed as gentleman by her. But Mr. Shepherd
says, “You will misled me by the term gentleman.
I thought you were speaking of some man of property: Mr. Wentworth was nobody”
(25-26). These lines satirize the social status of Wentworth. If he were of
high class family, they would accept as gentleman. It is because of his low
class of status in society. That’s why it is characterized that Anne Elliot is
internally starting to love him, whose mind is going to be wide but others are
satirizing Wentworth at his poverty.
When Mr. Wentworth and Anne Elliot
are gradually acquainted. They are internally and physically attracted with
each other. In this context, the narrator comments:
. . . Anne an
extremely pretty girl, with gentleness, modesty, taste, and feeling. Half the
sum of attraction on either side, might have been enough, for he had nothing to
do, and she had hardly anybody to love; but the counter of such lavish
recommendations could not fail. They were gradually acquainted, and when
acquainted, rapidly and deeply in love . . . . A short period of exquisite felicity
followed, and but a short one- Troubles soon arose. Sir Walter, on being
applied to, without actually withholding his consent, or saying it should never
be, gave it all the negative of great astonishment, great coldness, great
silence, and a professional resolution of doing nothing for his daughter. (28)
According to the given extract, in
the events of summer of 1806 Captain Wentworth is visiting his brother in the
area and becomes acquainted with Anne. Physically very beautiful, gentleness,
modesty young girl (Anne) and handsome Captain Wentworth are devoted to each
other from the depth of heart. They have hoped to marry but Anne is persuaded
by her father and lady Russell to end her engagement with Frederick Wentworth.
Sir Walter Elliot gets angry and strongly rejects her relationship with
Wentworth. He considers it as ‘degrading’ of his family prestige but he does
not know that his family status has already started degrading. It’s an irony.
Such advice is against her initial decision but she believes that it is right
to obey older and wiser person’s advice. Walter and Lady Russell are looking
for handsome rich man for Anne. They have got traditional feudal concept.
The main cause of rejecting Wentworth is his
social low status and poverty. He has no fortune; as a result rejection takes
place on him. He has been lucky in his profession, but spending freely what had
come freely, has realized nothing. But, he is confident that he should soon be
rich-full of life ardor; he knows that he “should have a ship, and soon be on a
station that would lead to everything he wanted . . . must have been enough for
Anne” (29). The hidden meaning of this extract is that their love is rejected
due to low social status of Wentworth then he has a type of pain of it. He determines
that he should be rich. He should earn sufficient money. He is looking its
possibility on his upgraded profession (captainship) and having his own ship.
He is confident that he will be successful after obtaining his middle class
social status. It means young generations want to be changed according to the
time. They want to destroy old traditions in relation to marriage and form
modern suitable society according to the 19th century.
After refusal the relation between Anne and
captain Wentworth was broken. The separated characters have their own pain. During
more than seven years of annulment, what happened to Anne Elliot? The following
lines describes about Anne’s condition:
More than seven years
were gone since this little history of sorrowful interest had reached its
close; and time had softened down much, perhaps nearly all of peculiar
attachment to him-but she had been too dependent on time alone; no aid had been
given in the change of place (except in one visit to Bath soon after the
rupture) or in any novelty or enlargement of society. No one had ever come
within the Kellynch circle, who could bear a comparison with Frederick
Wentworth, as he stood in her memory. (30)
The given extract indicates that
after Anne’s separation with captain Wentworth. They are on their own way.
Captain Wentworth goes to his profession for achieving his suitable social
status and aim. He works hard for it. And Anne remains at Kellench circle. She
remembers her little history of sorrowful interest. The circumstances make her
sorry. Perhaps, she is getting angry with the feudal society which follows the
same social status for. During the seven years of long disconnect, nobody comes
there to propose her for marriage. It reflects the early 19th
century societies in which high class people are not ready to stretch the
relationship to lower class people by marriage. They get same social status. This
is the great pain of youths who want to break this.
In the context of showing, Sir
Walter Elliot and Lady Russell’s vital role to break the relationship between
Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, Lady Russell says:
“How eloquent could
Anne Elliot have been- how eloquent at least, were her wishes on the side of
early warm attachment, and a cheerful confidence in futurity, against that
over- anxious caution which seems to insult exertion and distrust Providence!
She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew
older-the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning” (32).
This extract indicates the reunion
of lovers whose actions and feelings are always in reference to an earlier
courtship. When Anne Elliot grows older, it is natural to have romantic
feelings but for Elliot family, it is unnatural to make romance with a man of
lower class. Anne Elliot and Wentworth fall in love and have hoped to marry but
Anne Elliot’s family and her trusted friend, Lady Russell strongly opposes the
match. The term “romance” is used by traditionalists. But here romance does not signify spontaneous
feeling. Anne Elliot and captain Wentworth’s early involvement is discussed
rather perfunctorily. She has nothing to do and she has hardly anybody to love.
Romance comes late. The narrator stresses that it may have ‘unnatural’ origins
which defy our conventional expectations of the effect of maturation and
chronological time. In it, the realm of feeling is the realm of repetition, of
things happenings within a strong context of memory. Actually, it is the
existence of this past desire, and past submission to prohibition, that makes Anne
Elliot a “romantic” person today. Here, Sir Walter Elliot, Lady Russell and
Anne Elliot have aristocratic, proud nature. This was the realistic problems of
social adjustment in the 19th century.
The growing of Sir Walter’s
positive attitude towards the sailors (Crofts family) for the purpose of tenant
at Kellench is expected to make a suitable environment for the reunion of Anne
and Wentworth’s love. The following lines show his gradually changing
attitudes:
Sir Walter, without
hesitation, declared the admiral to be the best looking sailor he had ever met
with, and went so far as to say that, if his own man might have had the
arranging of his hair, he should not be ashamed of being seen with him
anywhere; and the Admiral, with sympathetic cordiality, observed to his wife as
they drove back through the park, “I thought we should soon come to a deal, my
dear, in spite of what they told us at Taunton”. (34)
This given extract hints that Sir
Walter Elliot accepts sailors ( Crofts family) as tenant at Kellynch hall. It
means feudalistic concept is being changed towards lower class people. For the
sake of money, Elliot family is ready to provide Kellynch hall in tenancy even
to lower class people, sailors. It indicates that they are changing their
position in society and providing Kellynch hall to Crofts family is an
indication of forming the reunion between Anne and Captain Wentworth where they
can meet and get message of each other. Favoring an environment on their side
is prediction of great achievement of their pure feel affection for and
wedding. It is real characterization of 19th century social feature.
Not Clear
When Anne comes at Upper-Cross,
Musgrove’s family becomes happy. They talk about their family circumstances.
After living of some days, again Miss Anne Elliot plans to visit Kellynch hall
where she talks to Mrs. Croft. In the talking Mrs. Croft says to Anne, “Perhaps
you may not have heard that he is married” (51). It means Mrs. Croft’s brother
is married which makes Anne sad. She gets worry. Of course, for readers it
seems irony. This incident makes Anne deeply devoted to Wentworth. She
immediately felt how reasonable it was that Mrs. Croft should be thinking and
speaking of Edward, and not of Fredrick (52). It refers to the marriage of
Edward but Anne thinks that captain Wentworth. Like this types of events are
making love between Anne and Wentworth rather deep. It is the real feeling of
reality between lovers in the 19th century society. Not Clar
In the context of showing the
nature of Charles Musgrove and Mary. In the following lines, Mary says in a
tone with great exultation:
‘I mean to go with
you, Charles, for I am of no more use at home than you are. If I were to shut
myself up forever with the child, I should not be able to persuade him to do
anything he did not like. Anne will stay; Anne undertakes to stay at home and
take care of him. It is Anne’s own proposal, and so I shall go with you, which
will be a great deal better, for I have not dined at the other house since
Tuesday.’ ‘This is very kind of Anne,’ was her husband’s answer, ‘and I should
be very glad to have you go; but it seems rather hard that she should be left
at home by herself, to nurse our sick child.’ (61)
According to the above mentioned
extract, Mary does not have proper care to her child. In stead of playing a
role of success mother, she wants to go with Charles Musgrove outside for
dining at neighbor’s home by leaving the child under care of Anne Elliot. Anne
has good knowledge for looking after the child. She loves child very much who
is helping Musgrove family. Charles is gentle and well mannered man. He maintains
his family properly even if Mary’s nature has become burden. He is impressed by
Anne. Here, Charles Musgrove represents the role of gentleman and Mary
represents modern type of role of youths who are not serious for their family
rather do romance by involving in the parties. It shows people of different
nature in early 19th century society. At that time, people used to involve
in parties. The parties were used for introducing strange boys and girls. These
gatherings and interactions paved the way for love and marriage among the
youths in the 19th century England.
The party which is organized by the
Musgrove family at Upper-Cross is for Captain Wentworth. Mary and Charles
participate at the party. While celebrating the party, there had been music,
singing, talking, laughing, all that was most agreeable charming manners in
Captain Wentworth, no shyness or reserve; they seemed all to know each other
perfectly (62). It means everybody sings and dances at music and talks and
laughs with romantic mood. At this party, everybody is charmed by Captain
Wentworth’s physical, intellectual, humour, and well manner. Of course, it is
the party where strangers get chance to know each other. It is the real sketch
of 19th century society where ‘no shyness or reserve’ beams Captain
Wentworth’s single life not joined his emotions with any other yet. It seems irony
that how Anne is helping Mary for caring her child and Mary is also helping her
for checking the current motive of Captain Wentworth and making favorable
environment for Anne. The next day of the party, when Captain Wentworth is
getting ready for shooting with Charles, Wentworth and Anne meet for short
period. They don’t talk. Anne understands it. He wishes to avoid seeing her
(62). It refers Anne’s psychological boredom. She wonders how eight years have
changed the Captain’s feeling for her. The two devotees are wandering for their
potential holy adorn and wedding.
Emerging the dual mentality of
Captain Wentworth, the narrator tells the reader as follows:
He had been most
warmly attached to her, and had never seen a woman since whom he thought her
equal; but, except from some natural sensation of curiosity, he had no desire of
meeting her again. Her power with him was gone forever. It was now his object
to marry. He was rich. . . . He had a heart for either of the Miss Musgrove’s,
if they could catch it, a heart, in short, for any pleasing young woman who
came in his way, excepting Anne Elliot. This was his only secret exception.
(65)
The given extract shows
that Captain Wentworth is in dual mentality. Now, he has made good social
status. He is rich and wealthy man. He has earned name and fame in his
profession. Everybody is charmed by him. They admire his gentleness, honesty
and honored profession, whom he had honestly loved and has still been loving
but she (Anne) had rejected him due to Lady Russell and Sir Walter Elliot’s
advice inspired by feudalistic notion. Now, Captain Wentworth is recalling the
past bitterness of rejection. This pain is making him not to love Anne at the
moment. But in reality, he can’t be going to leave her because she has been
stayed in the depth of his heart. Sometimes, he secretly makes plan to reject
love and matrimony with Anne as revenge. He can’t to do so. If he wants, he can
marry anybody either Miss Musgroves or others. It means his true love with Anne
is not letting him do so. He thinks that the feebleness of character of her is
the rejection to him by Lady Russell and Sir Walter Elliot’s traditional
notion. He can’t endure it. In pure love, forgiving on mistake is the real
contribution. That can work in Wentworth’s psychology. So, it is the realistic
sketch of early 19th century lovers.
By making progress in both money and
prestige, Captain Wentworth has come in the same social circle of middle class.
The aristocracy does not like such progress of working class people. Here, from
this time Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot were repeatedly in the same circle
(66). Captain Wentworth has uplifted himself up to the middle class society by
earning money and honor. And Anne Elliot’s family has also come down to the
same social circle of Captain Wentworth by leaving the land centered mind of
feudalistic manner. Now, they accept education and money. It is the gradual
changing society of early 19th century England. ‘The same circle’
indicates that everything moves around in the circle way in the world. Before
Captain Wentworth was poor but later he becomes richer than Sir Walter Elliot.
This makes them dine together. The separated love between Anne and Captain
Wentworth is expected to be united as the circle of time.
For the purpose of making Captain
Wentworth get marriage to any body. Satirically, Admiral Croft (brother in law)
is talking to Mrs. Croft (sister) of Captain Wentworth in their trilogies. The
following lines stress:
‘Ah! My dear,’ said
the Admiral, ‘When he has got a wife, he will sing a different tune. When he is
married, if we have the good luck to live to another war, we shall see him do
as you and I, and a great many others, have done. We shall have him very
thankful to anybody that will bring him his wife. (73)
Admiral Croft is talking to Mrs.
Croft for making Captain Wentworth get married. He says that he will dance,
sing and do romance at the nuptial ceremony of Captain Wentworth when he is
married. To get singing and dancing is an opportunity for Admiral Croft as
being brother in law of Captain Wentworth. After marriage, the couple of Captain
Wentworth will be very happy. They will pass their conjugal life romantically
as Crofts family by moving together any where. By listening to their dialogue,
Captain Wentworth cries to Admiral Croft for pinching satirically. Admiral Croft’s
motive is to make him get married soon which won’t make them worry about life
of Captain Wentworth as relatives. It presses to Wentworth for taking decision
about love and marriage very fast. Thus it is characterized about family
circumstances of early 19th century society through the characters’
role play.
Captain Wentworth makes frequent
trips to Upper-Cross to visit the Musgroves. Musgrove sisters are lured to him.
Their parents are also positive to provide him anyone. But the circumstance is
favoring Anne and Wentworth. He says, ‘I thought the Miss Musgroves had been
here. Mrs. Musgrove told me I should find them here’ (83). It means when
Captain Wentworth is looking for Miss Musgroves, he does not find them but he
meets Anne Elliot who is caring for little Charles. At their sudden visiting,
they feel happy, difficult, and nervous and confusion about how they ought to
behave and talk with each other. Their sudden meeting can be predicted to resume
their holy love affair. They are attracted to each other honestly. That is signal
of spiritual love.
Frequent visiting and walking
together of Captain Wentworth and Miss Musgroves make Anne doubtful about their
relationship. If they are internally fallen in love affair or just externally
enjoying. The following lines explain about it:
Other opportunities of
making her observations could not fail to occur . . . that Captain Wentworth
was not in love with either. They were more in love with him; yet there it was
not love. It was a little favor of admiration, but it might, probably must, end
in love with some. Charles Hayter seemed aware of being slighted, and yet
Henrietta had sometimes the air of being divided between them. Anne longed for
the power of representing to them all what they were about, and of pointing out
of same of the evils they were exposing themselves to. (86)
According to this extract, Anne is
very doubtful about the relation of Captain Wentworth and Miss Musgroves. She
wants to know the actual relation between them. If they are really fallen in
love or just externally enjoying. From the observation and experience, Anne
knows that ‘Captain Wentworth was not in love with either.’ It means Captain
Wentworth is not fallen in love with Miss Musgroves. ‘it was a little favor of
admiration’ means that though Miss Musgroves are attracted him, Captain
Wentworth slightly admires them outwardly. But it is suspected that if they
were together for long time in this way, they might fall in love some days. She
is very aware of it. Captain Wentworth may be behaving this way for attracting Anne’s
attention again. And Anne’s observation also shows that she can’t forget their
past love. It hints that they want to unite their pure love again and get married
in the future. This is the reality of lovers in the early 19th
century England.
Louisa loves Captain Wentworth, She flirts with
him, while walking in the glorious morning on the way. She says to him, ‘If I
loved a man, as she loves the Admiral, I would be always with him, nothing
should ever separate us . . . by anybody else’ (89). It seems Louisa’s an
ironical tone with Captain Wentworth. Here, Louisa is expressing her love
indirectly with him but he may be thinking his love with Anne. It is satirical.
‘If I loved a man, as she loves Admiral, I would be always with him.’ She is
metaphorically expressing with Captain Wentworth that in case she loves a man (Captain
Wentworth), she will love him as Mrs. Croft couple are living happily as an
example of married life. Louisa and her husband would also live together
happily for ever. It is only an imagination of Louisa. At that time, Captain
Wentworth may be imagining a happy conjugal life with Anne Elliot in the
future. It has sketched the characteristics of lovers and an example of happy
family of Crofts family in early 19th century society in England.
These following lines are spoken by
Captain Wentworth to Louisa Musgrove and Anne Elliot overhears them:
Here is a nut,’ said
he, catching one down from an upper bough. ‘To exemplify-a beautiful glossy
nut, which blessed with original strength, had outlived all the storms of
autumn. Not a puncture, not a weak spot anywhere.-this nut,’ he continued, with
playful solemnity, ‘while so many of its brethren have fallen and been trodden
under foot, is still in possession of all the happiness that a hazed-nut can be
supposed capable of.’ (92)
The given extract shows that
Captain Wentworth is holding a nut and describing about its characteristics. He
talks about the value of constancy and strength of character. This beautiful
nut has resisted the storms and stayed on the tree unlike like others.
Wentworth uses this nut as an illustration of the importance of determination
and firmness in one’s mind. The reader can clearly connect this to Wentworth’s
past disappointment in love; he believes that Anne Elliot broke her engagement
with him because she was not strong enough to withstand the disapproval of her
guardians. Though, she promised him her love, she reneged on her word. It is
symptom of declining of Sir Walter Elliot’s aristocratic family. Irony is an
important part of this passage. Captain Wentworth says ‘all the happiness that
a hazel-nut can be supposed capable of’, which manifests Wentworth’s
illustration. For the question of happiness and success in life. This is the
indication of declining feudalistic society like Sir Walter’s family and
upgrading of proletariat like Captain Wentworth’s social status. This changed social
status can make Anne and Captain Wentworth’s love and marriage be accepted in
the society after long period of disappointment. This is another reality of 19th
century society in England.
To show Anne’s patience for their
love, this makes Wentworth serious. On the talking, Louisa informs an
interesting piece of matter to Captain Wentworth as follows . . . we do so with that Charles had married Anne
instead. I suppose you know he wanted to marry Anne? After a moment pause,
Captain Wentworth said, Do you mean that she refused him?’ Oh! Yes, certainly.’
‘When did that happen?’ I do not exactly know, for Henrietta and I were at school
at the time; but I believe about a year before he married Marry (93). The
situation of given extract shows the love
between Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot very deep. Being very close with
Captain Wentworth, Louisa informs all the reality of her brother’s marriage.
According to her, ‘Charles married Anne instead.’ It means firstly, Charles had
proposed to Anne for marriage but she rejected it. This means she loved Captain
Wentworth. All the family members were very impressed by Anne. They were thinking
of Anne. But due to her rejection, the family was compelled to get Charles
married to Mary. When Captain Wentworth knows this information then he becomes
very serious. Withering love with Anne starts to bloom again. It is clear that these
types of episodes are making their love to achieve. Now Anne and Captain
Wentworth are very serious for their adornment and matrimony. It is the
realistic psychological trial of two lovers in early 19th century
society.
Now Anne plans to leave her sister
Mary at Upper-cross and go to stay with Lady Russell for a while. It would
place her in the same village with Captain Wentworth, with half a mile of him;
they would have frequent the same church . . . between the two families (98).
It means Anne is leaving Upper-cross to visit Lady Russell because Lady
Russell’s house is decidedly closer to Kellynch. Her meeting with Lady Russell
is to visit with Captain Wentworth where she can meet him frequently at the
same church and relation between two families would be intercoursed. It hints
that Anne and Captain Wentworth are compelled to make favorable environment for
the sake of their affection and nuptial in the future. This is the real
presentation of youths who are breaking old traditions and feudalistic concept
in 19th century society in England. Upto here Clear
Their trip at Lyme, while a party
is going to be held on, strange people are also attending there including Anne
and Captain Wentworth. When a gentleman named William Elliot looks at Anne, it seems
that he is very impressed by her. This is being noticed by Captain Wentworth.
The following lines show:
. . . Anne’s face
caught his eye, and he looked at her with a degree of earnest admiration which
she could not be insensible of. She is looking remarkably well; her very
regular, very pretty features, having the bloom and freshness of youth restore
by the fine wind which has been blowing on her complexion and by the animation
of eye which it had also produced. It was evident that the gentleman admired
exceedingly. Captain Wentworth looked round at her instantly in a way which
showed his noticing of it. (110)
The above mentioned extract shows
that Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot are being included together anywhere.
Their love is making them walk together. It seems that now Anne was checking Captain
Wentworth’s love and behavior. Like this now again after knowing about Anne’s
rejection of Charles Musgrove, Wentworth is checking her love and behavior with
William Elliot. It means they are being very attracted and paying attention to
each other. William Elliot’s glance at Anne makes Captain Wentworth know about
William Elliot’s earnest admiration of Anne. William is heir to Elliot family.
This also makes Captain Wentworth very serious about Anne. They both are
serious for their love and marriage. It is true lovers’ nature in the 19th
century society in England.
Anne is very conscious of behavior
of Captain Wentworth with Miss. Musgrove. When she sees Captain Wentworth with
Louisa Musgrove, it makes her feel sad and pain. She can not speak the name,
and looks straight forward to Lady Russell’s eye telling her briefly what she “thought
of the attachment between him and Louisa” (129). It means Anne Elliot is
expressing her pain with Lady Russell. She is feeling jealous of Louisa
Musgrove and Captain Wentworth’s relation. She is not in the condition to bear
this pain. So, she says to Lady Russell about the attachment between Captain
Wentworth and Louisa Musgrove briefly. This shows that Anne loves him heartily.
It is the sign of holy adornment. Here, Anne’s thoughts have been expressed
realistically.
Miss Hamilton, now Mrs. Smith is
old friend of Anne Elliot. They meet at Bath when Anne goes to meet her father
and sister. They talk about their past school days and present days. The
following lines show about Mrs. Smith’s marriage:
Miss Hamilton had left
school, had married not long afterwards, was said to have married a man of
fortune, and this was all that Anne had known of her, till now that their
governess’s account brought her situation forward in a more decided but very
different form. She was a widow, and poor. Her husband had been extravagant;
and at his death about two years before, had left his affairs dreadfully
involved. (159)
The above mentioned extract
indicates that Mrs. Smith and Anne Elliot are old school friends. They are well
known to each other. When Mrs. Smith was reading at school, she married to a
man of fortune. Due to bad behavior and extravagant of him, now they have
become poor. After husband’s death, Mrs. Smith is a widow who is involved in
sorrowful trials of life. Thus this passage shows that if love and marriage are
done with ideal gentleman, conjugal life may be unhappy as Smith family. Anne
takes lesson from the dreadful life of Mrs. Smith, which makes her alert about her
adornment with Captain Wentworth.
A letter arrives for Anne at Bath
from Mary. Mary informs her sister, (Anne) about the news that Louisa Musgrove
has done engagement with Captain Benwick. She writes, ‘Charles wonders what
Captain Wentworth will say; but, if you remember, I never thought him attached
to Louisa; I never could see anything of it. And this is the end, you see, of
Captain Benwick’s being supposed to be an admirer of yours’ (173). Mary writes these sentences in the letter by
informing that nobody had thought the engagement between Captain Benwick and
Louisa. They had been fallen in love while Louisa was recovering at Captain
Harvile’s home at Lyme. Most of the people (Charles and Croft family) are
surprised because they were guessing love between Captain Wentworth and Louisa
Musgrove. ‘Captain Benwick being supposed to be an admirer of yours’ means that
this news is good for Anne because she is also worried about Captain Wentworth
and Louisa’s relationship. Now Captain Wentworth is once again free. So, it is
surely guessed that the potentiality of love and marriage of Captain Wentworth
and Anne Elliot’s is fully increased.
Like this, now, Captain Wentworth
and Anne Elliot are also being united. They know that all happen according to
time. Perhaps, they are expecting their affection will develop into marriage.
Moreover, Captain Wentworth and Anne are also hurried to reunite their true
love through marriage.
The Elliot family goes to concert,
in which all the important people in Bath have attended. Captain Wentworth
enters and Anne is pleased with her father and Elizabeth chooses to acknowledge
him. The following lines show:
But hardly were they
so settled, when the door opened again, and Captain Wentworth walked in alone.
Anne was the nearest to him and making yet a little advance, she instantly
spoke. He was preparing only to bow and pass on, but her gentle ‘How do you
do?’ brought him out of the straight line to stand near her, and make inquiries
in return, (191)
The extract hints that Anne is very
happy after getting permission to talk to Captain Wentworth. She is frankly
talking to Captain Wentworth. In the past, she couldn’t do anything with
Captain Wentworth frankly because she had not got permission. But now, she
doesn’t have any problem. She is talking to him frankly to attract him fast.
So, she sits near him at concert and keeps different types of inquiries in
return. This situation is making Anne and Captain Wentworth’s love and marriage
more reliable.
The next morning, Anne leaves to join the
Musgrove, Captain Harville, Captain Wentworth, and Mrs. Croft for the day. They
are in parlor room, and Anne talks to captain Harville (messenger of Captain
Wentworth) by the window indicating to the man’s nature. She says that If the
change be not from outward circumstances, it must be from within it must be
nature, man’s nature (245). It means woman has an endurance power to understand
the circumstances. They may wait for long lasting but man’s nature is not so.
They can be changed in short period. In the response to it, Captain Benwick
says that man’s nature is not so as Anne is thinking. Men have also endurance
power. Actually, Anne indicates the nature of Wentworth. Captain Wentworth is
listening to it secretly.
By listening to it, Captain Wentworth
hurriedly writes a letter to Anne by expressing his constancy and undying love
for her:
I can listen no longer
in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You
pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late,
that such precious feelings are gone forever. I after myself to you again with
a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it eight years and a half
ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an
earlier death. I have loved none but you . . . you do believe that there is
true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most
undeviating in. (249-50)
This extract shows that Captain
Wentworth has pain, half agony and half hope. With this circumstance, he is
living here. He has passed almost eight years in these types of vicious circle.
Captain Wentworth is clarifying to Anne that he is not cold as she has thought of
man. According to him, males have also heart they can’t forget so easily. They
are ready to do anything for their true love. So, Captain Wentworth has loved
her for eight years. He can’t let their love die. It is immortal. So, he has
not loved anybody except Anne. It should be believed that there is true attachment
between them. They both are very conscious for their undying love. This activity
indicates that for true love and successful marriage, male and female should be
ready to sacrifice anything. The feelings and the discourse have been
realistically presented in the extract.
Now, Anne Elliot is 28 years old. She has not
lost her charming of youth. And Captain Wentworth is also handsome. They are
now together talking about their ups and downs of love affair in life. In the
talking, Anne Elliot explains to Captain Wentworth the reasons behind her
initial decision eight years ago, to break their engagement. Anne Elliot makes
the following statements:
. . . If it was
wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion
exerted on the side of safety, not of risk. When I yielded. I thought it was to
duty; but no duty could be called in aid here. In marrying a man indifferent to
me, all risk would have been incurred and all duty violated. (257)
In this passage, Anne Elliot rationally
justifies the causes of rejection. She says that it was correct of her to be “yielded”
to persuasion of Lady Russell because she had a duty to her rank and to
“safety”. She has yielded to duty because in marrying a man indifferent to her
all duty would be violated. To the last part of novel, Anne Elliot is satisfied
with Lady Russell’s hints to love Captain Wentworth but finally, when Captain
Wentworth becomes economically better, then there is no strict objection of
Lady Russell and Sir Walter Elliot against Captain Wentworth to be suitor of
Anne Elliot. Here, Lady Russell is looking for economic and social security of
Anne Elliot’s life. That means Lady Russell has traditional and feudalistic
thinking. Job is inferior for Sir Walter Elliot and Lady Russell. They look
down upon the persons who work hard. Captain Wentworth works hard then earns a
lot of money and finally becomes richer than Sir Walter Elliot. He renews his
love and relationship with Anne Elliot.
By mutual understanding the real problem of
their love affair, Anne and Captain Wentworth get married now. They are very
happy because they achieved their aim in life. So, after Anne’s marriage to
Wentworth, she is fully satisfied with him but she sometimes feels sad not to
find respectable family relations on the side of Captain Wentworth. The
following lines show her feelings after marriage:
There she felt her own
inferiority keenly. The disproportion in their fortune was nothing; it did not
give her moment’s regret; but to have no family to receive and estimate him
properly; nothing of respectability, of harmony, of good will to offer in
return for all the worth and the entire prompt welcome which met her in his
brothers and sister . . . otherwise strong felicity. (264)
The above extract explores the
hidden “regret” and “inferiority’ of Anne after getting married to Captain
Wentworth. Although, Anne is happy being married to Wentworth but sometimes she
is unsatisfied because Wentworth’s family and relatives are uncivilized and of
lower class. There is no complaint about Wentworth because he is well mannered
and he knows good social etiquette. But his other family members do not have such
characteristics. She does not mind the disproportion in their fortune. She does
not regret here because her husband has earned both wealth and prestige. She is
grown up in upper class family. So she obviously desires extravagant parties
and social formalities which lack with Captain Wentworth. In spite of these
luxurious parties, she gives priority to her holy love and marriage. She is
happy with her husband. Their dedicated love and marriage got victory against
strict barriers of society in early 19th century England. In
reality, spiritual love cannot be defeated.
Family, society, economic status,
caste, culture, religion and laws of the state are secondary factors to love
for marriage. In the past, love started after marriage. But since the late 18th
century, with the industrial revolution, there came social or cultural
transformation as well. People started realizing that a young boy or a young
girl should like each other before marriage for happy conjugal life. Another
word for liking is love. The novel, Persuasion
shows that they should be honest love before marriage. The novel also shows
that, along with love, there should be consent of parents or guardians for
marriage as in the case of Anne Elliot. Matching of social class, education,
age, language, culture and economic status should not hinder true love and
marriage.
Chapter IV: Conclusion
In English literature, Jane Austen occupies an
important position despite the fact that she has written a few novels. She can
be taken as the realist who has depicted the society of her time in her
fictions. There we come across the social and domestics elements in her novels.
Thus, Jane Austen established herself as a social novelist of the Victorian
age.
So here, the research work has
studied the introduction of Jane Austen as a novelist, the critics upon her
works, especially on her novel Persuasion,
literature review and Realism is
literary tool for interpreting and analyzing the thesis topic
“A Study on Love and Marriage in Jane Austen’s
Novel, Persuasion.”
In literature review, many critics
have criticized about Jane Austen and her book persuasion. What notion has been put by critics in literature
review that helps to understand the theme of thesis topic based on novel.
Like this, in theoretical modality,
realism is used as a tool to clarify the thesis topic. It has helped to clarify
the realistic feature of 18th and 19th century society
being related to the novel and its main theme as thesis topic ‘A Study on Love
and Marriage in Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion.’
Textual analysis is analyzed to
prove the thesis topic ‘A Study on Love and Marriage in Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion.’
Jane Austen has taken a stratified society of England who has examined and
showed the reality, injustice of 18th and 19th century
laws, customs and the suppressed individualism of lower class people. Her
novel, Persuasion explores not only
voice of women of her time but also class struggle through the characters of
their characterization.
In persuasion, Jane Austen portrays the late 18th and early
19th century society. In which, love and matrimony between unmatched
social status is not allowed in the society. It means high classes of people do
not want to make relatives of lower class people. They think themselves
superior to working class people. But the circumstance is making them rise of
lower class people and decline of feudalists. That makes the possibility love
and marriage between high and low class people. True lovers can face with any
type of situations for the sake of their pure adornment and wedding is the
theme of novel.
When Anne Elliot dismisses love
propose of Captain Wentworth due to the suggestions of others and thinking her
duty and obligation eight years ago, he believes strongly that any woman his
potential wife will have a strong character and independent mind.
The Elliot family which is belonged
to aristocratic family. They are out of physical work and creative skills.
Their main concern is to get marriage and join their relation with luxurious
family. This is an odd matter that parents want to be limited within old
tradition and culture but children want freedom and get marriage through love
with their own choice by breaking the old traditional values. It is the demand
of time.
Though Sir Walter wants rich and
precious husbands for his daughters, his daughter Anne Elliot gets married to
Captain Wentworth who has earned a lot of money than Elliot family. So, Sir
Walter Elliot accepts marriage of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth at
last. It means that it is the victory of
true love for marriage against rigid traditional arranged marriage.
Abstract
Jane Austen, a great novelist, has
realistically portrayed contemporary issue of love and marriage to mirror the
society of late 18th and early 19th century England in
her novel, Persuasion. In that
transitional period, the people of old generation wanted the young generation
to follow the traditionally established cultural values for marriage. They did
not like to make love affairs before marriage. They wanted arranged marriages
in which the parents’ or the guardians’ decision and role were very much
important. But young generation was strongly influenced by modern culture in
which love was first step for marriage. The young generation wanted to marry a
person whom he or she liked. In the novel, Sir Walter Elliot, Lady Russell and
Elizabeth Elliot represent the traditional approach where as Anne Elliot,
Captain Wentworth, Mary Elliot etc represent new approach about love and
marriage. The novel shows that the new generation is not concerned about
ancestral social status to establish marriage relations. The young generation
like Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth consider true love as prerequisite for
marriage; only then, they believe, the conjugal life can be successful and
happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment