Persuasion, Jane Austen’s appropriately titled fifth novel, generates ideas behind the purpose of ‘persuasion’ within society, especially for the welfare of self and others. What ‘persuasion’ actually is develops throughout out the novel. We see evidence of the giving of advice by Lady Russel, guilt and cohesion by society as well Anne’s own family to conform to her societal role, and see manipulation conducted by Mr Elliot and Mrs Clay who both focused on social status. Austen discusses the intricacies of marriage, class and rank within the Regency era in England, showcasing the lengths people will endure to secure a place within society. Anne Elliot, the novel’s protagonist, experiences both manipulation and coercion in her life. These acts shape her, for the better, “a strong sense of duty is no bad part of a woman's portion” (217). However, at the end of the novel, Austen leaves it to be decided for the audience to conclude whether persuasion is good for a person, what do the characters who ‘persuade’ achieve out of doing this?
Lady Russel can be argued to be the main ‘persuader’ of the novel, as her advice to Anne derails an engagement creating a butterfly effect for both Anne and Captain Wentworth’s lives. This act of persuasion leaves Anne to have to accept her fate that Fredric Wentworth is an unsuitable match for marriage. However, although it does affect her personally, as we see that seven years later she is still yet to marry, at the time Anne understands why Lady Russel advised Anne out of this marriage. Prior to his fortune gained in the Navy, Wentworth was unemployed and ‘had nothing to do’.
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The ideal of marriage what marriage should be within the Regency Era, the setting of Persuasion, breaks down the motivation of the pivotal display of ‘persuasion’ within the novel. Lady Russel’s advice to Anne Elliot, the backbone that of the conflict within the novel, to not marry Fredric Wentworth, is something that is interpreted differently throughout the novel. As seen in the beginning, Anne understands why this marriage is not sensible, “[Anne] at seven and twenty, thought very differently from what she had been made to think at nineteen.—She did not blame Lady Russell, she did not blame herself for having been guided by her; but she felt that were any young person, in similar circumstances, to apply to her for counsel, they would never receive any of such certain immediate wretchedness, such uncertain future good. . . . She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older—the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.” (24)
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