Persuasion

Jane Austen

Eight years after Anne Elliott rejected penniless Frederick Wentworth’s marriage proposal, she has resigned herself to a quiet life at home with her spoiled sisters and vain father. When Captain Wentworth reappears, having made his fortune at sea, Anne wonders whether she made the right decision — or allowed herself to be persuaded against her heart.

A final masterpiece

Of all the Austen works I’ve read, Persuasion is my favorite (though it’s a very close call). I wouldn’t call it perfect, but it is beautiful and brilliant and romantic.

This was Austen’s last and, in many readers’ opinion, best completed novel. It features a soft, sweet heroine you can’t help but love; a hero more real than any other of Austen’s men; and settings so grounded you feel as if you’re standing in the room with Anne.

All of Austen’s novels have memorable characters. Her conflicts and settings have all been tied to the realities of life in her era and class. But many of her supporting cast members often come close to caricatures (Mrs. Bennet, anyone?), and some of her more iconic lines feel more precise than would be spoken in real conversation. She has always been an excellent writer, but her other book are more pointed and performative. They feel like works written with intention.

Persuasion feels more real than the others. This is a story of love and people first, not a story with a point. There are lessons to be garnered from Anne’s life, of course, but they take a backseat to the characters, plot, and settings.

Even the book’s most ridiculous characters, Anne’s sisters and father, can easily be seen as real people in your own life. Their greatest faults are only self-absorption and vanity. The book has quotable lines, but they are more rooted in context and feel less performative than famous quotes from Pride and Prejudice. The time Austen has spent both practicing her craft and living in the world polishes the writing and softens the presentation of this story.

A story we all can tell

In my conversation with the cast of webseries Emma Approved, actor James Brent Isaacs talked about Persuasion as his favorite Austen novel:

I think it’s the most relatable for a lot of people. Everyone’s kind of had someone — the one that got away… I think the greatest adaptation of Persuasion is the song “Sk8ter Boi” by Avril Lavigne, because it’s basically the same story. … At a certain point in time, everybody’s gone through what the characters in Persuasion have gone through.

James Brent Isaacs

Persuasion is, as Isaacs put it, the story of the one who got away. It is optimistic and romantic and gives an unlikely happily ever after to two ordinary people who had gone through understandable but unhappy circumstances.

I don’t know if Persuasion would be my favorite Austen novel if I hadn’t first read it when I did. My first time reading Persuasion was immediately after a difficult breakup. The break was messy and confusing; we loved each other but needed different things. We wanted to be together, but couldn’t (and shouldn’t). When we first broke up, I still hoped we could come back together and make it work in the future. (Spoilers: no, nope, not a thing.)

Hope in happily ever after

My happily ever after most definitely did not involve “the one who got away,” but reading Persuasion made me feel better and gave me hope when I felt like my insides had been scraped out.

I think those feelings and themes in Persuasion — optimism, hope, romance, a belief in happily ever after, the people who belong together finding each other — are more important even than that “one who got away” plot line. We see these themes not just in Anne and Frederick. The ideals of hope, happiness, love, even soulmates also shine through married couple Admiral and Mrs. Croft and through the eventual fates of Louisa and Henrietta Musgrove. Everyone finds the person they are meant to be with, the one who will make them happiest and meet their needs, and gets their own happily ever after. Even the scheming Mrs. Clay and Mr. Elliot run off together.

There is less social commentary and biting humor in Persuasion than Austen’s other works (though it is still present). The book is shorter and has a softer tone. That’s partly what I like about it. This story doesn’t exist to critique society or teach moral lessons or even make us laugh. It exists to give us hope in happily ever after.

Isn’t that what every romantic really wants?