Below are some notes drawn on a lecture by Sandie Byrne, ‘Pride and Prejudice in Persuasion’, given at an A Level Conference in London in 2005. I thought the lecture gave some useful suggestions on things to look out for in the novel, and follow up in further reading.
Text and Context
We should not try to read off early 19th century
history from novels: they are fiction, not accurate history books.
But we should know
about context – what was going on in the period. Texts cannot help being products
of their times.
Regency
When Jane Austen was young, George III was on the throne. He
was an obstinate moralist, and court protocol was rigidly observed: courtiers
stood in his presence.
His heir the Prince ran a more relaxed household. Heirs
provide a focus for dissent. Prince George, the Regent, initially allied
himself with the Whigs. He was satirised as an ageing roué. We know from a
letter that Austen hated the Prince Regent.
Class Structure
The upper rank of English society was the aristocracy,
marked by land ownership. The ‘ton’ was the upper 10,000. To be in the ton you
needed land, name and money. The higher rank was being infiltrated by
arrivistes, who had land but not an ancient name.
A keyword is estate
– this means both your land and property, and also your marital state.
The Estate of a man was evaluated by these questions: does
he have an old name? Land (providing income from rents)? Money?
The Estate of a woman depends on her reputation. A woman’s
market value depends on her marriageability.
Industrial Revolution
This brought important social changes. Rich capitalist
industrialists, like mill owners and factory bosses, wanted to join higher
social ranks. To bury your origins in trade, you need servants. Women servants
are cheapest, so male servants are even more of a badge of gentility. Don’t be
seen doing manual labour. Get some land. New lords acquired land to support
their title.
Navy
The navy was a good place for a second son to rise. Unlike
the army, you didn’t have to purchase your commission. You could be a
midshipman at 13+. Captains could reasonably hope to become admirals. Any time
you captured an enemy ship, you could make a lot of prize money [note Sir Walter's laboured joke on the word 'prize'].
An officer in a ship of the line could make a fortune. Sir
Walter deplores this, since it allows the undeserving to rise to higher rank
and prominence. Admiral Croft rebukes Wentworth for complaining about his first
ship: Wentworth did not have much ‘interest’, i.e. family interests, patronage
– he was lucky to get what he did.
So both the Industrial Revolution and the Armed forces
provided some social mobility. There was old money and new money.
Gentry
Jane Austen was not in the ‘ton’. She was in the gentry
(knights baronet, clergy) – people who might have some land, but were not in
the oldest, ‘best’ families. Two of her brothers were naval officers.
Characters in the
Novel
New Money Old Names New Poverty
Crofts Sir
Walter E The Elliotts
(sliding downwards)
Wentworth Mr
E
Lady Russell
Mrs
Dalrymple
Lady Russell may be the best of the old names – she is good
and well-meaning.
By contrast, Lady Dalrymple does not fulfil the
responsibilities of her position.
The Musgroves are respectable – they are of the gentry
class, but with no aspirations to higher gentry. They are approved by the
narrative voice, but not quite high enough for an Austen heroine.
The Musgroves and Lady Russell are static: thy represent the
way things used to be.
Mr Shepherd is also (probably) static.
Mrs Clay chooses another form of social mobility.
The novel’s values
Tradition rather than
revolution
Austen is not demanding social revolution: rather, the novel
supports traditional values such as responsibility and duty.
Real rather than fake
Anne stands for what is real and solid.
London was associated with sham and show.
Pretence, deceit and duplicity are strongly criticised in
the novel.
Country and town represent old and new: in Kellynch Anne can
walk about unchaperoned. This is much harder in Bath.
Sir Walter prides himself on his appearance – this shows he has done no work in his life. This is
perhaps the most ‘revolutionary’ element of the novel, since it portrays
aristocrats as languid and effete.
Sexual values
On the whole, during the Regency sexual conduct was loose,
though it was more restrained in the middle ranks of society. Women preserved
their good name; men went to prostitutes, servants (rarely, perhaps), or
married women.
Work and Money
There is less fear of social mobility in Persuasion than there is in other Austen
novels such as Mansfield Park. In
Persuasion, mobility is a result of one’s own endeavours, the Protestant work
ethic. The novel does not echo
contemporary criticism of money from trade, for example from India, where undesirable
people are making fortunes.
Austen approves of money-making. Persuasion is moving
towards the Victorian utilitarian idea of climbing the ladder. But it is allied
to a solid morality, without pretension and deceit. Wentworth’s new money is
acceptable, since it is a result of his willpower and the service of his
country.
Theme of Persuasion
Persuasion means being rhetorically convinced, but also
belief, judgment, as in ‘I am persuaded that ...’. In this latter sense, Mary,
for example, is persuaded that she is ill and hard done by.
Instances of the other kind of persuasion: Wentworth doesn’t
persuade Anne; Lady Russell persuades Anne; Mrs Smith persuades Anne; other
people try to persuade Anne to persuade Mary to be more sensible.
So the novel is both about what your persuasions are, and
how you go about persuading other people.
