Enlightenment Ideas in Jane Austen's Persuasion

Eight years of happiness is the price Anne Elliot pays for yielding to a friend's advice in Jane Austen's novel Persuasion. After being counseled by her trusted friend and confidante, Lady Russell, 19-year-old Anne breaks off an engagement with Captain Wentworth, the man she deeply loves. Lady Russell's argument is rooted in the strong class-consciousness of the Regency-era British nobility. She sees a match with a young naval officer without connections or financial prospects to be beneath a baronet's daughter like Anne. To Anne, the decision is less snobbery and more practicality, as she realizes the dangers of committing herself at that young age to a man of such uncertain prospects based on emotions alone. Although Anne is persuaded that breaking up is the sensible, practical choice, she remains in love with Wentworth, and soon realizes her belief in him was not unfounded as she watches him achieve success and fortune while her own family's finances decline. Anne and Wentworth eventually reunite, but only after eight years of potential happiness are lost.

Interestingly, Anne believes she made the right decision despite the pain it caused both herself and Wentworth. "I was right in submitting to her (Lady Russell)...I should have suffered more in continuing the engagement than I did even in giving it up, because I should have suffered in my conscience," (184) she says. This comment clarifies how uncompromisingly Anne - and in consequence, Jane Austen - supports cool-headed rationality in all aspects of life. Anne believes that however right her feelings might have been, it would have been principally wrong to follow them when, at the time, she could not justify her belief in Wentworth over Lady Russell's objections. Lady Russell's appeal for prudence over emotion was correct, even if the practical application of it turned out wrong. Although Persuasion is in many ways conservative in the aristocratic values and virtues it champions, Anne's rational outlook on her break up with Wentworth is progressive and in step with the logical world scheme of Enlightenment thinkers. In this and many other aspects, Persuasion is a compelling argument for the principles of the Enlightenment age.

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity," Immanuel Kant writes in his essay, "What is Enlightenment?" Under this definition, Anne Elliot rises above all other characters in Persuasion as following in the tradition of the Enlightenment. She is sensible and rational, and while not overtly judgmental, she privately questions many of the social conventions and beliefs her acquaintances take for granted. While her father and sisters believe it a social necessity to keep up the noble lifestyle despite their mounting debt, Anne suggests they do without servants, horses and all vanities to repay their creditors. "Every emendation of Anne's had been on the side of honesty against importance" (8). The idea of descending to such drastic measures is mortifying to the pride of her father Sir Walter Elliot, but Anne repudiates her social class's standards of pride. Her own standards of pride have much more to do with personal accountability and duty than with social structures and pedigrees. Likewise, while Anne's father Sir Walter and sister Elizabeth fawn for the favor of the Lady Dalrymple, Anne chooses to associate with the widow Mrs. Smith, whom the others see as beneath them, but whom Anne finds much better company. "Rank is rank" (110) is the generally accepted belief: members of the nobility acquire prestige through birth alone. But Anne is not only unimpressed by titles, she is embarrassed by her family's eagerness to associate with Lady Dalrymple and Miss Carteret, for "they were nothing" (110). Kant and other Enlightenment thinkers argued for individuals to make decisions for themselves rather than blindly following societal convention, and this is what Anne does.

It is tempting to point to Anne's break up with Wentworth as an instance where she follows public opinion instead of her own, but it is important to note that this choice was ultimately Anne's. Nor was it blindly made. Anne considered her options and was ultimately persuaded by Lady Russell's advice, which Anne saw to be practical, and moreover, "for his advantage" (19) even more than for her own. She did not listen unquestioningly, but rather made a conscious decision to follow the advice of a woman whose counsel Anne found prudent, if painful. This decision fell in line with Anne's own philosophy of rationality and duty to her family. It should be noted that while Anne is independent thinking, she is by no means a radical. Anne is very much a noblewoman of her time. Many of her values, like filial duty, are traditional, even conservative, but her beliefs in these traditional virtues do not detract from her tendency to quietly question the follies of those around her and to follow a rational life herself.

The theme of living rationally begins with the break off of Anne's engagement, but continues through the rest of the book. Anne follows in the tradition of Enlightenment philosophers, like Cesare Beccaria and John Locke, who applied the rationality of natural laws to the problems of society. Although Anne's problems are only modest, domestic conflicts, she approaches them with the almost scientific dispassion of many of these philosophers, analyzing her own feelings, but not allowing them to dictate her actions. Almost stoic, she is embarrassed to appear affected by emotion. At one point, she becomes flustered when Wentworth shows consideration to her by removing a pestering child. Afterwards, "she was ashamed of herself, quite ashamed of being so nervous, so overcome by such a trifle" (59).

Because of her tempered attitude, Anne is often relegated to the margins of the action by her capricious and emotional sisters. While the other young ladies dance, Anne accompanies on the piano. While the Musgroves go out to dinner, Anne stays behind to tend their injured son. Although Anne misses out on some of the immediate action, Austen shows that her nature is the superior one: when an emergency occurs, such as Louisa Musgrove's fall, Anne is the one everyone turns to, and she is ultimately rewarded with the devotion of the most noble and worthy man in the book, Captain Wentworth.

In Persuasion, rationality is the highest standard for Austen's characters, and she describes the most personable characters in the book as being sensible. Anne's mother was said to be "sensible and amiable" (2); Anne's closest confidante Lady Russell was "generally speaking, rational and consistent" (7) except for a prejudice for ancestry; Captain Harville had a "sensible, benevolent countenance" (72). Before Anne realizes that Mr. Elliot is a fraud, she approves of him with the simple statement that he had "an air of good sense" (79). Of herself, Anne said, "she hoped to be wise and reasonable in time" (132). One of the highest praises Anne feels she receives from Wentworth was when he asked her to stay with the unconscious Louisa, saying, "no one so proper, so capable as Anne" (85). This seemingly unromantic comment makes Anne blush deeply, for she knows that Wentworth sees "proper" and "capable" as pinnacle virtues, a view aligned with her own. Contrast this to Captain Benwick's praise of Anne: "Elegance, sweetness, beauty" (96). While both men appreciate Anne's charms, only Wentworth truly understands how Anne exceeds the other women.

Another Enlightenment principle evident in Persuasion is the belief in the inherent equality among men, an equality that transcends demarcations of class. Thomas Paine expressed this idea in Rights of Man, where he discusses the "absurdity of hereditary succession" (64). Paine argues that since wisdom and ruling ability are not hereditary, it is tyrannical and ineffective to maintain a ruling class. "Aristocracy is kept up by family tyranny and injustice" (42). Paine says that since men are equal in their natural rights regardless of birth, the only civil distinctions should be founded on public utility, which means those most fit to rule should do so, not those born into the title. Anne Elliot shows her belief in this principle in her response to her father's declining financial situation. While the others in the family want to cling onto the status symbols of their nobility, Anne argues that they should give up their estate if they cannot properly manage it. "However sorry and ashamed for the necessity of the removal, she (Anne) could not but in conscience feel that they were gone who deserved not to stay, and that Kellynch Hall had passed into better hands than its owners' "(91).

Austen's praise of the navy also shows her favor for merit over lineage. Capable naval men like Captain Wentworth are able to rise through the classes, and in Wentworth's marriage to Anne, Austen implies this is as it should be. The choice of the navy as this symbol is important, as naval men achieve success through middle-class values like hard work, but also embody the higher principles of patriotism, valor, and service that are associated with the traditional nobility. Austen caricatures members of the blood nobility as fops, but champions those who truly act as nobles, regardless of their birth.

Finally, a discussion of Enlightenment views in relation to Persuasion would not be complete without evaluating the possible influence of Mary Wollstonecraft. In her influential work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published 26 years before Persuasion, Wollstonecraft rails against the injustice of a society that relegates women to being ignorant and emotional rather than rational beings. "Their senses are inflamed, and their understandings neglected" (61), the result being that "to their senses, are women made slaves" (62), Wollstonecraft says. One of Persuasion's strong-minded women, Sophia Croft, makes a similar argument when talking with Wentworth, her brother: "I hate to hear you talking so like a fine gentleman, as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days" (50). The rational natures of Sophia and Anne are emphasized by the gaggle of silly, emotional, and coquettish comic foils that surround them. Although Austen never mentioned Wollstonecraft as an influence, biographers have argued it is likely she knew of Wollstonecraft and her ideas (Ascarelli par. 24, 29). It is true that Wollstonecraft was a revolutionary thinker while Austen was, on the whole, conservative, but Persuasion still channels Wollstonecraft's belief in rationality for women as well as men.

Wollstonecraft also argued for education for women, which she said is necessary for a productive society, since women are the primary educators of children as well as the companions of men. These merits of education are evident in Persuasion. Anne's mother was "sensible and amiable" (2) while the baronet was "a conceited, silly father" (2). It was her mother who kept the household running and the finances in order for 17 years. After her death, the estate began its dip into indulgence and insolvency. Anne follows in her mother's sensible shoes, and her level-headedness, learning and intellect make her attractive to both Benwick and Wentworth. It is her knowledge of literature that makes Benwick enjoy her company, and her reason and quick thinking in times of crisis that Wentworth admires. With Wentworth soon to be called to service, the reader knows Anne will need her education and skills in running the home and, perhaps, in raising children.

To say that Jane Austen was in line with the Enlightenment thinkers is not to say she necessarily wrote Persuasion with the ideologies of particular philosophers in mind. It is only to say her work reflects many of the core principles of the Enlightenment era, that she is a daughter of rational thought. Austen's heroine Anne Elliot transcends the level of her acquaintances who relish in their "self-incurred immaturity." Anne is a rational lady and an Enlightened woman.

Works Cited

Ascarelli, Miriam. "A Feminist Connection: Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft." Persuasions On-Line. Vol. 25, No. 1. The Jane Austen Society of North America. Winter 2004. 14 Dec. 2008

Austen, Jane. Persuasion. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc., 1997.

Kant, Immanuel. "An Answer to the Question: 'What is Enlightenment?'" 14 Dec. 2008 < http://eserver.org/philosophy/kant/what-is-enlightenment.txt>

Paine, Thomas. Rights of Man. Ed. Paul Negri. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc., 1999.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc., 1996.