Review by KZ
While rereading Jane Austin’s Persuasion this month, I realized that it connected to her
novel Pride and Prejudice in a very interesting way. Through setting and estate, the change in
social hierarchy that comes with a change in economy, industry, and personal identity was, and
still is, a primary concern of the wealthy and middle class, as preservation of wealth and status
concerns anyone who has worked hard for their gains. Identity through estate and setting is a
strong thematic element through which the distinctively separate characters of both Pride and
Prejudice and Persuasion are revealed and analyzed. Both books are similar in their treatment
of the then modern states of social class and responsibility, but while Pride and Prejudice
shows how an individual can affect a change (however small) into the viewing of such classes,
Persuasion reveals how economic change can forcefully thrust that change into the lives of
everyone involved in the system. P&P shows the change of the people within their strict setting,
while Persuasion’s more natural one explores the force to which the people react when their
setting changes. The two views are distinctly different, one is an analysis of how one changes the
estate through character, and the other is an analysis of how society can change the implications
of a man’s character and his estate.
As Pride reveals a world of distinct social classification, the gentry, who our key family
is a member of, sit below the nobles, but above the trade class. They have a place, and their
houses and estates are revealed to be within those lines. The rich families who have made money
through trade are outcasts, as the inherited rich and noble are the ones atop the social ladder.
Through this we are given Mr. Darcey, the rich young man who seems obsessed with social status
and environment. He is a seemingly distinct foil to Elizabeth, who is more focused on her
prejudices towards such snotty men. In the novel, the closing setting of Permberly provides an
excellent metaphor for what the two have achieved in their marriage. It is a model of change, a
modernized house that retains all of its ancestry and pride.
This is the change personified in the house, but alive in Elizabeth and Darcey. Through
his own pride in his class, Darcey has learned and been humbled to respect and be equal to a
woman beneath him (another review topic entirely), which is a more modern take on the old
notion of how marriages should be done. While marriage was once used to further the family
wealth, we are presented with two characters that, despite their different estates and social
statuses, are joined by love rather than propriety. The two estates illustrate this perfectly.
While Longbourn is a medium sized estate, endangered in the likely chance that the
Bennet’s don’t marry their daughters right, Pemberly is a family estate in no danger of decay and
still strongly linked to the family and it’s past. While Longbourn is a message in itself about
Elizabeth and the family’s relative lack of status, it is her reaction to Pemberly and what it reveals
to her about Darcey that form’s the critical link between estate and character in this particular
novel. It is this revelation that Elizabeth faces her own fault at judging him on a first impression.
His house betrays his real personality, the maids are practical, not “fine”, and the grounds and
gardens are modern and practical. The flaws that Darcy is attributed to have by Elizabeth, both
overformality and a sense of awkwardness, are both absent within Permberly. Through this
revelation we are shown that a man’s station in life may be in appearance only, and thus we are
greeted with the two’s love for one another and their union as a complete coupe, even if they are
unorthodox in the eyes of traditional societal hierarchy.
In Persuasion, the idea of estate is explored in a different way. While Pride, even in the
garden setting, focuses on very manmade settings, the focus in this novel is on the natural, and
the current image of fall. This whole book is a symbol of change, as the main character is
decidedly more alone than previous Austin characters. In this book, the idea of familial estate and
societal status are shaken to their core, the foundations rattled by the Napoleonic war. We are
presented with Kellynch Hall, and the city of Bath, rather than the landed estates of Pride. This is
the displacement of gentry and aristocracy, as the Elliot’s wealth has been squandered, and
instead the estate is taken over by a navy man, Admiral Croft. Thus, in this book, the estate itself
acts not as an index for the character, but their reactions to their lost place and wandering in Bath
reveal their natures.
This book is a simple exploration of a naval family interfering and overpowering the life
of the aristocratic family. The social hierarchy is changing, and no longer is worth placed on what
you have, rather what you do. The navy men are esteemed, and only pursue the fine houses and
costly adventures because it’s what seems fitting for the wealth. The female lead, Anne, denied
Captain Wentworth in their youth due to his lack of social status and persuasion by Lady Russell.
In the current time of the novel, things have changed. No longer is the estate the status for family,
rather the old aristocratic family has decayed and been outpaced by the new, working, Naval
family. The whole of the aristocracy is abandoning its ideals and moral, as seen through
Baronette Elliot’s collapse. The gentry and inherited rich of Pride are no longer honorable, and
the hard working families that were once looked down upon in the same novel, have risen to
power in this one.
Persuasion represents a change in society’s view of estate and worth. While Pride ends
with a change in the two characters, this novel begins with the whole hierarchical change as a
statement. Once denied for his lack of wealth, his hard work and “dirty” life have made new
wealth for Wentworth, while living much the way the characters in Pride did, has ruined and
bankrupted the Elliots. This is brought on by all of the factors mentioned, especially the war and
economy. The “old money” of the Elliot’s has failed to keep up with the strength of the made
men of the country, and as such has fallen into destitution and obsolesces. It’s these things that
cause the change; not the change in individual people as seen in Pride, but the change in society’s
view as a whole.
The estate is a shaky image in the changing world of Austin’s novels. For Persuasion it
represents the necessary change in importance, the shift from lethargy and acquiescence that
comes with generations of inherited money to the motivated and industrious acquisition of wealth
and power that a growing nation needs to compete in the world today. So with this in mind,
Austin is marking her characters’ social responsibility. The aristocracy and gentry have ignored
theirs, and thus fallen into decay. The selfmade and military man has worked to gain from the
troubled times and improve his life and those around him, thus gaining the power.
So, when analyzing all of this, it is easy to draw the conclusion that through the idea of
the estate as a symbol for the responsibility of the wealthy and the powerful to uphold the old
ways while changing things as needed to fit the times, we are presented two distinct stories that
illustrate this. We are shown Darcey, who, in spite of his familial pride, has devoted himself to
modernizing and improving Permberly towards a more necessary simple and practical life for the
wealthy. We are also shown Wentworth, who through his hard work has risen above the
declining aristocracy to achieve new wealth, power, and favor in a changing country. So, you
could say that Austin has attempted to show us the houses as a multiple metaphor, both for the old
ways of wealthy living, and for the needed change that must come as war and economic strife
changes the world we all live in.
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