O Brave New World: Evolution and Revolution in Persuasion
1972; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 39; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2872293
ISSN1080-6547
Autores Tópico(s)Literature Analysis and Criticism
ResumoAn analysis of the symbolism in Jane Austen's Persuasion may lead us to discover stirrings of revolution underneath the quiet surface of the novel. To define the revolution of Persuasion, we should begin by examining the laws of its created world in relation to those governing Jane Austen's earlier novels. It may be helpful in this connection to think of Persuasion as Jane Austen's Tempest, another final work that reprises and transforms themes and motifs introduced earlier in the author's canon. The plots of both are determined to a great extent by the movements of the sea. Written during Jane Austen's last illness and not published until after her death, Persuasion is defined by its blended tone of elegiac departure and the senseless joy of renewal and reconciliation. Its action touches extremes of loss and desolation, but out of each desolation comes the grace of recovery and enrichment of what was lost. Like The Tempest, Persuasion is brooded over by the threat of loss and death. Seen in these terms, the marriage of Louisa and Benwick is more than a mechanical contrivance to free Wentworth for Anne Elliot. It is a light-hearted exemplification of the law that governs Persuasion, a law oriented to the fulfillment of human desire, in close association with nature and natural rhythms. The union of Louisa and Benwick comes only after each has been brought close to loss and death. Benwick is suffering after the death of his fiancee, a very superior creature ; Louisa's fall on the Cobb threatens her for a time with death or derangement. Wentworth defines the rhythm of the union clearly: ' It was a frightful hour,' said he [speaking of Louisa's fall], 'a frightful day!' and he passed his hand across his eyes, as if the remembrance were still too painful; but in a moment half smiling again, added, 'The day has produced some effects however-has had
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