Review of Persuasion

Main Characters : Anne Elliot, Captain Frederick Wentworth, Sir Walter Elliot, Lady Russell

Persuasion by Jane Austen is one of my favourite romantic novels of all time, not only because its plot is a lot like the evergreen Cinderella story written in Jane Austen's quintessential style of restrained emotion and sharp characterisation. Anne Elliot is the middle one among the three daughters of a baronet Sir Walter Elliot, a widower, who has currently fallen on hard times and so has to rent out his grand mansion Kellynch Hall to Admiral Croft, a retired seafaring gentleman, and move to smaller quarters in Bath with his unmarried elder daughter Elizabeth. Anne is also unmarried at 27. She is a gentle, sensible, warm natured girl with so much consideration for her family that she had been persuaded to give up the love of her life Captain Frederick Wentworth, eight years ago, as then being only a Lieutenant he was not thought to be good enough a match for her by her father and Lady Russell, who is a mother figure to her. The story begins at the point when Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth meet accidentally again after eight years under much changed circumstances. He is now a rich man, having made his fortune in the navy whereas her family has fallen on hard times. He is as handsome, or even handsomer than earlier, age and experience having given his face more character than it had earlier perhaps, whereas she is no longer in the first bloom of youth. She has not forgotten him and still has the feelings which she had eight years earlier for him, whereas he was bitterly disappointed when she rejected him at the behest of her family, has nearly forgotten her, and now being settled in life is looking for a suitable wife.
With her father and elder sister moving off to Bath, Anne Elliot comes to stay with her younger married sister and her family. Mary Musgrove , her sister is a demanding and often querulous and fancies herself ill most of the time & asks Anne to come look after her which Anne being the sweet and dutiful sister she is readily obliges her. The Musgroves live near to Kellynch Hall which has been rented out to the Crofts who incidentally are the sister and brother in law of Captain Frederick Wentworth who comes to visit them. When Anne meets Captain Wentworth after all this time, she is full of trepidation whereas he finds her so altered that he would not have known her again. In their next meetings he hardly acknowledges her presence, rather he begins to flirt with the Musgrove sisters. It is slowly by degrees when they are thrown together more and more that he realizes that the image of his ideal life partner which he had in his mind is none other than Anne whose excellent qualities of head and heart surpass those of any of the other ladies he had met, was meeting or ever would meet. But by the time he realises this Captain Wentworth's name has been already linked with Luisa Musgrove.
Anne Elliot next moves to Bath to her father's house. Here she finds favour in the eyes of her cousin Mr Eliott who is also her father's future heir, and the man her elder sister Elizabeth wants to marry. But Anne who had earlier rejected the suit of Charles Musgove, who later married her sister Mary, though always polite, does not fall for his charms. He is later found to be unscrupulous and avaricious who had courted her only to safeguard his inheritance. By lucky chance Captain Wentworth finds himself free of the obligation of marrying Louisa and hurries to Bath, where he now finds Anne courted by her cousin. Surmounting the obstacles the two now realise that there can be no one for them but each other, resulting in a happily ever after.

What I like about the book :
The romance between Anne and Captain Wentworth which has the flavour of old wine, which gains more flavour as it ages. The characters of Sir Walter as the narcissistic, autocratic and imperious person is rather well drawn. I wonder why he wasn't so horrible to his other daughters as he was to Anne. Maybe it is the author's ploy to draw more sympathy for Anne.
Anne get's the reader's full sympathy as she is the despised and downtrodden sister, the Cinderella, at home. Both her elder sister Elizabeth and younger one Mary are more dominating and rather more selfish than her. But the irony is that Mary's husband had earlier proposed to Anne whereas Elizabeth expects Mr Eliott to court her whereas he opts for Anne instead.