How Does Jane Austen Present Transitions in Society?

How does Austen present the transitions in society?

In Persuasion Austen depicts a world ruled by a rigid social hierarchy and its effects on those it engulfs. In chapter one we are introduced to Sir Elliot as he is engrossed in records containing prestigious family attributes. The importance he places on wealth and family reputation is reflected in the views of many characters. Although, ‘vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character’ he leads a luxurious lifestyle funded by his family wealth. The chapter also reveals the lack of money being generated at Kellynch hall and the need for Sir Walter to retrench. As a concerned family friend, Lady Russell assumes the fatherly role and decides upon retrenchment and relocation as the best solution. Sir Walter’s juvenile focus on appearances clouds his judgement and buries his will to fulfil his duties as the head of the family.

Chapter two brings the first example of a changing society as Sir Walter is advised to reconsider his lavish spending. Despite a lack of social mobility, it is said that Sir Walter’s urgent need for retrenchment is ‘nothing singular in his case’. This suggests Austen’s awareness of the Napoleonic wars and the effect it had on status once men of the forces returned with greater wealth. This formed an in balance of affluence within a fixed arrangement of status and title.

Controlled by appearances, only those with the ‘blessing of beauty’ were ‘the constant object of [Sir. Walter’s] warmest respect and devotion’. This left one of his daughter’s, Anne, inferior in comparison to his title and image. When she is to marry Captain Wentworth, his ‘low birth’ effectively undermines the importance of him being ‘a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit, and brilliancy’. Sir. Walter and Lady Russell labelled the proposal as ‘indiscreet, improper’ as it would be ‘a very degrading alliance’. Ultimately, it had been the effect of over-persuasion’ that...