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摘 要

作为19世纪初英国著名女性小说家，简·奥斯汀在其小说的人物塑造中都体现出一定的女性主义思想。而从女性主义角度来看，奥斯汀在她创作后期的作品《劝导》中抛弃了当时描写女性的陈规俗套，展现出不同的女性形象。本文将对《劝导》中所展现的安妮·艾略特、拉塞尔夫人、史密斯夫人和克罗夫特夫人这四位女性形象进行具体分析，以此研究《劝导》中女性形象的特点。

关键词：简·奥斯汀；《劝导》；女性形象

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. The Images of Women in Persuasion 3

3.1 Anne Elliot’s independence 3

3.2 Mrs. Smiths’ optimism 6

3.3 Lady Russel’s responsibility 7

3.4 Mrs. Croft’s audacity 9

4. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 11

1. Introduction

Jane Austen(1715-1817) is one of the greatest realistic novelists in English literature in the 19^th century. As a country clergyman’s daughter, her greatness as a writer owes a great deal to her experience of the normal life of her day. In her novels, she invariably depicts only the everyday life of the families of the big or small landlords and clergyman with the interest centered chiefly upon the younger and not-so-young folks, describing in detail their ordinary conversations, walks, drives, teas, dances, visits, picnics, journeys and other common activities and sometimes also their thought (Austen-Leigh, 1926: 89). And her insight into the characters is related to happy and unhappy experience of ordinary people and upper-middle class. Jane Austen’s literary work is closed related to the social environment, the age, the religion and the customs to which it belongs. She explores the moral nature and status of women, female education, marriage, rights and authority. The heroines, who are compared with the subordinating gentlemen in her works, have their strong and weak points.

In her short life, she has only created six complete novels, including Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Besides those, she has left behind three fragments of three stories: Lady Susan, The Watson and Sanditon. Apparently, she writes about everyday life, but in fact, some social problems are disclosed in her novels from her individual feminist angle. In her works, Austen not only describes many typical women characters in detail, but also focuses on the improvement of their ability and status.

Austen’s last novel, Persuasion, receives relatively less applause, yet it is the most special one. Similar to its predecessors, Persuasion is a tale of love and marriage, making a happy marriage between the heroine and a man notably above her in income. However, those women characters, as well as Jane Austen herself--is more mature, the tone of their writing more somber. Persuasion relatively describes different women characters compared to Jane Austen’s former works.

2. Literature Review

Many researches have been made on Persuasion. John Wiltshire has written an article named “Persuasion: The Pathology of Everyday Life”. In this article, he studies the social problems which are revealed in Persuasion. Richard Simpson focuses on the families in Persuasion, and he points out the isolation among the families and the indifferent attitudes toward one another and so on. Laura G. Mooneyham has written a book called Loss and the Language of Restitution in Persuasion. In this book, he talks something about the barrier between Anne and Wentworth, and points out that Persuasion offers several models of how the characters copes with adversity, disappointment and lost opportunities. What’s more, in The Common Reader, Virginia Wolf analyzes the difference between Persuasion and her other works to show that Austen’s world is wider and more mysterious than previous ones, thus further stresses Jane Austen’s romantic viewpoint.

Unlike the enthusiasm on Austen’s works in western countries, her last work, Persuasion, is almost unknown by the Chinese, due to the fact that “Persuasion was finished when the author’s writing ability reached the peak of perfection.” (Woolf, 1925: 25) Zhu Hong’s The Research on Austen has been an authentic work about the study of Jane Austen in China. This material includes the comments on Austen’s novels by some well-know western writers and critics, and it also collects some of Jane Austen’s letters. In the book Jane Austen in China, Wang Hong and Xiong Jie give a comprehensive conclusion about the research on Austen in China. They point out that most studies are centered on the work Pride and Prejudice, and the researches are generally from the aspect of feminism. There are fewer researches on Austen’s other works. In his book An brief introduction on Persuasion, Lin Wenchen points out the changes in Austen’s writing style, and analyzes her new narrative style. A Research on the New Traits in Persuasion, an article written by Fan Lina, analyzes the different traits shown in Persuasion from the aspects of its characters’ inner qualities and Jane Austen’s creation of the heroine Anne Elliot. In An Analysis of Jane Austen’s Later View of Marriage, Gong Guimei researches Austen’s different marriage ideas in her old age. And Guo Yan analyzes the feminism reflected in Persuasion in her thesis The Feminism in Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

However, so far Persuasion has often been researched from its view of marriage, values, feminism and so on, while there is little study on the virtues which are embodied in the women images of the work Persuasion, which are worthy of appreciations by modern women. This thesis will make an analysis of the main woman characters in Persuasion, and probe into the different woman images compared with her former works.

3. The Images of Women in Persuasion

Persuasion is Jane Austen’s last novel. As Austen herself, the novel is maturer, and presents newer characters of her novel heroines. There are four impressive woman characters in this novel: Anne Elliot, Mrs. Smiths, Lady Russel and Mrs. Croft, and four distinct features are shown in them: independence, optimism, responsibility and audacity.

3.1 Anne Elliot’s independence

In Persuasion, Anne Elliot is the most ideal perfect woman image of them. Anne Elliot, twenty-seven years old, who had suffered an eight years love setback, was the oldest and maturest heroine in Jane Austen’s works. Anne had many virtues and talents, and became the perfect heroines in Austen’s woman images. Her outstanding character was independence. She always had her own thoughts and made a judgment independently.

There are many words in Persuasion revealing Anne’s independent feelings. From the behavior of Anne, Austen pointed out that true love was not necessarily concerned with youth and beauty. When Anne and Wentworth’s engagement broke up, even Anne’s beauty was affected: “an early loss of bloom and spirits had been their lasting effect.” (Austen, 1984: 20) On this return after more than seven years, Wentworth could not recognize Anne, who was no longer beautiful. However, as Anne gradually learned to love, Wentworth noticed an improvement in her physical attractiveness: “she was looking remarkably well; her very regular, very pretty features, having the bloom and freshness of the youth restored by the fine wind which had been blown on her complexion...” (Austen, 1984: 70) Austen made such an arrangement that Anne redrew affection of Wentworth eight years later in order to prove that youth and beauty was not necessary in true love. Although Anne broke up with Wentworth due to the “wrong persuasion”, she still loved him. For Anne, “no one had ever come within the Kellynch circle, who could bear a comparison with Frederic Wentworth, as the stood in her memory.” (Austen, 1984: 20) That is, true love lasts long beyond the test of time. Hence, she rejected Charles Musgrove. Then, Anne decided to reject Mr. Elliot after comparing him to Wentworth: “Mr. Elliot was rational, discreet, polished, ---but he was not open. There was never any burst of feeling, any warmth of inclination or delight, at the evil or good of others.” (Austen, 1984: 106) For Anne, these features were imperfect indeed. Because Anne’s early impression on Wentworth was deep, so she “prized the frank, the open-hearted, and the eager character beyond all others. Warmth an enthusiasm did captivate her still.” (Austen, 1984: 107) The rejection happened even before Mrs. Smiths had revealed Mr. Elliot’s past evil to Anne. Before Anne’s good friend Mrs. Smiths told her Mr. Elliot’s true character and bad behavior, and after Lady Russel persuaded Anne to marry Mr. Elliot, she refused, and said she would never accept him. It was not only because her feelings were still for Wentworth, but also because she had made her decision to reject Mr. Elliot rationally. Anne thought she could not really know Mr. Elliot’s real essence. “He was a sensible man, an agreeable man,---that he talked well professed good opinions, seemed to judge properly and as a man of principle.” (Austen, 1984: 106) To Anne, Mr. Elliot almost did everything well apparently.

In Austen’s former works, the stories always express that the young should conduct their act with sensibility, and should control their emotion. Sense and sensibility is a representative novel about this point. And in Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte was also a typical rationalist. She apparently disliked Mr. Collins, but still got married with him. However, in Persuasion, firstly appears the idea that sense wins sensibility. After an eight-year’s suffering, Anne understood that caution only brought herself pain, and no guarantee for her later happiness.

Anne also showed her independence in face of danger. When Anne, Wentworth, some girls and boys at the big house all took a walk, because of strong wind making the high position of the new Cobb uncomfortable for the ladies, they agreed to get down the steps, except Louisa who wanted to jump up and down. Suddenly, she fell on the pavement on the Lower Cobb, and was taken up lifeless. “There is no wound, no blood, no visible bruise; but her eyes were closed, she breathed not, her face was like death.” (Austen, 1984: 74) In front or this terrible case, everyone was in panic. They were afraid Louisa had died. Captain Wentworth knelt by Louisa, looking at her with a face as pallid as her own, in complete silence; Mary screams that Louisa has died; Charles Musgrove, Mary’s husband was shocked by the frightened scene; Louisa elder sister, Henrietta, sinking under the conviction, lost her senses, too. At this moment, Anne played a leading role in this accident. Everything was properly ordered, and dreadful people are brought back into normal. She ordered Captain Benwick to rub Louisa’s hands and templed with some smelling salts, and later Anne sent for a doctor at once as she saw they could not save Louisa by themselves. These first aids were arranged by Anne within moments, which showed Anne’s capability. She also tried to comfort others, quieted Mary and Charles, and consoled Wentworth. It seemed that everyone needed her advice.

In Austen’s former works, the heroines are all like “Cinderella” in the fairy tale, and they are always unmarried girls with youth and beauty. For example, Marianne and Eleanor in Sense and Sensibility, Elizabeth and Charlotte in Pride and Prejudice, Emma in Emma, Fanny in Mansfield Park, Catherine in Northanger Abbey. No matter they were sensible or emotional, they were all about 20 years old and in their most beautiful years. Except Emma, all of them were born in a country family, and with fewer dowries. However, through twists and turns, they all got married with the handsome and attractive heroes in Jane Austen’s novels, who were always young aristocrats inheriting the property of their families. Then with the guidance of the males, these heroines became mature gradually.

In contrast to these heroines in Austen’s previous novels, Austen firstly creates a mature heroine in Persuasion, On the one hand, Anne was not so beautiful as the heroines in Austen’s former five novels, and she was always ignored by others. Anne’s appearance was just-so-so, and was not good at communicating with others. She always kept silent at big family gatherings. Therefore, “Anne...was nobody with either father or sister, her word had no weight; her convenience was always to give way;---she was only Ann.” (Austen, 1984: 5) On the other hand, after going through a miserable love, Anne had lost youth and passion. When the novel began, it had been eight years later, Anne was not young any more, and she had been a mature, calm and independent woman.

In a word, no matter from what aspect, Anne is almost an ideal woman image. She has her own thoughts about her love and always make a judgment independently, especially her competence in the face of difficulties, these all greatly show the character of independence.

3.2 Mrs. Smiths’ optimism

Austen not only praises many women in upper-middle class, but also depicts the poor women in the society, like Mrs. Smiths in Persuasion. In Austen’s former works, she always depicted women from the aristocratic and middle classes, while in Persuasion, she firstly portrayed a woman of the lower social status. Although Mrs. Smiths was quite different from Austen’s other woman images who have higher social status, she was a poor woman with optimism and strong deposition in adversity.

Mrs. Smiths lived in a very poor condition. “She was a widow, and poor. Her husband had been extravagant; and at his death, about two years before, had left his affairs dreadfully involved. She had had difficulties of every sort to content with, and in condition to these distresses, had been afflicted with a severe rheumatic fever, which finally settling in her legs, had made her for the present a cripple. She had come to Bath on that account, and was mow in lodgings near the hotbaths, living in a very humble way, unable even to afford herself the comfort of a servant, and of course almost excluded from society.” (Austen, 1984: 101) However, she never complained about anything, and never surrendered to fate. She struggled for her life, and had optimistic and forceful deposition in adversity. This was an intelligent lifestyle, which was greatly different from some low ordinary people. From this, we can feel that Mrs. Smiths has a lofty idea realm.

Because of her optimism, Mrs. Smiths not only lived calmly by herself, but also gave people inspiration that no matter what conditions one lived in, so as long as he was confident in the future, he will lead a better life.

What’s more, Mrs. Smiths also conducted an intelligent lifestyle because she has cheerful temperament---easy to be comforted and to forget sufferings. When she met any difficulties, she thought things would be better, and would find other ways to escape from sadness. She did everything in this way, which was her nature, and such optimistic and strong disposition was a most precious talent for people to handle a complicated society. This is an art of living. We can say that Mrs. Smiths masters the “art” very well with her intelligence thoughts about life.

At the end of the novel, Mrs. Smiths got a lot of her husband’s property with the help of Captain Wentworth. Although she became rich, her happy disposition still remained, without being spoiled by the improvement of income, and the acquisition of good friends. No matter what happened, she would always live happily, because her source of felicity was her optimism and appreciated personality.

In Persuasion, Jane Austen firstly created a woman image from the bottom of the society, instead of always portraying the women from the noble or middle classes in English country. This breakthrough showed a new woman image for us-a woman in a humble position but with optimism, cheerfulness and strong will these excellent virtues.

Mrs. Smiths embodied the new value of low, but intelligent and informed working class women. Thus shows that women with an optimistic character can think rationally and enjoy their lives, whatever their social status are.

3.3 Lady Russel’s responsibility

Lady Russel was another woman worthy of analyzing who had a strong sense of duty for Anne. She was a close friend of Anne’s mother before her death. She implicitly claimed for herself the place of Anne’s mother.

Three attempts of her persuasions betrayed her as the defender of the patriarchal values. First, when Anne was nineteen, she wanted to engage with Wentworth, and she persuaded Anne not to do it owing to Wentworth’s low social status and little money, which couldn’t give felicity to Anne. At last, Anne submited to her persuasion and gave up the engagement because Anne had been loving and relying on Lady Russel, and “It must not be, if by any fair interference of friendship, any representations from one who had almost a mother’s love, and mother’s right, it would be prevented.” (Austen, 1984: 19) Second, Lady Russel persuaded Anne to marry Charles Musgrove when Anne was twenty-two, but Anne rejected. Finally, when Lady Russel tried to let Anne think about Mr. Elliot as a husband, she still guided Anne. After Anne’s reunion with Wentworth, she quickly reconciled to Anne’s ultimate marriage to Wentworth by attaching herself as a mother to the man who was securing the happiness of her child. From the beginning to the end, she had fulfilled her obligation so well.

What’s more, Lady Russel was also a woman who dared to admit her mistake or wrong-doing. When Anne reunited with Captain Wentworth, Lady Russel had been unfairly influenced by Wentworth’s appearance, and there was nothing for her to do than to admit that “She had been pretty completely wrong, and to take up a new set of opinions and of hopes.” (Austen, 1984: 166) Mr. Elliot’s manners pleased her, while Wentworth’s manners made her suspect that he had dangerous nature, so she must make some struggles to become truly acquainted with and do justice to Wentworth.

Her first object was to see Anne happy, and she loved Anne more than she loved her abilities. “When the awkwardness of the beginning was over, Lady Russel found little hardship in attaching herself as a mother to the man who was securing the happiness of her other child.” (Austen, 1984: 168) Therefore, as long as Anne could receive happiness, she would admit her wrongdoings. No matter what things Lady Russel had done to Anne, her ultimate object was to let Anne live a happy life. She was responsible for the caring of Anne all the time. She would be Anne’s quasi-mother and good friend forever.

In Austen’s former works, we can hardly find an ideal and responsible mother figure. For example, Mrs. Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility and Mrs. Burtyn in Mansfield Park were both selfish and indifferent. They seldom cared about others and always lived in their own world. In Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet was foolish, vulgar and snobbish. The business of her life was to get her daughter married, and her solace was visiting and news. Mrs. Katherine was supercilious and arrogant, and she could not take the responsibility of a hostess at all. What’s more, in Emma, the mother image was in absence. Austen arranged her death early, and did not describe a lot about the figure of a mother. In her previous works, Jane Austen generally expressed her hatred for mother. Compared to them, in Persuasion, Lady Russel was different, she was a sensible and affectionate mother who cared Anne sincerely. We can see a different woman image of mother.

In summary, Lady Russel is a model of good-breeding with strong sense of duty. She is also a model for modern female.

3.4 Mrs. Croft’s audacity

Mrs. Croft, who was Admiral Croft’s wife and Wentworth’s sister, was a female figure that had never appeared before in Austen’s other works. She was also a modern female image of courage and good business sense in the period when the English bourgeoisie was rising and could be considered a new type of woman in existence.

Mrs. Croft’s life style was quite different from that of the genteel-class women of her time. Her emergence in the novel predicted modern female’s future life, that is, women could set foot on any fields that had been set for men’s activities. Therefore, Mrs. Croft’s social activities were no longer restricted to ordinary social activities like dances, dinners, visits, chat and so on.

Mrs. Croft was a modern female image full of courage. When Admiral Croft went sailing, Mrs. Croft accompanied him, and they spent fifteen years on the seas: “Pretty well, ma’am, in the fifteen years of my marriage, though many women have done more. I have crossed the Atlantic four times, and have been once to the east Indian, and back again; and only once, besides being in different places about home---Cork, Lisbon, and Gibraltar.” (Austen, 1984: 47)

Though life on the sea was very dangerous and miserable, Mrs. Croft did almost as the man sailors could do. She dealt with dangerous situation and seldom feared as a man sailor. Mrs. Croft is a new-type woman, who is less attractive in looking, but has stronger physical power than other women. As we know, at Austen’s time, women were limited to housewives; they only stayed at home and do trivial things. They were subjected to their husbands and had no property. They also had no rights to voice their demands, even could not go out with husbands, let alone accompanying with husbands to go sailing. Therefore, women at that time had introverted and timid character, and were afraid to communicate with others.

Mrs. Croft is also a modern female image of good business sense. When Admiral Croft rented the Kellynch Hall, she took active part in it, and “asks more questions about the house, the terms, and taxes than Admiral himself, and seemed more conversant with business” (Austen, 1984: 19). Mrs. Croft predicted modern female’s capability to do business in modern society, which makes favorable and bright impression on us.

In this novel, Mrs. Croft is a bold, decisive and capable woman. She is at sea accompanying her husband very often, and takes part in every social affair and almost makes every decision. Her life style is an ideal model for us.

4. Conclusion

From the analysis above, the readers can see that in Persuasion Jane Austen portrays women who are capable of acting independently of men and patriarchal interests. Anne Elliot, Lady Russel, Mrs. Smiths and Mrs. Croft in Persuasion are the best examples to verify women’s independent thinking with brilliant intelligence. They greatly show independence, optimism, responsibility and audacity these four characters. Anne can keep calm in the face of danger and has her own judgement; Lady Russel is a woman with authority and strong sense of responsibility; Mrs. Smiths always conduct an intelligent lifestyle with her optimistic character; Mrs. Croft makes a favorable and bright impression on us that women can take part in almost all social activities and make their own decision. The novel Persuasion displays many new images of women, which are different from Jane Austen’s former works. Thus we can also see a different Jane Austen, and research this novel from a new perspective.

From Austen’s works, many scholars recognize that though the subject of Austen’s novels is limited in love and marriage, the novels have their own attractions to generations. Particularly, Persuasion is focused on different types of women images. Jane Austen is completely worthy of the laudatory title given to her by the critics---the unique Austen. Her women images in Persuasion reveal her different thoughts in her older years, which are quite instructive, and have their guiding significance even nowadays. I believe there is still much research to do with Jane Austen, the person as well as her great novels.

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Persuasion. New York: Bantam Books, 1984.

Austen-Leigh, James Edward. Memoir of Jane Austen. Oxford: Clarendon, 1926.

Kirkham, Margret. Jane Austen: Feminism and Fiction. London: The Athlone Press, 1997.

Woolf, Virginia. The Common Reader. London: Hearth, 1925.

Abbot, Rob著，周善宾译.《简·奥斯汀：将梦想嫁给文字》. 大连：大连理工出版社，2008.

玛吉·莱恩. 《简·奥斯汀的世界——英国最受欢迎的作家的生活和时代》. 海口：海南出版社， 2004.

裘因. 《奥斯汀与英国女性文学》. 上海大学学报，6（1996）：28-33.

裘因. 《从lt;劝导gt;看简·奥斯汀创作思想的发展》. 复旦学报，5（1992）：50-54.

朱虹. 《奥斯丁研究》. 北京：中国文联出版公司，1985.

朱虹. 《英国小说的黄金时代》. 北京：中国社会科学出版社，1997.

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