{"id":16064,"date":"2022-07-21T11:05:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T09:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=211806"},"modified":"2022-07-21T11:25:12","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T09:25:12","slug":"the-essence-and-spirit-of-austens-work-are-fundamentally-changed-a-historians-review-of-persuasion","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/the-essence-and-spirit-of-austens-work-are-fundamentally-changed-a-historians-review-of-persuasion\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe essence and spirit of Austen\u2019s work are fundamentally changed\u201d: a historian\u2019s review of Persuasion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Kev Lochun\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Audiences have waited in half agony, half hope for Netflix and director Carrie Cracknell\u2019s adaptation of Jane Austen<\/a>\u2019s final novel, Persuasion<\/em>, which was published after the author\u2019s death in 1817.<\/p>\n

It is one of the least adapted of Austen\u2019s works, yet contains her most mature heroine, Anne Elliot<\/a>, and arguably her most mature subject matter: that of lost love and confidence in one\u2019s own choices.<\/p>\n

Who is persuaded in Persuasion<\/em>?<\/h2>\n
These two themes immediately dominate the opening scenes of Persuasion<\/em>. Actor Dakota Johnson plays Anne Elliot, who declares that she was once almost married, but that she allowed herself to be persuaded into rejecting her lover due to his lack of rank and riches.<\/p>\n
Now, eight years later, Anne tells us \u2013 by breaking the fourth wall \u2013 that she is single and thriving, against a Bridget Jones<\/em>-esque montage of drinking wine, crying in the bath and lying face down on her bed.<\/p>\n
Was Anne Elliot real?<\/a><\/h4>\n
Anne Elliot was not someone Jane Austen knew, nor is she a representation of the author herself. Nonetheless there are remarkable parallels between Persuasion\u2019s heronine and one real-life figure ain Regency England\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
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What is the plot of Persuasion<\/em>?<\/h2>\n
The story opens as Anne\u2019s family \u2013 led by her vain father Walter Elliot (played by Richard E Grant) who believes his title gives him undue distinction and an excuse to overspend \u2013 must vacate the family seat at Kellynch Hall so that they might rent it out to pay their debts.<\/p>\n
Anne is biting in her commentary of her family, her voice emerging as a cross between the Anne Elliot of the novel and the satirical narration of Jane Austen herself.<\/p>\n
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