Courtship in Persuasion and Tess of the d'Urbervilles VITHYA NANDAKUMAR College

Courtship is the behaviour in which, normally, the male attempts to persuade the female into a romantic relationship or marriage. In ‘Persuasion’ by Jane Austen, as well as ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ by Thomas Hardy, courtship is displayed in a kaleidoscopic view which thus portrays a plethora of meanings and interoperations. These two books however give an extremely contrasting view of courtship despite the fact they were written in the same century. This is evident as in ‘Persuasion’ Austen presents courtship to be derived by emotions as well as very gender-stereotypical ; yet in ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ it seems to be simply lustful and the consequences of falling for false courtship.

In ‘Persuasion’ the character Frederick Wentworth leaves Anne a heartfelt letter in which we are able to see how courting a beautiful experience as it is says:” A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.” The use of asyndectic listing catalogues that for Anne to give a single sign of attraction and that would be enough for Wentworth. Furthermore the use of stating the consequences, make Wentworth’s motivation for writing this letter clear, and by using the adverb ‘never’ we are able...