In Favor of Jane Austen's Revised Ending of Persuasion Anonymous College

While concerns about the high costs associated with halting the printing of Persuasion’s original ending are understandable, Austen’s revised version better showcases the stylistic talents to which her readers have become accustomed. The original ending reads as rather a hasty conclusion to a novel that is anything but rushed. After almost 200 pages of drawn out longing, suspense, and in depth behavioral analysis on Anne’s part, the pace quickens and in a mere four pages, she discovers Captain Wentworth’s true feelings and the pair become engaged. This abrupt ending leaves the reader reeling from all the coincidences which led to such an easy solution to Anne’s worries, and disappointed by its anticlimactic nature. How convenient that Anne would run into Admiral Croft, that Captain Wentworth would be relaxing in the sitting room, that Mrs. Croft would be preoccupied and leave the two alone, and that Captain Croft would insist upon Wentworth mentioning the presumed pairing of Anne and Mr. Elliot. Not to mention, Wentworth’s broaching of the subject of marriage only by the importunity of Croft lacks even a drop of the romanticism which Austen is obviously more than capable of including, based on her revision. Austen realized the...