Love, Marriage, and Gender in Jane Austen's Persuasion Ruby Payne College

Love, marriage, and the impact of gender are themes frequently taken up by Jane Austen, but it can be difficult to find where she stands on such topics, given the varying perspectives of her characters. While as readers we are often aligned with the heroine of the story, this doesn’t always mean she is who we ought to believe. Austen features a multiplicity of voices, giving more weight to some than others, in order to show that love doesn’t have a right and a wrong. In the case of the conversation between Anne Elliot and Captain Harville in Persuasion, I don’t believe that Austen necessarily agrees with either of their arguments. The debate being one of which gender shows more constancy in love does not allow for the complex circumstances of each situation. Each character is resolute in their point of view, but Austen undermines both with the events of the novel. Persuasion shows that love is a matter of individuals and their emotional capacity, rather than a subject one can make gendered generalisations about.

Captain Harville argues that Captain Benwick is an exception to the rule that men love longer and stronger, emphasising the connection between their physical and emotional selves. Harville draws upon socially accepted...