Years ago I had the idea to go slowly through Austen’s works and write a post whenever a particular passage or line struck me. At first I thought I would go book by book and figured I would move through then quickly.
I know, I had too much faith in myself. I then decided to instead just do each book one at a time, walking slowly through the books and alternating them. It’s been a while since I’ve done a post like this as there are just so many other things on my list (right now I have over 300 drafts and that number is only down because I finally finished a few I started).
So as I was taking this meandering walk though Persuasion I started thinking about Anne Elliot’s older sister Elizabeth.
Elizabeth is a terrible person. She is just like her father a self-centered snob focused on looks, breeding, and believes herself to be better than almost everyone (including her sisters). She enjoys the importance of being first woman of the fmaily and the elevated status it grants her, but she is terrible with the finances as she wants to maintain a certain style of living but doesn’t understand how to stretch their finance nor how to rein in her father’s love of material and expensive objects.
When she does realize she needs to help budget the family finances cut spending, the first things she decides to cut off is not the amount of mirrors being purchased by the family but charitable donations, improvements to rooms (all rooms she does not use), and not giving her sister Anne, a present.
She is kind to Mrs. Clay the steward’s daughter but that is only because she flatters and appeals to her vanity.
I never really thought more of her than being a terrible character, until this time I reread it, (after also rereading Emma), this time I realized Elizabeth is a very sad version of Emma.
Elizabeth and Emma are very similar characters. Both are raised by single fathers who have elevated them to the role of First Lady of the family and both are in charge of running the household. Both have a decent educated, from good families, are top in the social hierarchy of their area, etc. Both ladies are also very strong willed, opinionated, and believe highly of themselves. However, one thing that sets Emma apart was that she was fortunate to surround herself with good people and a Mr. Knightley who was willing to point out when she was too far off the mark. Elizabeth wasn’t as lucky as she only had those who appealed to her vanity, causing her to have an increased ego, believe she is always correct, etc.
Both Emma and Elizabeth begin the book single with a lack of marriage on the horizon; but unlike Emma; Elizabeth will not inherit her family home. The estate is entailed and I predict she will not be left much funds as her father is quite the spendthrift.
While Emma doesn’t want to be married as she doesn’t see how getting married could increase her happiness in life; Elizabeth does wish to married, but has no prospects on the horizon. She may be similar to Emma, but she is facing a grim future; most likely left to live off the goodwill of her sister Mary and her husband (something that will most not work out long term as Elizabeth looks down on Charles Musgrove and Mary). Essentially, she is much closer to the future of Miss Bates with just the good “Elliot” name being the real difference.
Both Emma and Elizabeth have a married sister, but while Emma’s relation is an older sister; with Elizabeth she not only is 29 and unmarried but has the added shame of her younger sister being married and forever written down in the family book first.
“Always to be presented with the date of her own birth and see no marriage follow but that of a youngest sister, made the book an evil; and more than once, when her father had left it open on the table near her, had she closed it, with averted eyes, and pushed it away.”
Persuasion by Jane Austen
She had dreamed once long ago that she would marry William Walter Elliot, the heir, and forever be mistress of Kellynch Hall and Lady Elliot…but while everything had seemed to align with her plans, like Emma the future timeline she created was thrown awry. Emma has the good fortune to marry a wonderful man; Elizabeth gets ghosted.
“Elizabeth found him extremely agreeable, and every plan in his favour was confirmed. He was invited to Kellynch Hall; he was talked of and expected all the rest of the year; but he never came. The following spring he was seen again in town, found equally agreeable, again encouraged, invited, and expected, and again he did not come; and the next tidings were that he was married. Instead of pushing his fortune in the line marked out for the heir of the house of Elliot, he had purchased independence by uniting himself to a rich woman of inferior birth.”
-Persuasion by Jane Austen
Yep, Mr. Elliot turned out to be a just like Frank Churchill with a secret agenda (and fiancé), although in this case Elizabeth did care about the man. She had imagined a future and life with him, but now all was lost.
Then, to their surprise and delight a single Mr. Elliot returns to their lives and with him TBE hope that maybe this time. She dares to dream that her life just took a detour, but will soon be back on track with her original life goals.
But not only does he pay attentions publicly to her younger sister Anne; (again the embarrassment of being the elder sister and being rejected yet again); to add insult to injury I he also runs off with the steward’s daughter and her “dear friend” Mrs. Clay.
It would be well for the eldest sister if she were equally satisfied with her situation, for a change is not very probable there. She had soon the mortification of seeing Mr Elliot withdraw, and no one of proper condition has since presented himself to raise even the unfounded hopes which sunk with him.
On one hand reading this book she is pretty terrible and you are partly happy she gets her just desserts for being so terrible; but at the same time you do kind of pity her.
What do you think. Do you pity her? Or relish in her just desserts?
For more Persuasion, go to Persuasion (2022) or MadsenCreations and I Watched the New Persuasion So You Don’t Have To
For more on the text of Persuasion, go to It Sucks to Be Lady Elliot
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