History Literature / Persuasion

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Averted: both adaptations thus far make sure Anne has her having-lost-her-bloom look, exactly as she's described in the novel, despite Amanda Root and Sally Hawkins being very attractive actresses in reality.

* CoolBigSis: Mrs. Smith to Anne in their schooldays after Anne lost her mother.

* IRegretNothing:
-->'''Anne:''' I have now, as far as such a sentiment is allowable in human nature, nothing to reproach myself with.

* KissingCousins: Henrietta Musgrove and Charles Hayter. Their mothers are sisters.
* ALadyOnEachArm: Captain Wentworth with the Musgrove sisters, for a while.

* SceneryPorn: The Georgian architecture at Bath in the adaptations is to die for.

* WeddingsForEveryone: Three by the end.

* ProperLady: Anne

* RichBitch: Elizabeth, full stop.

* ExactEavesdropping: While on the overlong walk with the Musgroves, Anne takes a rest in a spot concealed by some hedgerows. Then Louisa and Wentworth walk by, expressing some rather passionate opinions on how deplorable it is to be easily persuaded and the story of Anne turning down Charles Musgrove's proposal, which Louisa attributes to Lady Russell's influence (it was really about Anne's lack of love for him). This informs Anne quite painfully of just how angry Wentworth still is at her, and that she'll probably have to watch him marry Louisa.

** Mr. Elliot for Anne.
** Captain Wentworth also threatens Charles Hayter's relationship with Henrietta for awhile.

* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: The fact that "suddenly" takes seven years doesn't prevent this trope from occurring.
* TemporaryLoveInterest: Mr. Elliot for Anne and Louisa Musgrove for Captain Wentworth, even though it's half-hearted in both cases.

* MissingMom: Anne's mother is long dead before the novel opens.

* PlotInducedStupidity: When Louisa falls, everyone but Anne goes into a total panic. Not surprising for the Musgroves, but the two naval captains in the party have certainly seen injuries before. Wentworth's later remarks on the vent imply that he was horror-struck because he thought he had encouraged her impetuousness.
** Also, it's one thing for a naval officer to see a sailor being injured in combat, because war is war; it's another to see a girl you've encouraged to be spirited be ''so'' spirited that she behaves foolishly and injures herself.

* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: These elements are peripheral, but they're definitely mentioned.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Wentworth gets one of the most gorgeous in literature: "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope..."

* CharacterDevelopment: This has happened to Anne before the book starts. When she was younger, she was more impressionable and she let herself be persuaded not to marry Wentworth. Having spent the intervening period as an increasingly lonely and isolated spinster, she has become TheStoic and, partly as a result, has developed NervesOfSteel. The book is about how it takes Wentworth rather a long time to realise this.

* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: You can actually hear Captain Wentworth's heart break when he offers to walk Anne home in the rain with his umbrella, and the for-once-oblivious heroine innocently says she already has an escort -- Mr. Elliot. What's worse, the ladies in Capain Wentworth's company immediately start gossiping about Anne and Mr. Elliot as soon-to-be-engaged.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Wentworth gets one of the most gorgeous in literature: "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope..."

* BlueBlood: Sir Walter is a baronet and he takes a great pride in it. His daughters Elizabeth and Mary are similarly proud. Their great cousins, the Dalrymple are even more noble aristocracy.

* EnglishRose: Anne Elliot. She used to be a very pretty girl who has lost her bloom and still has modest beauty with regular features and mild brown eyes. She re-gains her appeal later. She's a sweet lady with an elegant and cultured mind who is admired and respected by people from her neighbourhood.
* ExactEavesdropping: While on the overlong walk with the Musgroves, Anne takes a rest in a spot concealed by some hedgerows. Then Louisa and Wentworth walk by, expressing some rather passionate opinions on how deplorable it is to be easily persuaded and the story of Anne turning down Charles Musgrove's proposal, which Louisa attributes to Lady Russell's influence (it was really about Anne's lack of love for him). Which informs Anne quite painfully of just how angry Wentworth still is at her, and that she'll probably have to watch him marry Louisa.

* {{Foil}}: Louisa Musgrove to Anne, as love interest for Captain Wentworth. Louisa is more spirited and cheerful than Anne, but she can't compare to Anne's intelligence. Captain Wentworth also compares them and thinks that while Anne was weak and irresolute Louisa's character is firm.

* HeirClubForMen: Sir Walter's estate Kellynch Hall is entailed and he has no son. His heir presumptive is Mr Elliot, a distant cousin to his daughters. The family wished he would marry the eldest daughter Elizabeth, but he married a low-born woman for money.

* [[IllGirl Ill Woman]]: Anne's best friend Mrs. Smith.
* ImpoverishedPatrician: Sir Walter Elliot. He lead an expensive life and cared very little for his estate or money situation. At the beginning of the novel, he cannot be blind to the situation that he's deep in debts any more. His estate is let and he has to relocate to a smaller house at Bath.

* TheMatchmaker: Lady Russell -- she has a similar success record to [[{{Literature/Emma}} Emma Woodhouse]]. She claims she is no matchmaker because she knows how tricky is to know anybody, but she tries persuade Anne that she and Mr Elliot would make a wonderful couple. She sees Anne in her mother footsteps, taking her place. The image is pleasing to Anne, if only there was no Mr Elliot, future Sir William, involved.

** Mr William Elliot of the Kellynch family and a future baronet (Sir Walter's heir presumptive) married a low born woman from a butcher's family who was vastly rich. He wanted to be wealthy quickly and independent, and when he was young, he did not value the baronetcy and Blue Blood connections a lot. His wife is said to have loved him a lot, but he did not love her and it's implied that he treated her rather harshly, if not outright cruelly. From what is known he must have been at least emotionally abusive to her. It's probable that Mr Elliot did not mix with her family after her death, so her family gained very little from this marriage while Mr Eliot was all take and no give.

** Anne is 27 when the novel beggns, and she thinks she will not get married at all because she still thinks of her first suitor and is sure she could never love anybody else.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted with Charles Musgrove and Charles Hayter. Charles and Mary Musgrove's eldest son is also named Charles. Mrs Smith's late husband was also called Charles, but he doesn't actually appear in the book.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Anne claims Lady Russell's advice was wrong, but she (Anne) was right to yield to the advice of a friend regardless. Wentworth doesn't contradict her. Semi-Justified it was a time when Anne was more passive and felt the need for reason.

** Half the book is spent trying to convince the reader that Wentworth has fallen in love with Louisa, which Anne is completely sure of until she is informed that [[spoiler:Louisa is marrying Captain Benwick.]]

* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: You can actually hear Captain Wentworth's heart break when he offers to walk Anne home in the rain with his umbrella, and the for-once-oblivious heroine innocently says she already has an escort -- Mr Elliot. What's worse, the ladies in Capain Wentworth's company immediately start gossiping about Anne and Mr Elliot as soon-to-be-engaged.

** Wentworth had not saved anything from his naval career, and so had only hopes that he would be able to, leading to Lady Russell's objections.

* ExactEavesdropping: While on the overlong walk with the Musgroves, Anne takes a rest in a spot concealed by some hedgerows. Then Louisa and Wentworth walk by, expressing some rather passionate opinions on how deplorable it is to be easily persuaded and the story of Anne turning down Charles Musgrove's proposal, which Louisa attributes to Lady Russell's influence (it was really about Anne's lck of love for him). Which informs Anne quite painfully of just how angry Wentworth still is at her, and that she'll probably have to watch him marry Louisa.

** Anne is 27 when the novel beggins, and she thinks she will not get married at all because she still thinks of her first suitor and is sure she could never love anybody else.

* PlotInducedStupidity: Even fans of the novel have trouble understanding how everyone except Anne loses the ability to function when Louisa Musgrove falls off the wall, especially since nearly all of the men in the party are high naval officers that have been to war. It's implied later that Captain Wentworth at least was under the complete shock that (what he sees as) his encouragement of Louisa's impetuousness may have caused her death; the others' reactions might be attributed to the Bystander Effect, a phenomenon in which individuals hesitate to offer help to a victim when other people are present.
** Seriously, you see a friend or sister apparently killed before your eyes and see how calm you are. Charles, Mary and Henrietta are not very practical effective people at the best of times and as for the naval officers, they expect to see blood on shipboard and in battle ''not'' on holiday in Lyme.

** Mr. Elliot for Anne

** Charles Hayter is trying to secure a position to enable him to marry Henrietta.

* EatingTheEyecandy: Mr Elliot totally checks Anne out when he spots her in Lyme Regis without knowing who she is.

* RegencyEngland: The NapoleonicWars provide the historical backdrop.

* ChristmasCake: Although the story doesn't take place in Japan, the concept is hinted to apply not to Anne, but to Elizabeth who despite pushing thirty (an at least borderline spinster age for a woman in this society) is widely considered to be even more attractive than a decade ago, while both of her ''younger'' sisters are said to have their best years aside of them, in terms of looks. It's her personality and pickiness what keeps her from getting married and it's mentioned that Elizabeth is starting to feel self-conscious about her age.

Made into a Granada miniseries in 1971, a [[Film/{{Persuasion}} movie]] starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds in 1995, and a made-for-tv movie (this time starring Sally Hawkings and Rupert Perny-Jones) in 2007.

* TheOneThatGotAway: Likewise.

* PlayingSick: Mary Musgrove, ''constantly''. She seeks attention

* {{Expy}}: Many critics, e.g. Creator/CSLewis, see Anne as a better-written version of [[MansfieldPark Fanny Price]].
* {{Foil}}: Louisa Musgrove
* ForegoneConclusion: Well, this IS an Austen novel... Readers can guess Anne ends up being happily settled.

* LicensedGames: It's one of the three Austen novels that gets mashed up in the PC game [[http://www.matchesandmatrimony.com Matches and Matrimony]]; Captain Wentworth is one of the suitors that the player character can potentially marry.

* PlayingSick: Mary Musgrove, ''constantly''.

* RomanticFalseLead: Mr. Elliot for Anne; Captain Wentworth also threatens Charles Hayter's relationship with Henrietta for awhile.
** And then there's the fact that half the book is spent trying to convince the reader that Wentworth has fallen in love with Louisa, which Anne is completely sure of until she is informed that [[spoiler:Louisa is marrying Captain Benwick.]]

* SelfMadeMan: Wentworth perfectly exemplifies this trope, going from a young officer without status or fortune to a celebrated captain with the equivalent of several million bucks in today's money solely by working his way up through the ranks of the navy. He earns his position through his own merit -- a marked difference from some of Austen's other romantic heroes like Darcy or Knightley.
** FairForItsDay: It's not quite correct to class Wentworth as a 'self-made man' in the modern sense of having started from nothing. While promotions in the Navy were earned, to get in as a midshipman - the starting rank for an officer - you had to be put forward by the right people. Wentworth isn't a commoner, he was born into the family of a gentleman; the usual background for a midshipman was that of an ImpoverishedPatrician (see ''MansfieldPark'' for more detail).
** Sir Walter, however, objects to the navy in general as causing this.

* TitleDrop: People get ''persuaded'' to do stuff a lot.
** It's the opposite of a Title Drop - Jane Austen left the manuscript untitled at her death, and it was her brother who named it, based on the theme of persuasion in the book.

* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: These elements are peripheral, but they're definitely mentioned.

* AloneAmongTheCouples: Anne is the only one without a sweetheart during a walk from Winthrop. Her former fiancé Captain Wentworth is with Luisa, Charles Hayter gets back together with Henrietta, and Charles Musgrove is with his wife Mary.

Made into a Granada miniseries in 1971, a [[Film/{{Persuasion}} movie]] starring Amanda Root and Ciarad Hinds in 1995, and a made-for-tv movie (this time starring Sally Hawkings and Rupert Perny-Jones) in 2007.

* ForegoneConclusion: Well, this IS an Austen novel... Readers can guess Anne ends up being happily settled.

* TheMatchmaker: Lady Russell -- she has a similar success record to [[{{Emma}} Emma Woodhouse]]. She claims she is no matchmaker because she knows how tricky is to know anybody, but she tries persuade Anne that she and Mr Elliot would make a wonderful couple. She sees Anne in her mother footsteps, taking her place. The image is pleasing to Anne, if only there was no Mr Elliot, future Sir William, involved.

* CoolOldLady: And cool old man. Admiral Croft is a navy captain, veteran and far more practical, humble and loving than Sir Walter Elliot. Mrs. Croft handled more of the business of learning more about the mansion they were being rented out to, calls out her brother on sexism, traveled with her husband on hard sea voyages and isn't afraid to step over her husband at times.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Averted: both adaptations thus far make sure Anne is exactly as plain as she's described in the novel, despite Amanda Root and Sally Hawkins being very attractive actresses in reality.
* ALadyOnEachArm: Captain Wentworth with the Musgrove sisters, for a while.

* CoolOldLady: And cool old man. Admiral Croft is a navy captain, veteran and far more pragtical,humble and loving than Sir Elliot. Mrs. Croft handled more of the business of learning more about the manison they were being rented out to, calls out her brother on sexism, traveled with her husband on hard sea voyages and isn't afraid to step over her husband at times.
* DoubleStandard: Anne pointing out to Captain Harville that the reason all the poems and books he knows speak of women's inconstancy is... [[MostWritersAreMale because all those books were written by men]].
* EnglishRose: Anne Eliott.

* ForegoneConclusion: Well, this IS an Austen novel...