History Literature / Persuasion

* PassiveAgressiveKombat: Wentworth spends the beginning of the novel showing his resentment towards Anne by making snarky comments in her direction. The only time he directly helps her is when little Walter gets too rough playing with her while she’s taking care of the hurt little Charles.

A new feature film adaptation was announced in September 2020, to be filmed in 2021 and released by [[Creator/SearchlightPictures Searchlight Pictures]], starring Sarah Snook and Joel Fry. Coincidentally, [[Creator/Netflix]] has also announced plans for a "modern" retelling starring [[Creator/Dakota Johnson]].

A new feature film adaptation was announced in September 2020, to be filmed in 2021 and released by [[Creator/SearchlightPictures Searchlight Pictures]], starring Sarah Snook and Joel Fry. Coincidentally, [[Creator/Netflix Netflix]] has also announced plans for a "modern" retelling starring [[Creator/Dakota Johnson Dakota Johnson]].

A new feature film adaptation was announced in September 2020, to be filmed in 2021 and released by [[Creator/SearchlightPictures Searchlight Pictures]], starring Sarah Snook and Joel Fry.

A new feature film adaptation was announced in September 2020, to be filmed in 2021 and released by [[Creator/SearchlightPictures Searchlight Pictures]] and starring Sarah Snook and Joel Fry.

A new feature film adaptation was announced in September 2020, to be filmed in 2021 and released by [[Creator/SearchlightPictures]] and starring Sarah Snook and Joel Fry.

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

* EatingTheEyeCandy: Mr. Elliot totally checks Anne out when he spots her in Lyme Regis without knowing who she is. Anne quite enjoys the appreciation.
* 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. 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.

* RegencyEngland: UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars provide the historical backdrop. Although all the Austen novels take place during the war, it doesn't have much bearing on the plot. However, ''Persuasion'' is specifically set during Napoleon's first exile. The denoument includes

* 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, as 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 or a younger son of nobility.

* [[IllGirl Ill Woman]]: Anne's best friend Mrs. Smith.

** Charles Hayter takes up newspaper when he wants to avoid having conversation with Captain Wethworth because he's jealous. They both court Miss Musgrove... which Captain Wentworth doesn't know.

* RegencyEngland: UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars provide the historical backdrop.

* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: These elements are peripheral, but they're definitely mentioned. Austen had two brothers in the Navy, and so the discussions of the service do have accuracy to them. (One imagines that the Admiral's fault-finding with a painting of a boat was something Miss Austen heard herself at some point.)

* 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 to 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.

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

** Mr. William Elliot of the Kellynch family is a future baronet (Sir Walter's heir presumptive) who 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 very much. 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.

When the novel opens, Anne is much reduced: unable to find love after Wentworth, and having rejected a match without love, she has grown faded and isolated, and frustrated by the machinations of her grasping, petty-minded family. Her father Sir Walter Elliot having squandered their fortune trying to live up to his inflated conception of a baronet's prestige, the family are forced to lease out their estate Kellynch to the Croft family. In so doing, Wentworth is reintroduced to Anne's social circle -- he is Mrs Croft's brother. It turns out that Wentworth is now a captain in the navy and has amassed a considerable fortune through prize money (the novel is set in a lull between engagements with Napoleon).

Anne is forced to realise that she is still very much in love with Wentworth -- and that he still harbours deep resentment towards her.

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

* 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 Dalrymples, are even more noble aristocracy.

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

* 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 can no longer be blind to the fact that he's deep in debt. His estate is let and he has to relocate to a smaller house at Bath.

* LoveHurts: Basically the whole novel consists of this. Anne suffers terribly, and later we find out that Captain Wentworth has been heart-broken, jealous and desperate as well.
* 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.

* NewOldFlame: Anne and Wentworth used to be engaged, and after some very painful experiences, they are re-united.

** Mr. William Elliot of the Kellynch family is a future baronet (Sir Walter's heir presumptive) who 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 very much. 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.

* PlayingSick: Mary Musgrove, ''constantly''. She mostly seeks attention. Usually she feels healthy if there a party or if there are some interesting visitors.

** Mr. Elliot for Anne. He is a suitable husband material, rich and noble, and appears to be sensible and worthy of superior Anne. She enjoys his attentions at first and really likes the idea of being the next Lady Elliot, like her mother was, but she realizes she does not love him, and he is later revealed to be a villain.

** Sir Walter ships his daughter Elizabeth with his heir presumptive, Mr William Elliot. When Anne meets him, she thinks it is not such a bad idea. One of their motives is that their property is entailed, and thus it could stay in the family through marriage.

** Lady Russell ships Anne and Mr William Elliot.

** For a brief moment, Mrs Smith pretends she ships Anne and William Elliot. It's because she thinks the deal is done and that they are already engaged, and she wants to use Anne's influence over her husband. She is his former close friend who fell in harder times (financially, socially, health-wise) and wants his help. When Anne insists she doesn't love him and that their marriage is out of the question, Mrs Smith reveals Mr Elliot's true character and says her heart bled for her when she spoke of their future happy union.
** Mrs Smith jokingly implies that Nurse Rooke ships Sir Walter and widowed Mrs Clay as she hopes to get a job of delivering a baby and providing her with a post-natal care.
--->'''Mrs Smith:''' And, indeed, to own the truth, I do not think nurse, in her heart, is a very strenuous opposer of Sir Walter's making a second match. She must be allowed to be a favourer of matrimony, you know; and (since self will intrude) who can say that she may not have some flying visions of attending the next Lady Elliot, through Mrs Wallis's recommendation?

** Widowed Mrs Clay tries to charm Sir William. Almost everybody sees this possible relationship as evil — Anne, Mary (his adult daughters), Lady Russell (a family friend) and Mr Elliot (his heir presumptive). Only his eldest daughter doesn't see it — she thinks her father would never fall in love with a woman who is not strikingly beautiful. The relationship is supported only by Mrs Clay's family (they let her stay with him in Bath and take care of her children) and by Nurse Rooke who hopes to take care of her during a possible pregnancy and delivery.
* ShipToShipCombat: In-universe. Mary Musgrove thinks that Henrietta should leave Charles Hayter and marry Wentworth, while Charles Musgrove thinks Louisa should marry the good captain. It causes some ill-feeling between them, since Mary's opinion is predicated on her snobbery--she thinks Hayter, a country curate, would be a shamefully "bad connection" for her to have to put up with, and her husband is insulted because Hayter is a cousin.

** There are sisters Elizabeth and Anne Elliot and their potential marriages to their distant cousin William Elliot who is their father's heir. Elizabeth would love to marry him very badly, but he does not see her as a wife material, but she continues to see his politeness and friendly air as courtship. He would like to marry her sister Anne who is interested in him at first and for a brief moment likes the idea of becoming the next Lady Elliot, but does not trust him and does not love him. He ends up with neither of them [[spoiler:as Mrs Clay becomes his mistress and they settle together]], Elizabeth remains single and Anne gets married to her one true love.

* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: The fact that "suddenly" takes seven years doesn't prevent this trope from occurring. Anne and Frederic were always suitable (they are both members of upper-middle class, although Anne is of more noble origin) and loved each other, but Frederic was not rich enough to be able to support a wife and family. He gets vastly rich during his naval career.

* 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 Captain Wentworth's company immediately start gossiping about Anne and Mr. Elliot as soon-to-be-engaged.

** Mr. Elliot for Anne. He is a suitable husband material, rich and noble, and appears to be sensible and worthy of superior Anne. She enjoys his attentions at first and really likes the idea of being the next Lady Elliot, like her mother was, but she realizes she does nto love him, and he is later revealed to be a villain.

* {{Expy}}: Many critics, e.g. Creator/CSLewis, see Anne as a better-written version of Fanny Price of ''Literature/MansfieldPark''.

** Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove are crazy about Captain Wentworth, and he happily flirts with both. Louisa then manoeuvres Henrietta away to her original suitor and seems to have Wentworth for herself, but he ends up with niether Musgrove girl.
** There are sisters Elizabeth and Anne Elliot and their potential marriages to their distant cousin William Elliot who is their father's heir. Elizabeth would love to marry him very badly, but he does not see her as a wife material, but she continues to see his politeness and friendly air as courtship. He would like to marry her sister Anne who is interested in him at first and for a brief moment likes the idea of becoming the next Lady Elliot, but does not trust him and does not love him. He ends up with niether of them [[spoiler:as Mrs Clay becomes his mistress and they settle together]], Elizabeth remains single and Anne gets married to her one true love.

* 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 regains her appeal later. She's a sweet lady with an elegant and cultured mind who is admired and respected by people from her neighbourhood.

* CoolBigSis: Mrs. Smith (then Miss Hamilton) took Anne under her in their schooldays after Anne lost her mother.