Satire in Persuasion

Jane Austen is an author who is quite fond of satire, often using it throughout her whole stories. Persuasion is one of her books that is filled with satire. From satirical characters, such as Sir Walter, Mary, and Elizabeth; to satirical situations such as Louisa’s fall.

                Several of the characters in Jane Austen’s Persuasion are deeply satirized. For example, Sir Walter is used by Austen to poke fun at the obsession many people of her time had with wealth and status. Specifically she uses irony with Sir Walter’s character, such as the fact that he is so obsessed with status, yet has to give it all up because he spends too much of his money. Mary, Anne’s sister, is another character that Austen satirizes. Austen uses exaggeration in Mary to represent the weak and needy characteristics that so many women in that time period had. Typically these characteristics shine through Mary’s self-centered and often self-pitying attitudes towards things, such as when Anne first came to visit her and some of her first words were “So, you are come at last!  I began to think I should never see you.  I am so ill I can hardly speak.  I have not seen a creature the whole morning…I do not think I ever was so ill in my life as I have been all this morning:  very unfit to be left alone, I am sure” (Austen 36). As you can see, Mary’s character does nothing more in the book than whine and complain, a perfect characteristic for satirizing the women of Jane Austen’s time.

I have only read two of Jane Austen’s books, but I have found an interesting pattern in the fact that she typically does not satirize her main characters. These strong, independent, female main characters, such as Anne in Persuasion, remain above all of the petty nonsense for which other characters are being satirized. Another one of Jane Austen’s satirical themes that appears throughout several of her books is the idea of the poorer characters being the wisest and most pleasant to be around. In the case of Persuasion, Ms. Smith embodies this poor and disabled, yet wise and kind character. Ms. Smith has lost all of her fortune, so many of the satirically pretentious characters such as Elizabeth and Sir Walter cannot understand why Anne would rather spend time with her rather than with the rich and powerful, yet quite dull, Lady Dalrymple.

                Jane Austen also uses situations in Persuasion as a satire for ridiculous aspects of her society. One of the best examples of this is when Louisa Musgrove stubbornly jumps off the stairs, only to fall and hit her head. Earlier in the book, Captain Wentworth talks of how he likes that Louisa is strong willed and not easily persuaded. This preference probably derives from Anne previously being persuaded by Lady Russell to leave him; however it is still ironic when her strong will is precisely what leads Louisa into a coma, and is the factor that allows Captain Wentworth to leave her in pursuit of Anne.

Works Cited: Austen, Jane. Persuasion. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003. Print.