Baby, I Was Born This Way

Imagine not marrying your true love for he was not in the same social rank as you; it is as tragic as if Meredith and Derek were not together only because she was an intern, while he a fellow. Thank God Meredith and Derek worked out, yet the same happiness was almost not true for Anne and Wentworth because Anne’s birth did not mean she was naturally of high class, she had to marry someone who had built up wealth. When Anne first met Wentworth all those years ago, he was perfect except for his class, “Mr Wentworth was nobody, I remember; quite unconnected; nothing to do with the Strafford family. One wonders how the names of many of our nobility become so common”(Austen 15). Even though his name made him sound of high class, he was not, and should not be associated with an Elliot. Anne could not marry him simply because she loved him, her birth into a high class family would not hold power enough for her to stay in such a social circle. Fortunately, since times have changed, Wentworth was able to move up in class and wealth due to his work in the navy, dispute his lesser birthright. He is now eligible for Anne to marry for they both fit each other’s rank and love.

Mr. Elliot is another example of a character who is not born into a high class yet makes his way into one. He is very different from Wentworth however, for he does not work hard to move classe,s he manipulates. Austen introduces Mr. Elliot to display the worst type of people at this time, the ones who take advantage of other people for their own benefit. Austen directly characterizes him as, “a man without heart or conscience; a designing, wary, cold-blooded being, who thinks only of himself; whom for his own interest or ease, would be guilty of any cruelty, or any treachery, that could be perpetrated without risk of his general character” (Austen 201). He marries a woman of money, yet low class, just so he can become wealthy, and the pursues Anne so that he can reassure himself as being high class. Mr. Elliot moves up in class but completely diminishes his true character and loses the respect of most people.

Class is a very important part of Persuasion, yet Austen uses ironic twists and satirical elements to show the odds and ends of people during this time. People are extremely vain, sensible, or devious, yet they all are associated with one another. Anne, the protagonist who falls right in the middle of all the extremes ends up happy with the perfect man. In the end, her love does trump the social rank of her husband although he was respectable enough to gain the approval of her father.

Work Cited

Austen, Jane. Persuasion. e-text. The Replubic of Pemberley. 2015.