One Writer’s Vision: Jane Austen Essay

Admiral Croft who was among the nouveau riche, had the pecuniary means to rent Kellynch abode from Sir Walter, one of the so-c altogethered landed gentry. What does Jane Austens treatment of associate and kindly mobility reveal about these men and their women such as Anne Elliot and Mrs. Smith? Which grouping fares better and why?In her novel, Persuasion, Jane Austen sends a sporting message that quantify are changing and what was once the upper crust of society is gradually losing its foothold. Her portrayal of Sir Walter, alone, would be enough to make a case for this. present he is, a member of the landed gentry, who has squandered his money international and has to rent out his home in range to make ends meet.Nevertheless, he clings to his ancestral linear perspective, as described in the Baronetage, the only book he deems worthy of his period. Clearly, he is a telephone number blinded by his position in society. This puts it mildly. He is so much more He is the ph ysique of the ever changing, instability of the social classes and a walking depiction of the betise of it all. Oscar Wilde once said, in his play A Woman of No splendor that the Peerage is the best thing in fiction that the English require ever done.It is worth taking the time to examine Sir Walter a bit more closely for while it would be easy to cast him past as a mere caricature, not someone to take seriously, ostensibly Jane Austen told us a very lot about her opinion of the class system in England, through the character of Sir Walter. As in all the characters in this novel, I find that there is much more than meets the eye. freshman and foremost we consider him the fool. He saunters about with a mirror continuously at hand so that he can admire his sustain handsomeness as if this is quite an achievement. Vanity was the beginning and end of Sir Walter Elliots character vanity of person and of situation. (Persuasion, Chapter 1). Sir Walter is a snob of the first order who se hollow values include appearance and titles and beyond that, nothing more.He deplores the navy as demonstrated in the passage Yes it is in both points offensive to me I baffle two strong grounds of protest to it. First, as being the means of bringing persons of obscure birth into unjustified distinction, and raising men to honours which their military chaplains and grandfathers never dreamt of and secondly, as it cuts up a mans youth and vigour most horribly a sailor grows old sooner than any other man. I subscribe to observed it all my life. A man is in greater riskiness in the navy of being insulted by the rise of one whose father, his father might kick in disdained to speak to, and of becoming prematurely an object of aversion himself, than in any other line. (Persuasion, Chapter 3)The only characters in this novel that appear to capture the attention and imagination of Sir Walter are his cousins, the Viscountess Dalrymple (what a name) and her daughter, the just Mis s Cataret. Ironically enough these two, look upon Sir Walter as a pettish flea that they would prefer to shoo off but cannot, because of propriety. Even more ironical is the fact that the Honourable Miss Cataret is considerably ugly, a trait that is swearing to Sir Walter in any other case but this. I have in mind that through the character of Sir Walter, Jane Austen shows us what she really thinks of the class system of her time with its entailments and primogeniture.Now we have Admiral and Mrs. Croft, the nouveau riche who become the tenants of Kellynch Hall. Up until this point we have considered the wealth and position of the man in the abidehold as the be all and end all not so with Admiral and Mrs. Croft. plot of land it is true that it was he, who was enlisted and employed in the navy, it was Mrs. Croft who accompanied him to sea many a time. She was much more, however than a companion to him on his voyages.When it came time to talk about the terms of the rental of Kell ynch Hall, this is how she is described by Mr. Shepherd, Sir Walters lawyer And a very well-spoken, genteel, shrewd lady, she seemed to be, continued he asked more questions about the house and terms, and taxes, than the Admiral himself, and seemed more conversant with business (Persuasion, Chapter 3). So we see that in this depiction of the nouveau riche, we are treated to another type of change in society here the woman has a say in the financial dealings of the family a very refreshing change, Im sure, to Jane Austen who was correction to the restrictions of entailment in her own family.In sharp contrast to this we have Mrs. Smith, who, like the majority of women at the time, have had their entire life sight subsumed under their husbands authority. They seem to live lives of quiet desperation. some(prenominal) decisions, good or bad (in this case bad) have been made by the men in their lives are of extreme consequence to the unempowered woman.And so, to answer your question, i t seems clear that the women of the nouveau riche do fare better than those of the antiquated class system which is so surely entering the realm of obscurity in this novel and just in the real times of Jane Austen.