Jane Austen's Perfect Heroine: Say No to Plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Use of Confidentiality in Persuasion “His character was now fixed in his mind as perfection itself.” Jane Austen, Persuasion Anne Elliot is often described as Jane Austen's most mature and perfect heroine; and so it is. One is willing to share Captain Wentworth's feelings when he declares that Anne's character is "perfection itself, maintaining the loveliest means of fortitude and kindness" (226). Jane Austen's use of reserve in her 1818 novel Persuasion is a ploy to turn her heroine against the people and society around her and, above all, to give Anne an air of perfection. By giving her a reserved character, Anne becomes the antipodes of a society with decaying values. Austen speaks out against the attitude of the aristocracy, the inclination to a stubborn disposition, and a diminishing sense of decorum. Sir Walter Elliot is the embodiment of the declining aristocracy in Regency England, from which Anne escapes by marrying someone of the ascendant professional class. According to Paul Cantor "the aristocracy no longer bases its claim to rule on its intrinsic merit or superiority in virtue, [but] now the aristocracy's pre-eminence rests exclusively on its birth, which in practice means pure snobbery." Sir Walter is the emblem of such snobbery; he ignores the responsibilities he has as a landed nobility and denies the old aristocratic values. However, traditional aristocratic standards are upheld by characters from the rising middle class, who take on the role of the landed gentry in society and the navy. During the Napoleonic Wars the aristocracy abandoned their responsibility as military leaders and left the middle class to fight their own battles. The result is a power shift that places political power and wealth in the hands of the middle class and lets the aristocracy die. Anne Elliot is aware of all this and wishes to be associated rather with the professional class than with the old aristocracy into which she was born. "Anne, with an elegance of mind and a sweetness of character, which must have placed her high among any people of true understanding, was no one either with her father or her sister: her word had no weight; her comfort was always the one to give in; - it was just Anne" (7). In the opening chapters of Austen's novel we quickly learn that, despite her excellent character, Anne is a nobody to her relatives. She is put in the background and seems quite comfortable being there. But even though Anne is nothing and nobody to her relatives, we also learn that her family is simply made up of people with no "true understanding." They are proud, snobbish and only interested in outward appearances. Anne is marginalized by her own family and even believes that "[being] claimed as good, even if improperly, is at least better than being rejected as not good" (32). Furthermore, her importance here is not only diminished by Anne and her family, but Austen reinforces this statement by not letting Anne speak for herself until the third chapter of the novel. Before that, we only know her through the eyes and words of her family, Lady Russell, and the narrator. Slowly but surely Anne moves to center stage as she calmly shares with the reader her observations and judgments of the people around her. In the introduction to Persuasion, Gillian Beer states that "Anne, like the reader, like her author, participates discreetly in the [Bathroom] scenes, her psychic drama is almostcompletely invisible to any other person. She can adapt and be useful anywhere, hence her obscurity" (xxi). In other words, Anne's reserve affords her the opportunity to unobtrusively criticize her family's behavior, while her personality becomes increasingly admirable. As we To gain deeper insight into Anne's character, the members of her aristocratic family continue to become more and more inferior to her. E. B. Moon carefully points out that "the heroine's evaluation...becomes a test of character to others." , a proof that her relatives fail miserably. Austen uses this contrast between Anne and the other Elliots to criticize the narcissistic and presumptuous attitude of the aristocracy, but above all to emphasize the perfection of Anne Elliot by comparing the reserved and collected nature of Anne with Louisa's unbridled personality, Austen, once again, portrays Anne's reserved and collected nature. Speaking to her sister, Captain Wentworth describes the woman he would like to marry. With a persuadable Anne Elliot in the back of his mind, he declares that his ideal woman should possess a "strong mind, with sweet ways" (58). Consequently, he praises Louisa for her "decisive and firm character" and tells her that if he appreciates Henrietta's "happy conduct" he should "instill in her as much of [her] spirit as [she] can" (81). ). According to Wentworth, firmness equals happiness: "It is the worst evil of a too yielding and indecisive character, upon which no influence can be depended. You are never sure whether a good impression is lasting. Anyone can influence it; stop those who want to be happy” (81). However, Louisa's "steadfastness" is simply stubborn behavior and ultimately proves to be her weakness and downfall, Anne wonders whether it ever occurred to [Captain Wentworth] now to question the rightness of his former opinion respecting universal happiness and the advantage of firmness of character; and whether it did not strike him that, like all other qualities of the mind, should have its proportions and its limits. He thought that the feeling could hardly escape him that a persuadable character [like his] could sometimes be as conducive to happiness, as a very resolute character. (108) Indeed, this incident taught Captain Wentworth "to distinguish between the firmness of principle and the obstinacy of obstinacy, between the boldness of carelessness and the resolution of a collected mind" and only now does he understand "the perfect excellence of the mind with which Louisa's could so ill bear comparison" (227). Anne's reserve has not made her a volatile character, but she is a balanced young woman who knows and illustrates the value of reticence. Wentworth finally recognizes this quality of character in Anne, that “too good, too excellent creature,” and realizes that she is the woman he has always looked for (223). Anne's perfect sense of decorum prevents her from sharing her true feelings directly with Captain Wentworth. In her work, Austen places great emphasis on the bond of feeling and emotion. This may be, some critics argue, because Austen's spinsterhood deprived her of the chance to experience such a situation herself, and she therefore avoids emotionally charged scenes in her novels. But whether this was the reason or not, Austen lived in a society that, like her, was devoted to decorum; a society that imposed confidentiality on its women. In her account of strategies of reticence in Jane Austen's work, Janis P. Stout explains that Austen uses "reservation as a touchstone of positive evaluation", and goes on to emphasize "a., 1990.