From Jane Austen’s Persuasion (Beginning of Chapter 1):
Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character; vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did; nor could the valet of any new made lord be more delighted with the place he held in society. He considered the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessings of baronetcy; and the Sir Walter Elliot, who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion.
There are many different literary techniques that Jane Austen employs in her novels. The passage above is an example that demonstrates Austen’s use of free indirect discourse in her novel, Persuasion. In this passage, located near the beginning of the first chapter, we are introduced to one of the main characters of the novel – Sir Walter Elliot. Austen uses free indirect discourse to give us different perspectives on Sir Walter Elliot.
This passage is one of the first to introduce and describe Sir Walter Elliot’s character. The narrator begins by describing Sir Walter Elliot as vain – “Vanity was the beginning and the end”. Being vain is not a compliment; the tone here is critical. Combining this knowledge with the fact that not many other characters have been introduced at this point, we can conclude that only a handful of characters would be thinking this: the narrator, Sir Walter Elliot himself, and other people in general. We can narrow it down to either the narrator or other people in society because Sir Walter Elliot would probably not be critical of himself; in fact, he seems quite fond of himself – “the Sir Walter Elliot, who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion”. Through this first sentence, we already have a feel for the two possible focal points present in this passage. Sir Walter Elliot thinks highly of himself; the narrator does not.
However, though the tone of the first sentence of the passage carries a critical tone, it switches in the second sentence – “He had been remarkably handsome in his youth…was still a very fine man”. There does not seem to be criticism here; there is praise. This could be from Sir Walter Elliot’s point of view instead of the narrator. It is supported by his attitude towards himself, once again, in the last sentence of this passage – “…was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion”. It exemplifies his high opinion of himself. On the contrary, it can be argued that this is still the narrator, but with a mocking tone.
The narrator can be seen as mocking Sir Walter Elliot in the second sentence by the first half of the third sentence –“Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did”. This implies that he does not fall into the stereotype of his own gender. Single women in the 18th century were expected to find husbands without being outwardly flirtatious; hence, it is assumed that maintaining outward appearance would be one of their top priorities. Men, on the contrary, were the head of the house, had voting rights, and were more focused on vocational activities. In comparing Sir Walter Elliot to women primarily concerned with their appearance, the narrator ridicules him and compares him to a young, single woman from the 18th century.
The last sentence presents a continuing critical and mocking tone. It contributes evidence to the first sentence, the description of Sir Walter Elliot as a vain man. The narrator shows what Sir Walter Elliot thinks of himself; Sir Walter Elliot believes that he was blessed with “baronetcy” and “beauty”. He is so consumed with himself that he is “the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion”. However, we could also see this is still from Sir Walter Elliot’s focal point; these “blessings” and “gifts” align with his self-glorifying viewpoints.
Austen’s use of free indirect discourse presents different possible perspectives and focal points. At times in this passage, we can see the text through Sir Walter Elliot’s focal point; at others, we can see how it may be the narrator’s focal point. However, I am led to believe that this may be from the narrator’s focal point. Even though there is evidence to suggest that this passage is may be from Sir Walter Elliot’s focal point, Austen uses free indirect discourse to give reader’s insight on Sir Walter Elliot’s character.
This passage in the very beginning of the book is very important because it sets the standards of what the narrator believes is right and what she believes is wrong. The reader immediately figures out that the narrator is not very fond of Sir Walter Elliot. It can be inferred through the narrator’s criticalness of Sir Walter Elliot that she believes that men should not be as much as women regarding their looks. The narrator’s poking fun of Sir Walter Elliot can be set as the example of what she believes men shouldn’t do. She does not want men taking care of themselves so much that they are “…the constant object of [their] warmest respect and devotion.” This little portion of the passage can be inferred that way because of the tone the narrator uses. Sir Walter Elliot would not consider himself vain that even he believes himself his “…the object of his warmest respect and devotion.” This is obviously the narrator speaking and not Sir Walter Elliot. The passage does continue on with more mocking of Sir Walter Elliot and his non-male stereotype. The narrator does not like the fact that this character cares more about his looks than a lot of the females in this novel. Later on in the novel, Sir Walter Elliot compliments his daughter Anne because she looks more beautiful than usual. He is happy with his daughter appearance and asks if she has been using a lotion that he himself uses all the time. He speaks to Anne of how he has recommended it to many female characters and one can infer that the narrator is poking fun at him again. Sir Walter Elliot seems to be a metro-sexual in this novel and narrator makes it clear that she believes that males should not take care of themselves so much. Sir Walter Elliot is probably the character that gets made fun of the most through sarcasm and ambiguous tones.
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