What's With Weissman?

At the end of Persuasion by Austen when Anne and Captain Wentworth meet, the narrator ambiguously describes Anne and Captain Wentworth’s interaction in order to portray the sensation and feeling that Anne and Captain Wentworth both may have felt and may be feeling through the passage.

Weissman, in her analytical essay “Doubleness and Refrain in Jane Austen’s Persuasion”, interprets this particular incident a little differently by saying that because “they returned into the past, more exquisitely happy perhaps”, we begin to be doubtful of the ending; however, what exactly are we doubtful of? The vagueness of the doubt is one thing that leaves her interpretation open to many counter arguments. My interpretation is that she feels that when we encounter this incident, it causes us to think that Anne and Captain Wentworth may not get married; the past may repeat itself once again. While Weissman does mention “missing elements of the narrative” Weissman (90), hinting at the ambiguity Austen uses in this passage, she may have overlooked how this passage, stylistically speaking, represents Anne and Wentworth’s feelings towards one another and how they have grown; instead of creating feelings of doubt, Austen may be using this to give us the same feeling that Anne and Wentworth may have.

Austen begins by describing their interaction and how they “exchanged again those feelings and those promises” (225). However, she does not tell us exactly what they are exchanging; she leaves it ambiguous by using the word “those”. By excluding us from the actual content of their conversation from the start, she induces our curiosity as readers. We are like Anne in the beginning of the novel, curious about how Captain Wentworth feels about her. Austen then builds up some tension in using “more”. Her repetition of “more” also induces more curiosity. We are led to think: “Why I there so much concern with ‘more’?”

            Though Austen builds up our curiosity on Captain Wentworth and Anne’s interaction, she does not keep us totally in the dark; she gives us a release from the tension and satisfies some of our curiosity in the last section of the passage. This is also similar to Wentworth and Anne’s story. When they met after their period of separation, they felt some tension – at least, Anne did. As the story comes to a close, Wentworth professes his love for her and Anne feels “an overpowering happiness” Austen (223); She is happy and relieved that she finally knows how he feels about her. Similarly, we find out that they talk about “retrospections and acknowledgements” Austen (225). Some of our curiosity is fulfilled – they are just two lovebirds talking, “heedless of every group around them”. We can also be happy for them – after their years of separation, they can finally be together.

            To conclude, while Weissman’s interpretation may not necessarily be incorrect, she may have overlooked the stylistic aspect of Austen’s writing that may point to a different interpretation – that Austen may be using ambiguity to portray feeling and sensation.


Note to the reader: I realize that this turned out to be a bit more of an essay with Weissman's view as a counterargument to my argument; I am not sure if this is appropriate. Please advise.