Persuasion: Jane Austen"s "Revolutionary" Vision

Persuasion: Jane Austen"s "Revolutionary" Vision

&nbsp;&nbsp;Jane Austen&quot;s Persuasion is the creation of her unprecedentedly critical perspective on social change due to the Industrial Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Although Austen limits the setting and the characters as usual, the subjects such as "class" and "gentleman" are prominent in the novel. Her use of "class" for the first time in her work must not be underestimated, for the term in the modern sense was introduced as the Industrial Revolution advanced.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;As far as Austen&quot;s use of "class" is closely related with the contemporary social fluidity, it is followed by the conflict in the definition and the boundary of gentleman. The conventional notion of a gentleman has begun to collapse as the society revolutionizes. Austen&quot;s subtle depiction on this subject is unprecedented, contrasting the hereditary but vainglorious baronet, Sir Walter, with the rising, unrefined but attractive, Admiral Croft. The Admiral&quot;s tenancy of the baronet&quot;s estate symbolically insinuates that the real owner should be the Admiral.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Austen stands with the new gallantry force of gentleman through not only being satiric on Sir Walter&quot;s vanity, but also creating a new type of couple. Anne is almost a flawless heroine as the representative of social conscience as well as Austen. Her unyielding preference for the navy officer, Captain Wentworth, is rewarded by their final reconciliation. Anne&quot;s eloquent words about woman&quot;s constancy convey her feeling toward Captain Wentworth, and their union is the accomplishment of Austen&quot;s "revolutionary" vision in the revolutionary age.