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my very high scoring jane austen essay

Jane Austen's reputation as writer has varied drastically over the course of the past two-hundred or so years, she has remained "fantastically shambolic" (Looser 1) in the variety of ways critical reading and public reception have attempted to personify her. After her death, Austen was assigned the identity of 'Saint Aunt Jane' by her descendants (Looser 5), who were likely interested in upholding her appearance as a homely, apolitical woman absent-mindedly writing scenes of wealth, marriage and pastoral bliss. In the twentieth- century, new critical discussion allowed Austen a place in "the great tradition" as one of the "truly great writers" (Leavis 8), and while Leavis is a greatly contested critic, his inclusion of her marks a general critical reframing of her as an untouchable author of the literary canon. These two greatly varying interpretations of Austen's place in literature are also emblematic of the diverse critical views on her legacy as a 'political' writer. This debate has only further eroded in recent years, as contemporary adaption of her work attempts to simplify and streamline Austen's careful considerations of the politics of class and gender for modern audiences. I wish to suggest that Carrie Cracknell's Persuasion epitomises this process of obfuscation in its incorporation of anachronistic dialogue and characterisation, changes undergone in an attempt to connect contemporary audiences to Austen's Persuasion. Furthermore, I aim to posit that this process is ultimately harmful to Austen's legacy in its smoothing of her complicated political stance as well as her intricate narrative voice.

At the centre of critical debate is the idea that Austen's authorial style is a political statement in and of itself. Mary Poovey argues that Austen's signature is one of novelistic irony, ensnaring the reader in a sense of confusing yet delightful ambiguity (173), from which Carol M. Dole extrapolates the argument that it is this ambiguity that leads to ongoing critical debate about Austen's attitudes on class division - whether her work clings to traditional ideals or offers sly criticism of nineteenth- century class attitudes (59). Austen's use of free and indirect discourse is another emblem of this style, where her tendency towards irony is most obvious. Nora Nachumi argues that Austen utilises irony to bring into "question the way things appear," (9) in order to critique the social norms of her time.

Austen's skill of careful satirical commentary is well demonstrated in her characterisation of Elizabeth and Sir Walter Elliot in the opening pages of Persuasion. Sir Walter's obsession with the Baronetage is mocked by the narrator, it is for "his own amusement" (9) and nothing else that he pours over his own biographical record, a phrase which subtly indicates the narrators disapproval of Sir Walter. This acerbic tone is implemented at the open of the novel in order to establish an ongoing dialogue between Austen's narrative voice and the reader. It is in this dialogue that Austen's subtle political messaging is allowed to shine through. Sir Walter's dedication to the baronetage illustrates his vanity and desire for status and wealth above all else, as well as indicating towards the importance that connection to aristocracy has in his way of life. It is Austen's narratorial voice that suggests she holds a level of contempt for the way of life Sir Walter lives, but his characterisation never reaches a level of farce.

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