Issues of the 18th Century in Austen's Persuasion

Jane Austen discusses the status of women, social expectations, and the issue of rank and wealth in her novel Persuasion. Among these topics, the issue of rank forms the basis of the novel through Anne and Captain Wentworth’s love story. Anne and her sisters are not heirs to their father’s royal title and will not have a say in their wealth after they get married, so, in the novel, a marriage with one of them guarantees his position and wealth in the eyes of Mr. Elliot, and Anne’s friend in Bath, Mrs. Smith, is a widow who lost all her money after her husband’s death and thus became worthless in the eyes of society because of the low status of women in the 18th century. While Austen discusses women in the 18th century through these characters, she also mentions marriage between high-ranking people. A member of the aristocracy is expected to marry someone of equal status, just as Anne is expected to get married to someone else, maybe Mr. Elliot and not Captain Wentworth. On the other hand, Wentworth and Anne cannot dig deep into their love. So, in this part, the issue of rank comes up. Even though Anne and Wentworth get married at the end of the book because Wentworth gained some status through his career in the army and the wealth he earned, the way giving up on him years ago brought regret and despair to Anne shows that the obsession with rank in 18th-century society causes problems. In a nutshell, Jane Austen's goal in her novel Persuasion was to highlight issues concerning women's roles in society and the social structure and expectations of people.