So, at the end of her life, Jane Austen is a romantic who advocates marrying for love -- perhaps only for love of the deepest kind? Is the choice Anne Elliott makes very different from the one Elizabeth Bennet makes?
Anne fell in love young but distrusted it. Elizabeth falls for Wickham, sorta, but distrusts it. Anne realizes she was right the first time and hates that she let someone talk her out of it. Elizabeth talks herself into loving Darcy, once she assesses the weight of his worth and her gratitude toward him.
Had Austen changed since she wrote one book (first drafted when she was still a teenager) compared to when she wrote her last book, as she approached middle age?
Jim D writes:
Anne fell in love young but distrusted it. Elizabeth falls for Wickham, sorta, but distrusts it. Anne realizes she was right the first time and hates that she let someone talk her out of it. Elizabeth talks herself into loving Darcy, once she assesses the weight of his worth and her gratitude toward him.
Had Austen changed since she wrote one book (first drafted when she was still a teenager) compared to when she wrote her last book, as she approached middle age?
Jim D writes:
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...In her last novel, Persuasion, Anne is just as "thoroughly punished" for not making essentially the same choice Mrs. Price did [Mansfield Park], marrying a dashing professional military officer with great possibilities but no present means of supporting her aside from his salary.
Anne chooses, or is persuaded, not to disoblige her family, and the consequence is a downturn in spirits that lasts until Frederick, just as miserable, comes back into her life eight years after the break-up.
Moreover, Anne states, at the end, that she would never consider giving the same advice, to make a prudent choice instead of following one's heart, to anyone in similar circumstances. And it's clear that Miss Austen wants us to agree with Anne.
No one can tell what will happen in the future. Sometimes you get a houseful of kids, parented by a soldier wounded, crippled, and forcibly retired from the profession he loves. Sometimes you get a heroic, respected, and wealthy war hero on his way to becoming an admiral. From Miss Austen's perspective, since no one can tell in advance what "events prove," it's best make the romantic, and, yes, the moral choice, and follow your heart.
Moreover, romance and prudence don't have to be mutually exclusive. For Anne and Frederick, it didn't have to be a choice of break up forever or marry in haste. They could have courted during Frederick's command of the Asp, and see if Frederick's belief in his own success was justified.
But even then, we're treated to an example of what can happen when a couple deeply in love tries to do the prudent thing. James Benwick and Fanny Harville, deeply in love, decide to delay their marriage until Benwick gets promoted and has some prize money piled up. In the meantime, Fanny dies, and Benwick sinks into a slough of depression for delaying their happiness.