Jane Austen Persuasion Characters: Lady Russell & Mary Musgrove

Lady Russell — Mentor and Maternal Figure

Lady Russell - Anne's friend and mentor, Lady Russell served as a maternal figure after the death of her best friend, Lady Elliot, Anne’s mother. Lady Russell is a good-hearted and sensible woman, though she harbors certain prejudices favoring the aristocratic class from which she herself comes. She advises Anne to break off her engagement with Captain Wentworth, whom she believes is socially beneath Anne.

She is a very strict and severe woman with a delicate sense of honor. As an honest and sensible person, her behavior is correct. She is an affable, charitable, and kind woman, capable of the most solid adhesions and deserving of having her manners considered an archetype of good upbringing. She is cultured, reasonable, and measured. Regarding lineage, she harbored certain prejudices and gave rank and the social concept a meaning that even ignored the weaknesses of those who enjoyed such privileges.

Mary Musgrove — Snobbery and Sensitivity

MARY MUSGROVE - Mary Musgrove is the youngest daughter of Sir Walter Elliot. She married Charles Musgrove. Mary is just as snobby as her sister Elizabeth and her father Sir Walter, but she has fewer opportunities to show her snobbery in public. While Sir Walter has people around him who quite understand what it means to be connected to the Dalrymples, Mary is a lone voice of elitism among the Musgroves.

Mary sees herself as extra-special because of her father’s rank, and she thinks she should be treated like the special snowflake she believes she is. So when the others treat her like everyone else, she feels they are treating her worse than she deserves. The only one who can distract her from her oversensitivity is Anne, suggesting that Anne can be just as persuasive as Lady Russell when she puts her mind to it.

Conclusion — Persuasion's Themes Today

CONCLUSION - To sum up, it is clear that Jane Austen's Persuasion is first and foremost a love story that can still interest modern readers, because it addresses feelings and because all characters still remain alive today in their relevance. Moreover, Austen emphasizes the detachment and autonomy of the individual as a center of self-responsible moral judgment, making Persuasion a Romantic novel because of its historical and social background based on the sense of liberty and the idea of "We."