Rhetoric or Persuasion by Jane Austen

     Robert Scott in On Viewing Rhetoric as Epistemic discusses the idea that, “clearly the art of persuasion is granted sufferance only on the grounds that men are not what they ought to be” (Scott 9), and that man is, “…certain only that he can not be certain.” (Scott 14). The rhetorical namesake novel Persuasion by Jane Austen tells the story of Anne Elliot who at nineteen is persuaded by her family and close friends to give up the man she is engaged to.

     Lady Russell, who was like a mother to Anne, “deprecated the connexion in every light. Such opposition, as these feelings produced, was more than Anne could combat….She was persuaded to believe the engagement a wrong thing—indiscrete, improper, hardly capable of success and not deserving it. Anne certainly knew the truth of her affection for Captain Wentworth and he certainly knew the truth of his for her.

     Her family, through pride of rank and wealth, demanded assurance and certainty of current and future wealth and status for Anne, however, no prior truth was available to them regarding Captain Wentworth’s family standing and current wealth. Their analysis was that the match was uncertain of success and that Anne could do better than to marry a mere Captain Wentworth. They were certain that other offers equally appealing to Anne from more socially elevated and wealthy men would follow in due course. They did not follow.

    Anne was miserable after this episode of yielding to persuasion and had as her only comfort the idea that giving up the engagement was morally right. “The point of view that holds that man cannot be certain but must act in the face of uncertainty to create situational truth entails three ethical guidelines: toleration, will, and responsibility. (Scott 16). “Had she not imagined herself consulting his good, even more than her own, she could hardly have given him up. The belief of being prudent, and self-denying principally for his advantage, was her chief consolation, under the misery of parting ….”

     The book begins eight years later when Anne and Wentworth are thrown together again by circumstances and begin to uncover the truth about their damaged and wounded feelings. “…how eloquent, at least, were her wishes on the side of early warm attachment, and a cheerful confidence in the futurity, against that over-anxious caution which seems to insult exertion and distrust Providence!-- She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older –the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.”

     “If one cannot be certain, however, then one must either withdraw from the conflicts of life or find some way to act in the face of these conflicts. (Scott 16). Anna and Wentworth both withdrew and then eight years later found ways to act again in the face of this conflict. Former persuasions were combatted and defeated.  “In human affairs, then, rhetoric, perceived in the frame herein discussed is a way of knowing; it is epistemic. (Scott 17). Anne and Captain Wentworth came to analyze and know the truth of their feelings and no longer allowed the beliefs of others to interfere with the knowledge of what was right and certain for them.