In the new Persuasion
Online http://www.jasna.org/publications/persuasions-online/vol38no1/wray/
Prof. Paul Wray’s article, “Persuasion: Why the Revised Ending Works So Well”, argues that “the
cancelled chapters are an artistic failure, as Jane Austen must have seen”.
Today, I’ll rebut the first of Wray’s two central arguments (that “the original
ending alters the character of Admiral Croft”). In so doing, I’ll argue that
the cancelled chapters of Persuasion are
a priceless gift, because they provide the best evidence I’ve found, to support
my longstanding claim that
each of Jane Austen’s six novels is a double story, with both an “overt story”
(the novel’s plot as generally understood) and a “shadow story”, in which characters
other than the heroine have very
different motivations, and perform very different actions “offstage” out of the
heroine’s view, than in the “overt story”. Or, my theory in a (firm wal)nut
shell: one novel, two independent, parallel fictional universes, each of
infinite dimension.
First, here is Wray claiming in his new article that Austen
recognized that the change
in Admiral Croft’s character was an artistic failure, which she therefore
corrected by replacing those final chapters with the new ending which all
Janeites know and love:
“In the
cancelled chapters, Admiral Croft, who has heretofore been friendly and frank,
cajoles Anne against her inclination into ‘calling on’ Mrs. Croft: ‘‘You are
going to call upon my wife, said he, she will be very glad to see you’’. This
is not an invitation but an affirmation. Anne, her mind full of what she
has just heard from Mrs. Smith, tries to cut the encounter short, but he
insists. Anne is “vexed” because the admiral will not allow her to leave
and because she fears that Captain Wentworth may be there, as indeed, he is,
but first the pretense of visiting his wife must be prolonged: “‘I will
not swear that she has not something particular to say to you—but that will
all come out in the right place. I give no hints’”. This dissembler
is not the admiral that we know. This is not the admirable admiral whose
“manners were not quite of the tone to suit Lady Russell, but…delighted Anne”
and whose “goodness of heart and simplicity of character were irresistible”. What
has become of the admiral who jovially asks her to take his arm after scoffing
at the print in the shop window: “‘Ha! is it you? Thank you, thank
you. This is treating me like a friend’”? That admiral has gone
missing in the cancelled chapters, along with the Admiral Croft who makes “himself
very agreeable by his good-humoured notice of [Mary’s] little boys” when the
Crofts visit Uppercross Cottage.
What is
the admiral’s motive in ushering Anne into Wentworth’s presence in such an
underhanded way? Wentworth tries to persuade Anne (and the reader) that
his brother-in-law “‘is a Man who can never be thought Impertinent by one who
knows him as you do—. His Intentions are always the kindest & the
Best’”. That the author feels obliged to defend the admiral from this
allegation (which Anne has not made) indicates that even while writing the
original, Jane Austen saw the inconsistency she was creating in Admiral Croft’s
character. The manuscript scene is an unsatisfying contrivance by the
author. The admiral she created would not have misleadingly enticed Anne
into his house. He and his wife have never been conniving (wittingly or
unwittingly). Austen saw the inconsistency and looked for a way to resolve
the narrative complication without compromising the genial character of Admiral
Croft. Her solution does much more, however, than preserve the admiral’s
character: it completes Anne’s emergence into her role as one who
“gloried in being a sailor’s wife”. END QUOTE FROM WRAY ARTICLE
Alas,
Wray overlooked a scholarly article by the late Prof. Jim Heldman, which presciently
annihilates Wray’s claim, because Heldman had already shown, in literally dozens
of ways, that the apparent late change in Admiral Croft’s character was no
change at all, but was actually a foregrounding of his true character as subtly
hinted all along during the entire novel. It was 25 years ago, in the 1993 Persuasions, that Heldman’s “The Crofts
and the Art of Suggestion in Persuasion: A Speculation”… http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/printed/number15/heldman.htm
...made a comprehensive case for seeing Admiral (and Mrs.)
Croft as benign schemers throughout Persuasion.
While I urge you to read Heldman’s succinct and reader-friendly, jargon-free article
in full, here, for those in a hurry, is my abbreviated version of his introduction
and conclusion:
“It is
a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen’s original ending of Persuasion was
a bad idea and that the revised ending is a vast improvement…It is…tempting to
consider the possibility that the cancelled chapters may have represented her
original intentions for the conclusion and further that she may have been
preparing for that conclusion in the earlier chapters of the novel…The
cancelled chapters seem to be a setup to bring Anne and Wentworth together
without their prior knowledge. Admiral Croft is insistent that Anne visit
Mrs. Croft even though Anne makes a concerted effort to decline. He
blatantly lies when he asserts that no one else is present, he forces Anne and
Wentworth to remain together after he leaves them, and he insists that
Wentworth broach with Anne the subject that leads to their reconciliation. …it
is totally out of keeping with the characters of Anne and Wentworth as they
have been presented earlier. It is also unflattering to them
both and particularly unsatisfactory in that neither Anne nor Wentworth is
responsible for their reconciliation. Instead of acting for themselves, as
they do in the revision, they are ploys for the manipulation of Admiral and
Mrs. Croft. But, for all its shortcomings, the scene suggests…a conspiracy
of sorts on the part of the Crofts to bring Anne and Wentworth together. And
assuming that this conspiracy may have been Jane Austen’s intention from the
beginning, the scene suggests…that Jane Austen may have been preparing for the
Crofts’ role in the reunion earlier in the novel[, and] that Admiral and Mrs.
Croft would have known of Wentworth’s unhappy experience seven years earlier…it
suggests that Admiral and Mrs. Croft, without Wentworth’s knowledge and
certainly without his consent, have been busy, subtly and indirectly, from
their first appearance in the novel, exploring the possibility of a
reconciliation and attempting, by hints, indirect comments, prodding, and
casually planted nudges, to bring about that reconciliation. A number of
scenes in Persuasion may be read in a way that suggests this
gentle conspiracy.”
After
that intro, Heldman then goes on meticulously document those scenes (for those who
want a bit more, see the end of this post where I present my abbreviated
version of the body of Heldman’s article). And now, here is Heldman’s
conclusion:
“Every
major scene in Persuasion in which the Crofts appear with
Anne, and that means every scene but one in which they appear at all, includes
some pointed or loaded comment by one or both of them – a question, the
introduction of a subject, a general or indirect observation – which may be
read as applying to the relationship between Anne and
Wentworth. These comments suggest a number of possibilities. They
suggest that the Crofts know about Anne and Wentworth’s earlier relationship,
that they are feeling out the present state of her affections, that they are
encouraging Anne to think about Wentworth by reminding her of his possible
attraction to Louisa, that they are aware of Wentworth’s present feelings for
Anne, that they are attempting to force the issue gently and indirectly – though
not always with subtlety – and, in view of the cancelled chapter, that they are
engaged in a kind of conspiracy to bring Anne and Wentworth together again if
possible. There does seem to be a consistent pattern in the Crofts’
conduct, a pattern that is a persuasive one involving hints, suggestions,
implications, prodding, and gentle nudges. In view of this pattern, the
alternative – that they do not know about the past and that their comments on
the subject are random, casual, accidental and simply responses to immediate
situations- seems far less likely.” END
QUOTE FROM HELDMAN ARTICLE
Impressive
stuff, right? So, which scholarly portrait of Jane Austen do you find more true-to-life?
Wray’s Austen,
so out of artistic control as she was first finalizing the ending of Persuasion, that she presented Admiral
Croft, a major character, in a totally inconsistent light vis a vis all his
earlier appearances; and then, almost immediately after dating her first
version, realized that she had made a huge error, and had to desperately scramble,
within a 10-day period, to edit out that anomaly? Or
Heldman’s
Austen, in total artistic control as she wrote all of Persuasion, but who chose at the last minute to alter her ending,
not only to create a more powerful romantic climax, but also to continue her
novel-long pattern of implication and hint at Admiral Croft’s (and his wife’s)
joint romantic scheming? As a rule of thumb, I am glad to be of the party of
those who give the benefit of the doubt to Jane Austen, and don’t presume to assume
she has made a neophyte writer’s error!
But
that’s only the first half of my own argument today, as I’ll now explain. I
first read Heldman’s article in 2005, and it rocked my Austenian world in a
very personal way, because it so powerfully supported my then newly minted Austen
“shadow story” theory. I.e., I quickly realized that the cancelled chapters, in
comprising the only known existing verbiage (in Austen’s own handwriting no
less) of any earlier draft of text in one of her six completed novels, provided
a unique window into her shadow stories. How so? Because that earlier draft,
when viewed through the lens of Heldman’s airtight analysis, proved beyond a doubt
that Austen was that rare author who would leave a crucial plot element (the
Crofts as schemers) not explicitly revealed to either her readers -- or to her
heroine, Anne Elliot -- at the end of the novel.
First,
though, I wish to reemphasize that all Janeites, including Heldman, Wray, and
myself, are united in believing that the published ending of Persuasion is without question one of
the great romantic endings in all of literature. That quantum artistic leap would
in and of itself have more than justified Austen’s artistic decision to replace
the clearly inferior cancelled chapters.
However,
it was after reading Heldman’s article in 2005, that I realized something even
Heldman, in his pioneering insight, hadn’t grasped --- i.e., that in replacing
the cancelled chapters but retaining all those earlier passages which Heldman flagged
in his 1993 article, Austen had preserved the Crofts as schemers. And, even
more probatively, the final tranche of textual evidence for Mrs. Croft as a
schemer is present even in the replacement chapters! Here is the section of
Heldman’s article which brings that point home:
“In the
final scene in which Mrs. Croft speaks – the second scene at The White Hart in
which Wentworth writes the letter to Anne – a scene WRITTEN AFTER Jane Austen
had rejected her original ending – Mrs. Croft once again makes a
pointed remark...Until this scene in the novel, the pointed comments of Admiral
and Mrs. Croft seem to have been directed to Anne only. But for the first
time Mrs. Croft has the opportunity to make an indirect suggestion when both
Anne and Wentworth are present, and she might be read as encouraging both of
them to get on with it….Does Mrs. Croft know about [Wentworth’s] feelings at
this point? The novel doesn’t tell us, but we can speculate that it is
possible, and perhaps even probable, that she does…In the cancelled chapters,
Admiral Croft tells Anne that he and Mrs. Croft had discussed the rumors of
Anne’s possible engagement to Mr. Elliot and suggests that they had not
believed it. The Crofts seem to have been very much interested in Anne and
Wentworth from the very beginning…it would seem very unlikely that the Crofts
were not privy to at least some of Wentworth’s feelings about Anne. In
this context, Mrs. Croft’s comments to Mrs. Musgrove assume even greater
significance and implication.” END QUOTE FROM HELDMAN ARTICLE BODY
Those
hints reconfirm that Austen didn’t replace the cancelled chapters so as to
obliterate all those earlier hints at the Crofts as matchmaking schemers. But
then, was Austen’s goal really only to create a more powerful romantic ending?
No, it was definitely that, but I say it was also something even more audacious
and extraordinary. I claim that Austen realized that she could not only upgrade
her ending, she could also give covert agency to other characters involved in the benign matchmaking conspiracy that
Heldman perceived – it wasn’t just the Crofts, i.e., it was also several of the other characters at the White Hart Inn who
were in on it –and, what’s more, some of them were at cross purposes with the
rest!
I’m not
prepared today to give you a full or even a substantial account of all the
secret scheming going on at the end of Persuasion
as I see it. I plan to lay that argument out in a complete and careful way in
the not too distant future. However, for now, what I hope will satisfy the
curiosity of those who’ve come with me this far, is the following-linked 2013
blog post of mine, in which I made the case for Austen, in her revised ending
of Persuasion, having plainly (to my
eyes) paid homage to one of the most famous romantic comedies known to her and
her audience: I am hinting at a play in which a band of benign secret
matchmakers overcome the efforts of a smaller band of malign would-be matchbreakers in order to help two true
lovers come together after having previously failed to do so. Of course, I am hinting
broadly at Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing , in which the
reluctant warring lovers Beatrice and Benedick are deviously assisted into
matrimony by Don Pedro, Ursula, and the other merry pranksters of the play:
And so I
hope you’ll agree that my above argument was much ado about something wonderful:
the priceless gift of the cancelled chapters of Persuasion illuminating its shadow story.
Cheers,
ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode
on Twitter
My
abbreviated version of Heldman’s scene-by-scene analysis of the Crofts as
matchmakers
“…[Anne]
may…be wrong, in her first meeting with the Crofts, in her satisfaction that
they know nothing about her earlier relationship with Captain Wentworth…the
Crofts may be read in their first meeting with Anne as feeling her out, as
reconnoitering, in their ambiguous and perhaps exploratory comments…if there is
a conspiracy of sorts between the Crofts regarding Anne and Wentworth, these
brief and ambiguous remarks may be read as the Crofts’ early efforts to test
the waters, to introduce a delicate subject and then watch for a response from
Anne. Subsequently, at a dinner with the Musgroves, Wentworth and the Admiral
discuss Wentworth’s first command…the Admiral’s response seems…loaded with
implication…Admiral Croft seems to be making a pointed remark about the past- to
be hinting about what might have been – to be saying something to contribute to
the flow of conversation but something which, at the same time, would have
special significance for Anne.
In a
later scene, after Wentworth has asked the Crofts to take Anne home in their
gig, [when] the Admiral and his wife begin talking about Wentworth,…forcing the
issue, raising the subject of Wentworth’s apparent interest in one direction
when Anne knows that his interest was once in her. By itself, the
Admiral’s remark is potent with suggestion. It might be read as hinting to
Anne that Wentworth may move in the direction of one of the Musgrove girls if
he is not presented with a more desirable alternative and that if Anne herself
is that alternative Wentworth might need some indication that she would be receptive
to him. The Admiral pursues the matter further…And Mrs. Croft responds by
telling Anne how quickly she and the Admiral “ ‘came to an understanding’ ” –
perhaps to remind Anne how soon she and Wentworth came to a similar
understanding in 1806 when she and Wentworth ‘were gradually acquainted
and when acquainted, rapidly and deeply in
love’. The parallel here seems too close to be accidental – at least on
Mrs. Croft’s part – and too clear for Anne to miss the application to
her. And when the Admiral describes Louisa and Henrietta as “ ‘very nice
young ladies’ ” and Mrs. Croft responds with “ ‘Very good humoured, unaffected
girls, indeed’ ”, Anne detects “a tone of calmer praise” which leads her to
suspect that Mrs. Croft’s “keener powers might not consider either of them
quite worthy of her brother”. … this exchange with Anne involving the
possibility of Wentworth’s interest in one of the Musgrove girls, the need for
sailors to have short courtships, the parallel between the Crofts and Anne and
Wentworth, and Mrs. Croft’s less than enthusiastic praise of the Musgrove girls
suggests that the Crofts are once again probing, prodding, hinting, and perhaps
even implying that at least Mrs. Croft would prefer Anne as a
sister-in-law. The evidence is beginning to accumulate, and the
converging probabilities reflected in these three scenes may suggest that,
tentatively and indirectly, the Crofts are up to something.
Anne
does not see the Crofts again until after Louisa’s accident at Lyme and until
Lady Russell returns to Uppercross when she and Lady Russell call on Mrs. Croft
at Kellynch. At this meeting …Mrs. Croft... makes a special point to
tell Anne that Wentworth had enquired about her “particularly”, as if to stress
to Anne Wentworth’s increasing interest in her. And the Admiral cannot
resist the temptation to refer once again to Wentworth’s apparent relationship
with Louisa…It would appear that Admiral Croft can never miss an opportunity to
bring up the possible connection between Wentworth and Louisa, as if he doesn’t
want Anne to forget that as at least an alternative for a man who is apparently
interested in marrying.
After
the Crofts arrive in Bath and after an exchange of courtesy calls, Anne
encounters the Admiral in Milsom Street…[o]nce again the Admiral cannot resist
introducing the subject of Louisa Musgrove with Anne, as he has done previously…his
comment is once again packed with suggestion, though as is often the case with
the Admiral, he is not very subtle…This time, instead of testing Anne or
perhaps warning her as he may have been doing in earlier remarks about Louisa,
he seems to be assuring Anne that the Louisa-Wentworth relationship was never a
serious one…In other words, he is assuring Anne that Louisa is not Wentworth’s
interest, with the possible implication of who is. When their conversation
leads them to Anne’s acquaintance with Benwick and a discussion of his
character, the Admiral takes the opportunity to put in a plug for his
brother-in-law...The Admiral then ends his conversation with Anne with the most
loaded and pointed comment in the entire exchange…Once again he seems to be
forcing the issue by addressing Anne directly, and not very subtly, on the
possibility of bringing Anne and Wentworth into proximity and in the context of
Wentworth’s potential alliance with one of the many pretty girls in Bath….[T]he
more likely probability is that Admiral Croft, as he seems to have been in
earlier scenes, is quite purposeful in conveying a message to Anne, praising
Wentworth, and again raising the possibility of the reconciliation between Anne
and Wentworth that he and Mrs. Croft have been hoping for all along.
In the
final scene in which Mrs. Croft speaks – the second scene at The White Hart in
which Wentworth writes the letter to Anne – a scene written after Jane Austen
had rejected her original ending – Mrs. Croft once again makes a
pointed remark...Until this scene in the novel, the pointed comments of Admiral
and Mrs. Croft seem to have been directed to Anne only. But for the first
time Mrs. Croft has the opportunity to make an indirect suggestion when both
Anne and Wentworth are present, and she might be read as encouraging both of
them to get on with it….Does Mrs. Croft know about [Wentworth’s] feelings at
this point? The novel doesn’t tell us, but we can speculate that it is
possible, and perhaps even probable, that she does…In the cancelled chapters,
Admiral Croft tells Anne that he and Mrs. Croft had discussed the rumors of
Anne’s possible engagement to Mr. Elliot and suggests that they had not
believed it. The Crofts seem to have been very much interested in Anne and
Wentworth from the very beginning…it would seem very unlikely that the Crofts
were not privy to at least some of Wentworth’s feelings about Anne. In
this context, Mrs. Croft’s comments to Mrs. Musgrove assume even greater significance
and implication.” END QUOTE FROM HELDMAN
ARTICLE
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