WOMEN’S VOICES IN JANE AUSTEN’S PERSUASION

Abstract

In her last novel “Persuasion” Jane Austen speaks through the voice of Anne Elliot and discusses her feminist ideas rationally in the patriarchal English society. However, she speaks in such a voice that she keeps herself within the 18th century social boundaries.
The present paper is an attempt to study the importance of language through Austen’s feminist voice revealing Anne’s gradual maturity from a passive state to an active one when she speaks out loud declaring her feelings through language and knowing that she can become “somebody” only if she gets a voice. Our study aims to show that through Anne’s personage Jane Austen expresses her sympathy with the 18th century feminist movement against the narrow male understanding of female personality.