All taken aboard Jim. (pardon another awful pun) Let us consider a few facts: Correct me if I'm wrong, but let us not forget that because of Anne's considered youth and inexperience with worldly affairs, it was actually Lady Russell who made the decision ( backed by Sir Walter) because Anne, not knowing for sure what was right, assumed that Lady Russell (who admittedly did not like Frederick) did know what was right, rather than just what Lady Russell considered to be right.? Anne was thus "persuaded". Do we really consider that anything Frederick said would change things against such opposition? Sir Walter, a self-adoring poppinjay, would happily have married Anne off to the King of Siam or the Duke of Fuller's Earth for their titles. His opinion of seamen in general is well aired before he met Admiral Croft. Did Sir Walter make one sensible decision in the whole book?
Was it not possible that Lady Russell, despite Anne's friendship with her, was the one who hinted at it not being fair to Frederick? Anne, after all, had happily accepted his proposal of marriage initially, no small thing in that era. They were in love and talking marriage....then suddenly they were not. In both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility much emphasis is placed on the sanctity of careful terminology and actions regarding engagements. In Frederick's case, even though he considers himself lucky, fortune and convention didn't quite smile on him at the onset.
Tell, you what Jim. Have a read of this. I did and it has points in both camps for me. Let me know what you think:
http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/printed/number15/ray.htm
