A Mended Relationship

By the end of the novel, Austen has given us a front seat to the rollercoaster relationship between Anne and Captain Wentworth that ends with a couple realizing the strength and persistence of their love, but writer Weissman shares that their love may not be as persevering as one might believe. In the novel, the feelings of “division” and “estrangement” in the past indicates a sentiment of being separated, which is tempered by a notion of feelings “exchanged” in the present, indicating that the characters are coming together (225). Weissman writes that there is no genuine peace at the end of the novel because “a painful residue of doubt clings to the ending” (Weissman, 90), which casts a negative glow to the couple’s relationship. However, author Jane Austen seems to use the repetition of “many” to render a tone of regret about the “estrangement” in the past and balances it with the repetition of “more” to show that the couple is moving forward to strengthen their relationship. This is best exemplified in the excerpt, “more tender, more tried, more fixed in a knowledge of each other’s character, truth, and attachment.” Though Weissman insists that Anne and Captain Wentworth are not completely at ease, Austen writes that the couple is “heedless of every group around them… and especially in those explanations of what had directly preceded the present moment (225-6).” Austen uses this excerpt to show that both Anne and Captain Wentworth are more keen on focusing on the present time where they are both committed to each other and are less enamored with the lives of others who serve as background noise to their own music.

At the end of the passage, Austen draws the reader back to the present time and writes that Anne and Captain Wentworth are fully enamored with one another and are ready to improve their relationship by learning from past mistakes. Weissman, on the other hand, views the  By intertwining the sentiments expressed in the past and in the present, Austen expertly tells the reader that Anne and Wentworth’s relationship has prevailed over time through “exchange”, whereby each character is contributing something to bring them closer together.