What do Mr. Elliot and the famed Scheherazade have in common? Why does Captain Harville have a painting of Captain Benwick? Is the Gravel Walk still around? Find out the answers to these questions and more, in this episode of My Cousin Jane.
Welcome back to My Cousin Jane. Today we’re going to be talking about Persuasion, Volume 2, Chapter 11, also known as Chapter 23.
Chapter Summary
In brief
In some ways, this chapter is the most important in the book, though being a Jane Austen book, some people might also call it the most inevitable.
Anne returns to the White Hart, still not having had a chance to expose Mr. Elliot’s true character. While there, she hears and participates in a bunch of different conversations, some of which are really important, some of which are important to the plot, some of which are just important social commentaries.
One of those discussions is a discussion about the merit of long versus short engagements, a debate which I have heard parents still discuss even in our day.
Captain Wentworth’s Letter
Of course, none of the debates or conversations are more interesting than the letter that Captain Wentworth eventually gives to Anne.
I know that this is a romantic point in the book and everything, but the structure of this letter reminds me a bit of the kind of letter you might see in elementary school:
Dear Anne, I really like you. Will you be my girlfriend? Check yes or no. Love, Captain Wentworth.
We do have to cut him some slack here. The guy has already been rejected once, and as we read this chapter, I think it becomes clear that despite some of his earlier behavior, he never really got over Anne.
We learn that he has this brother in Shropshire with whom he stays while trying to sort out what’s going on with Louisa Musgrove. Why didn’t he stay with him in the beginning instead of his sister, when he knew that his sister was living in Anne’s house and that Anne herself was likely nearby?
As much as we can ascribe motivation to fictional characters, I think that for a man spurned in love, there are a few reasons for him to have done this. Perhaps he liked his sister better than his brother, or he thought she was more likely to help him with his stated objective of finding a wife.
I think it was more likely that he still had feelings for Anne and wanted to go back to the place where they’d been happiest together, and had probably convinced himself that he was doing it just to prove to himself that he no longer cared for her in the least. If he happened to see her, well, who cares?
Again, unwritten fictional motivations are always hard to discern. Perhaps the motivations readers come up with are simply reflections of their own experiences, or those of the real-life people that they know.
“Sultaness Scheherazade’s Head”
Before we get too philosophical, let’s listen to a clip from the start of this chapter, courtesy of the talented Karen Savage at LibriVox.org.
One day only had passed since Anne’s conversation with Mrs Smith; but a keener interest had succeeded, and she was now so little touched by Mr Elliot’s conduct, except by its effects in one quarter, that it became a matter of course the next morning, still to defer her explanatory visit in Rivers Street. She had promised to be with the Musgroves from breakfast to dinner. Her faith was plighted, and Mr Elliot’s character, like the Sultaness Scheherazade’s head, must live another day. Persuasion, Chapter 23
This reference to Scheherazade is pretty interesting. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, she is the protagonist in the story One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights or A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, depending on the translation.
This book has a very interesting history dating back to the 10th century. There’s a lot of debate about which versions are authentic and which stories have been added by later authors, but the first English language version was published just a few years before Jane Austen was born.
Editions of this book vary somewhat in plot, but most center on the story of this king who discovers that both his and his brother’s wife have been unfaithful. He has them both killed, and then he decides that women cannot be trusted, so he will marry a new virgin every day and then have her beheaded the next morning before she has a chance to be unfaithful.
Eventually, the vizier in charge of finding these ill-fated women runs out of options, and his own daughter Scheherazade volunteers to marry the king.
On the wedding night, Scheherazade tells a story. In some versions of the book, she’s telling the story to the king. In other versions she asks the king to let her tell her little sister a bedtime story, and the king is just eavesdropping. She stops the story just before the end and says she has to stop because it’s almost morning.
The king, caught up in the story and wanting to know how it ends, postpones her execution until the next day. This pattern repeats for a thousand and one nights, during which various stories are told by Scheherazade. In some cases, people in her stories tell additional stories, like a literary version of Inception.
The ending depends on the edition. In some versions, the king falls in love with Scheherazade, makes her the queen, and they live happily ever after in this kind of Stockholm Syndrome situation. In others, he spares her life and sets her free because of things he learned from the stories, or because she’s borne him children and he loves the children.
Horrible moral aside, the stories that Scheherazade tells consist of many that you’ve heard at least some version of. These include things like Sinbad, Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, various encounters with genies and how they interact with people, the mythos of the three wishes and the lamp, etc.
Though again, not all of the stories are believed to have been authentic to the original Arabic manuscripts. Some were added by later translators, either stories that they’d heard from other Arabic books or Arabic storytellers, or from other regions such as Persia.
Either way, because of Anne’s appointments for that day, Mr. Elliot’s fate is spared for one more day, just like Scheherazade’s head.
Miniature Painting
After the discussion about the merits of short versus long engagements that we talked about earlier, Anne spends some time speaking to Captain Harville about the relationship between Captain Benwick and Louisa Musgrove, and whether or not men or women feel attachment and loss more strongly.
There’s perhaps a bit of irony that Austen mentioned Scheherazade at the start of the chapter, and then has Harville and Anne discuss this particular topic, but I want to talk briefly about something Harville mentions in this clip.
“Look here,” said he, unfolding a parcel in his hand, and displaying a small miniature painting, “do you know who that is?”
“Certainly: Captain Benwick.”
“Yes, and you may guess who it is for. But,” (in a deep tone), “it was not done for her. Miss Elliot, do you remember our walking together at Lyme, and grieving for him? I little thought then—but no matter. This was drawn at the Cape. He met with a clever young German artist at the Cape, and in compliance with a promise to my poor sister, sat to him, and was bringing it home for her; and I have now the charge of getting it properly set for another! It was a commission to me! But who else was there to employ? I hope I can allow for him. I am not sorry, indeed, to make it over to another. He undertakes it;” (looking towards Captain Wentworth,) “he is writing about it now.” And with a quivering lip he wound up the whole by adding, “Poor Fanny! she would not have forgotten him so soon!” Persuasion, Chapter 23
Regardless of who would have forgotten whom the soonest, obviously, we don’t know for sure, but it’s pretty likely that this miniature painting was made at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. That’s usually what the term “the Cape” referred to at the time, especially when it was capitalized like it is in the book.
The Cape of Good Hope had long been a trading port for a variety of cultures, and towards the start of the Napoleonic War, it had been occupied by the French and then by the British. This is likely where Captain Benwick encountered this clever German artist who did the painting for him.
Miniature paintings were popular in Regency times, because unlike the large portraits which only the wealthy could afford to have commissioned, miniature paintings were relatively cheap and easy to care for, so even the middle class could have them done. They were often used as gifts, especially between sweethearts.
Vanessa Riley, author of a number of historical fiction books, including Regency romances, refers to these miniature portraits as “the Instagram of Regency England.”
Second-Sized Double-Barrel Gun
We finally get to the point where Anne, having received Captain Wentworth’s written declaration of love, is being escorted home by Charles. Just as they’re walking down Union Street, they run into none other but Captain Wentworth himself. Let’s listen to what happens next.
Presently, struck by a sudden thought, Charles said—
“Captain Wentworth, which way are you going? Only to Gay Street, or farther up the town?”
“I hardly know,” replied Captain Wentworth, surprised.
“Are you going as high as Belmont? Are you going near Camden Place? Because, if you are, I shall have no scruple in asking you to take my place, and give Anne your arm to her father’s door. She is rather done for this morning, and must not go so far without help, and I ought to be at that fellow’s in the Market Place. He promised me the sight of a capital gun he is just going to send off; said he would keep it unpacked to the last possible moment, that I might see it; and if I do not turn back now, I have no chance. By his description, a good deal like the second size double-barrel of mine, which you shot with one day round Winthrop.”
There could not be an objection. There could be only the most proper alacrity, a most obliging compliance for public view; and smiles reined in and spirits dancing in private rapture. In half a minute Charles was at the bottom of Union Street again, and the other two proceeding together: and soon words enough had passed between them to decide their direction towards the comparatively quiet and retired gravel walk, where the power of conversation would make the present hour a blessing indeed, and prepare it for all the immortality which the happiest recollections of their own future lives could bestow. Persuasion, Chapter 23
The Gravel Walk is obviously this iconic place that you see in most, if not all, of the Persuasion movies to some degree. At the time of Austen’s life, and Anne and Captain Wentworth’s stroll, it looked quite a bit different than it does today.
First of all, today there isn’t actually that much gravel. It’s a paved walk that runs adjacent to Royal Victoria Park. While the path was made in 1771, the park wasn’t put in until the early 1800s. When Anne and Captain Wentworth walked along it, instead of being lined and shaded by mature trees, they would have had an open view of pasture land sloping down to the city. Even at that time, the path was well known as a place to go in Bath for a romantic stroll.
I also want to talk briefly about the gun that Charles mentions here, obviously much less romantic than the Gravel Walk. A “second-sized” gun isn’t a particular type of gun. It usually is used as a comparative description to refer to a gun that is a different size, usually smaller in caliber, than the gun that we were talking about before.
I wonder if Austen is just writing a term here that she overheard about guns, since guns weren’t something that Regency-era women usually discussed or thought about in any detail. Because in this context, the phrase doesn’t make any sense. Unless Charles and Captain Wentworth had been discussing guns earlier in the day, and Charles let Wentworth shoot two different guns of different sizes when they were in Winthrop, and the one he’s discussing now was similar to the smaller of the two, or the second-sized gun that they had been talking about.
Either way, Charles heads back up Union Street, and Anne and Captain Wentworth proceed towards the Gravel Walk, which is sort of, but not quite, on the way back to Anne’s house. Which makes sense, as they were obviously not in a huge hurry to get home, having much to discuss about their futures.
Conclusion
That wraps up this episode of My Cousin Jane. As always, if you enjoy the show and would like to help support us, please consider clicking the little donate button or subscribing to our newsletter. Either way, thanks so much for listening.
