Social Criticism in Jane Austen s Persuasion

Abstract

In Persuasion, Jane Austen offers a penetrating critique of the standards of
the British class system. She criticizes a system based on social distinctions
and definitions like Superior and Inferior. Through irony and satire, she
vividly shows Victorian class rigidity and its traditional values. This paper
aims at showing that through her realistic portrayal of families and
characters; Austen manages to capture the major defects of her social circle
and sets to expose them one by one.