[1] The story concerns Anne Elliot, an Englishwoman of 27 years, whose family moves to lower their expenses and reduce their debt by renting their home to an admiral and his wife.

As Persuasion was Austen's last completed work, it is accepted as her most maturely written novel, showing a refinement of literary conception indicative of a woman approaching 40 years of age.

Wentworth was considered clever, confident and ambitious, but his low social status and lack of wealth made Anne's friends; her vain father, Sir Walter Elliot; and her older sister Elizabeth view him as an unsuitable match for the daughter of a baronet.

At Lyme, Anne attracts the attention of a young man they later learn is William Elliot, her cousin and a wealthy widower who is heir to Kellynch Hall; he broke ties with his family years earlier, and was reported to have spoken of Sir Walter and Elizabeth in very disrespectful terms.

Wentworth is impressed with Anne's quick thinking and cool-headedness, but feels guilty about his actions concerning Louisa; he now sees that his encouraging her to never allow anyone to persuade her to anything was a serious error, resulting in her serious injury.

Anne finds that her father and sister are flattered by the attentions of their cousin William Elliot, thinking that if he marries Elizabeth, the family fortunes will be restored.

William flatters Anne and offhandedly mentions that he was "fascinated" with the name of his future wife already being an "Elliot" who would rightfully take over for her late mother, but teasingly refuses to tell her who had talked fondly of her to him in the past.

William leaves Bath; Mrs Clay soon follows him and becomes his mistress, making it more likely that he will inherit Kellynch Hall as the danger of her marrying Sir Walter has passed.

Sir Walter is a man whose extravagance since the death of his prudent wife thirteen years before has put his family into dire financial straits, forcing him to lease his estate, Kellynch Hall, to Admiral Croft and rent a more economical residence in Bath.

In his naval career, he was a captain when he married, present at the major Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, then assigned to the East Indies, and now holds the rank of rear admiral of the white.

He became estranged from the family when he married a woman of lower social rank for her fortune and actively insulted his uncle; his relatives cast him aside, until he returned as a wealthy man when they desperately needed money.

Sir Walter and Elizabeth are eager to be seen at Bath in the company of this great relation and her daughter, Miss Carteret, at a time when their own social status is in question.

British literary scholar Gillian Beer establishes that Austen had profound concerns about the levels and applications of "persuasion" employed in society, especially as it related to the pressures and choices facing the young women of her day.

"[4] Even after the outbreak of the War of 1812, Fanny Austen was anxious to follow her husband back to the North America station despite the danger of American attacks on Bermuda and Halifax.

American literary historian A Walton Litz has emphasized the special quality of Persuasion among Austen's novels, as it was written over a relatively narrow space of two or three years from start to finish.

Persuasion is unique among Austen's novels in allowing such a close inspection, as recorded by Litz, of her editorial prowess in revising and enhancing early drafts of her own writing.

He had never thought justly on this subject before, and he had not sufficiently considered that his excessive intimacy at Uppercross must have its danger of ill consequence in many ways; and that while trying whether he could attach himself to either of the girls, he might be exciting unpleasant reports if not raising unrequited regard./ He found too late that he had entangled himself, (cancelled version, as published in Chapman's edition of Austen).Litz then gives the final version by Austen: "I found", said he, "that I was considered by Harville an engaged man!

danger of ill consequence in many ways, and that while trying whether he c-d (sic) attach himself to either of the Girls, he might be exciting unpleasant reports, if not, raising unrequited regard!—He found, too late, that he had entangled himself—."

Critics have been concerned with the "personal" quality of the novel and the problems it poses for biographical interpretation; with the obvious unevenness in narrative structure; with the "poetic" use of landscape, and the hovering influence of Romantic poetry; with the pervasive presence of Anne Elliot's consciousness; with new effects in style and syntax; with the "modernity" of Anne Elliot, an isolated personality in a rapidly changing society.In her 1980 book on Austen, Susan Morgan challenges Litz on calling Persuasion a novel showing Austen's assimilation of the new romantic poetry.

[13] Austen first addressed this question in Northanger Abbey, in which reading Gothic books has comic effects for Catherine Morland, and also gives her a more acute sense of reality and people.

[15] For example, Captain Wentworth and Elliot are prevented from embracing by grossly obese Mrs Musgrove, and Sir Walter comments after seeing some Royal Navy sailors that they are "fit not to be seen"; Austen notes how people look and the brain registers visual information.

[19] The literary scholar Stuart Tave, in his essay on Anne Elliot, notes the melancholy qualities of her reality after she turns down Captain Wentworth's original proposal of marriage.

[21]Robert Irvine writes that, unlike other Austen heroes, who are either part of the gentry, the aristocracy or the Church of England, Wentworth is a self-made man who has become rich via prize money allowed to those who served in the Royal Navy.

[23] According to the scholar Gary Kelly, Sir Walter is a stand-in for the notoriously spendthrift and snobbish Prince Regent George—of whom Austen deeply disapproved—who was infamous for his womanizing, gambling, drinking, and inability to pay his colossal debts.

"[22] According to Irvine, the sailors in Persuasion are the "most subversive characters" in all of Austen's books, as they possess "national importance" only by the virtue of their role in defeating Napoleon and do not own land or ask for social recognition from the gentry.

[27] Irvine notes that in British fiction at the time, it was a normal plot device for women—who were portrayed as more sensitive and poetical than men—to improve someone like Charles by showing him that there is more to life than hunting, but Anne rejects this role, and the narrator suggests that she was right to do so.

[29] But the possibility of such a marriage seems to exist for Captain Benwick and Louisa Musgrove, as the narrator notes, "he would gain cheerfulness and she would learn to be an enthusiast for Scott and Lord Byron.

"[31] Irvine writes that, unlike in Austen's other novels, a "non-event" at the beginning of Persuasion—Anne does not marry Wentworth—shapes the rest of the plot, as the hero and heroine defeat the consequences of their shared history.

[34] Another overheard conversation occurs during the novel's climax, when Anne debates with Captain Harville the respective capacity for faithfulness of men and women, which Wentworth overhears.

It features a heroine who is generally unappreciated and to some degree exploited by those around her; a handsome prince who appears on the scene but seems more interested in the "more obvious" charms of others; a moment of realisation; and a happy ending.