Captain Benwick's Persuasion

Watching Morgan Freeman movies can be very educational. In his movie, Seven, his character and the character played by Brad Pitt discover the killer’s identity using books. Not through the traditional method of research but they were able to use the killer’s reading habits against him. They knew his aspirations and character, from that they were able to determine what he might have read. That logic works in both directions. “Details about money, reading, blushing, sex, and death matter because they ‘reveal people’s schemes and desires’” (Emsley). Every character in Persuasion reveals their aspirations and character through their reading habits. It is easily seen through Captain Benwick, Charles Musgrove, Captain Harville, and the Elliots. Benwick’s
choices of reading materials foreshadow his longing for an emotional connection. Captain Benwick is inarguably the most avid reader of the characters that make up Austen’s story. He is introduced as the kind of man who, “considered his disposition as the sort which mush suffer heavily, uniting very strong feelings with quiet, serious, and retiring manners, and a decided taste for reading, and sedentary pursuits” (Austen, 92 - 93). It is told that though, “he was evidently a young man of considerable taste in reading, (it was) principally in poetry” (Austen, 96). When reading aloud, he read with “such tremendous feeling, the various lines which imaged a broken heart or a mind destroyed by wretchedness,” (Austen, 96) no doubt an echoing of his own such feelings. It could be seen further what he is looking for in his life when he “declared his little faith in the efficiency of any books on grief like his” (Austen, 96 - 97). The story gives way to seeing through Benwick’s seemingly distant persona when during his talk with Anne even “though (he was) shy, he did not seem reserved; it had rather the appearance of feelings glad to burst their usual restraints; an having talked of poetry” (Austen, 96). Benwick is able read his own aspirations in poetry because what he hopes to attain is someone that he could emotionally connect to and like all of Austen’s heroes he gets exactly what he wants in the end through Louisa. Charles Musgrove and Captain Harville’s lack of reading align with what is shown of their aspirations and character. Charles Musgrove and Captain Harville are very much alike, especially when it comes to reading habits. Charles Musgrove “did nothing with much zeal, but sport; and his time was otherwise trifled away, without benefit from books or any thing else” (Austen, 41). Similarly, “Captain Harville was no reader” (Austen, 94). Their reading tendencies lined up with their aspirations because much like they gave none of their time to the advantages of reading they did not spend any time thinking about their own ambitions. They are both content, “Charles Musgrove was civil and agreeable” (Austen, 41), “the Harvilles are content with their stature in society” (Donaldson), and Captain Harville is “a perfect gentle man (and) unaffected” (Austen, 93). The lack of reading done by Charles Musgrove and Captain Harville is consistent with their lack of personality. They both consistently adhere to the rules of society but, Captain Harville is described as “a little lame” (Austen, 93) and the other characters believed that “Charles might not be leaned and bookish enough” (Austen, 84). Charles Musgrove and Captain Harville’s lack of reading align with the nonexistence of their aspirations and the lack of personality. Sir Walter Elliot and Elizabeth Elliot reveal their deepest aspirations by their opinions of the Baronage.
The first thing learned in the entire book is that “Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch-hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronage, there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one” (Austen, 3). “The page at which the favorite volume always opened” (Austen, 3) is where the Baronage told “of the earliest patents” (Austen, 3) that Sir Walter Elliot is a direct decent of. The Baronage that Sir Walter Elliot reads directly correlates to his aspirations because of his “vanity of situation” (Austen, 4). Just as Sir Walter Elliot only read one book he only aspired to one thing, which was to be someone of importance and stature. Though beloved by Sir Walter Elliot, his daughter Elizabeth had an opposite view of the Baronage. “More than once, when her father had left it open on the table near her, had she closed it, with averted eyes, and pushed it away” (Austen, 7). Elizabeth Elliot was displeased “to be presented with the date of her own birth, and see no marriage follow” (Austen, 7). Her refusal to read the Baronage reveals just as much as her father’s love for it. While Sir Walter Elliot has reached his goal, Elizabeth has not met her objective of being married to a man worthy of her. Her refusal to read is parallel with her refusal to think about her
shortcomings. On the matter of character, Sir Walter and Elizabeth Elliot’s choice of reading material expose the immense amount of pride they share. Since the Baronage is the beginning and end of Sir Walter Elliot’s reading, it is a simple correlation that “vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character” (Austen, 4). Elizabeth, who would not even read the Baronage, refused to read other books as well when she told Anne, “you may as well take back that tiresome book she would lend me, and pretend I have read it through” (Austen, 203). Her refusal to read reveals her refusal to believe that there are things of importance that lie outside of beauty and situation. The reading habits of Sir Walter Elliot and Elizabeth Elliot show them both to be quite vain and conceited. Captain Benwick, Charles Musgrove, Captain Harville, Sir Walter Elliot, and Elizabeth Elliot reveal their personalities and have their aspirations aligned with their choice of literature. The books they read make it easy to dissect who they are and what drives them.