Unseen extract 3 - Persuasion - Examine marriage as economic arrangement - AQA-7711-UE-3-PS

Oct 20, 2026

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Unseen Extract 3 from Jane Austen’s Persuasion (published in 1818) presents a courtroom-like analytical question on whether Austen depicts marriage only as an economic arrangement, requiring close reference to the writer’s methods. The extract recounts Captain Frederick Wentworth’s courtship of Anne Elliot after his arrival in Somersetshire, highlighting class, fortune, dependence, and family opposition. It traces the transformation from initial attraction to engagement, the denial of support, and the enduring consequences of the broken relationship.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Sample question

Examine the view using close reference to Austen’s methods

Extract

Unseen extract 3: Persuasion Persuasion by Jane Austen was published in 1818. It tells the story of Captain Wentworth, a Naval officer and Anne Elliot, the middle daughter of Sir Walter Elliot, who first fall in love when she is nineteen and plan to marry but Anne calls off their engagement. In this extract, Anne is now twenty-seven and unmarried, and the narrator recalls the details of Anne’s courtship with Captain Wentworth. Sample question Examine the view that Austen presents marriage only as an economic arrangement in this extract. Make close reference to the writer’s methods in your response. Extract He was not Mr Wentworth, the former curate of Monkford, however suspicious appearances may be, but a Captain Frederick Wentworth, his brother, who being made commander in consequence of the action off St Domingo, and not immediately employed, had come into Somersetshire, in the Summer of 1806; and having no parent living, found a home for half a year at Monkford. He was, at that time, a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit, and brilliancy; and Anne an extremely pretty girl, with gentleness, modesty, taste, and feeling. Half the sum of attraction, on either side, might have been enough, for he had nothing to do, and she had hardly anybody to love; but the encounter of such lavish recommendations could not fail. They were gradually acquainted, and when acquainted, rapidly and deeply in love. It would be difficult to say which had seen highest perfection in the other, or which had been the happiest: she, in receiving his declarations and proposals, or he in having them accepted. A short period of exquisite felicity followed, and but a short one. Troubles soon arose. Sir Walter, on being applied to, without actually withholding his consent, or saying it should never be, gave it all the negative of great astonishment, great coldness, great silence, and a professed resolution of doing nothing for his daughter. He thought it a very degrading alliance; and Lady Russell, though with more tempered and pardonable pride, received it as a most unfortunate one. Anne Elliot, with all her claims of birth, beauty and mind, to throw herself away at nineteen; involve herself at nineteen in an engagement with a young man, who had nothing but himself to recommend him, and no hopes of attaining affluence, but in the chances of a most uncertain profession, would be, indeed, a throwing away, which she grieved to think of! Anne Elliott, so young; known to so few, to be snatched off by a stranger without alliance or fortune; or rather sunk by him into a state of most wearing, anxious, youth-killing dependence! It must not be, if by any fair interference of friendship, any representations from one who had almost a mother’s love, and mother’s rights, it would be prevented. Captain Wentworth had no fortune. He had been lucky in his profession; but spending freely, what had come freely, had realized nothing. But he was confident that he should soon be rich: full of life and ardour, he knew that he should soon have a ship, and soon be on a station that would lead to everything he wanted. He had always been lucky; he knew he should be so still. Such confidence, powerful in its own warmth, and bewitching in the wit which often expressed it, must have been enough for Anne; but Lady Russell saw it very differently. His sanguine temper, and fearlessness of mind, operated very differently on her. She saw in it but an aggravation of the evil. It only added a dangerous character to himself. He was brilliant, he was headstrong. Lady Russell had little taste for wit, and of anything approaching to imprudence a horror. She deprecated the connexion in every light. Such opposition, as these feelings produced, was more than Anne could combat. Young and gentle as she was, it might yet have been possible to withstand her father’s ill-will, though unsoftened by one kind word or look on the part of her sister; but Lady

FAQs

What is the task in the sample question for this extract?

Examine the view that Austen presents marriage only as an economic arrangement, using close reference to the writer’s methods.

Who are the central characters in the provided extract?

The extract focuses on Captain Frederick Wentworth and Anne Elliot, along with their family responses from Sir Walter and Lady Russell.

What major obstacle threatens Anne and Wentworth’s engagement?

Opposition from Anne’s family, especially Sir Walter’s cold refusal and Lady Russell’s belief that the match is unsuitable, leads to the engagement being ended.

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo