Here we compare Anne Elliot and Yorick when they have internal conflict; each has conflicting motives for wanting to do something. This struggle is represented in different perspectives through the use of free indirect discourse and first-person narration.
Free indirect discourse (FID) is more of a narration of the character’s thoughts. On page 165 of Persuasion, Anne is denying to herself her real purpose for going to the store’s door. Her thoughts in this case sound like a mathematical proof. After catching a glimpse of Captain Wentworth, Anne “now felt a great inclination” to “see if it rained” outside. She asks “Why was she to suspect herself of another motive?” Immediately, the text states that “Captain Wentworth must be out of sight”. Anne is rationalizing her reason to go to the door: she tries to convince herself that he can’t be the reason for her to move to the door because he wouldn’t be visible anymore – it must be that she wants to see the rain. She then further argues her case against seeing Wentworth as her motive by thinking to herself, “she would go…She would see if it rained”. This almost sounds like what a child would tell his parents when he wants to do something against their wishes. Anne is very adamant about not believing she wants to see Wentworth and refuses to acknowledge that desire. At the same time, since Austen uses FID here, this could definitely be the narrator telling us Anne’s internal thoughts, as she may not be completely aware of this internal persuasion process.
First-person narration, however, presents the person’s thoughts as he is experiencing it. On page 19 of Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey, Yorick interacts with his thoughts as if each aspect of his personality was a separate person. Yorick’s thoughts flood his mind all at once as he realizes his different motivations for wanting to invite Madame de L*** to share a carriage. On one hand he wants to be a gentleman, but on the other hand he lusts for her. Thus Avarice, Caution, Cowardice, Discretion, Hypocrisy, Meanness, and Pride all add in their own voice and opinions on the idea. They all address Yorick as “you”; this is how Yorick experiences his own thoughts – he must interact with each one as an entity, making the interaction a very engaging and personal one.
Anne’s thoughts, compared to Yorick’s, are much more removed and distanced. The tone between “You know not who she is, said Caution – or what scrapes the affair may draw you into, whisper’d Cowardice –” and “one half of her should not be always so much wiser than the other half, or always suspecting the other of being worse than it was” is very different. In one, the different thoughts are all expressed by an internal part of Yorick’s character, and each is personified – they have proper names and can whisper or cry aloud. In the other, the tone is very aloof and critical – not much else is said, and nothing is said with much expression.
Captain Wentworth is the reason why Anne Elliot wants to go outside and check if there is “rain.” She does have conflicting motives as you have stated but I believe that what she really is doing is battling with her self. This battle is to see if she really cares enough to go outside to see if it really was Captain Wentworth. She wants to convince herself that there is another reason besides still having feelings for him, she just wants to see if it was him or not; another person who she has no affections for. Yorick on the other hand is having inner conflicts with his many personalities. These personalities are warning him of all the negative possibilities that could happen. He analyzes the possibilities and wants to do something moral. Yorick’s main problem is he wants to have morals so he can be seen as human. Anne’s main problem is that she wants to decide if she is being moral to Captain Wentworth. Both of these characters have inner conflicts with their morals. One is trying to be moral to prove he is human, the other is deciding if her morals are good enough for a human.
ReplyDeleteYou talk about how Anne is trying to deny her actions for going outside to see if it had rained; how does that relate to her feelings for Captain Wentworth? And more importantly, how does that bring out Anne's impure thoughts? Yorick concludes himself that he has "every dirty passion, and bad propensity" (19) when offering a ride to the woman. The two opposing styles from both Sterne and Austen create a different angle to characters struggling with their impure thoughts.
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