The relationships between family members often serve as the central focus in works of literature. In particular, many writers place significance on the dynamics within the sibling relationship, as such relations often present complex, provocative models of interaction. Indeed, in Persuasion by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontd, and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, relationships between siblings serve as important formal and thematic elements of the novels, and provide for richer characterizations of their key figures. However, it is important to note that Austen, Brontd, and Collins do not utilize the sibling relationship to the same ends within their respective works. For Austen, relations between the Elliot sisters in Persuasion are used to firmly situate Anne as the novelÆs heroine, while Brontd and Collins exploit the relations between siblings within their novels not only as thematic elements, but to help drive the plot along as well.
In Persuasion, Austen introduces readers to the Elliot sisters, Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary, who are the daughters of the highly respected Sir Walter Elliot. When the novel opens, the sistersÆ mother has been dead for thirteen years, and the family is suffering the repercussions of Sir WalterÆs lavish overspending. Elizabeth and Anne, the two oldest daughters, remain unmarried, while youngest daughter Mary is married to the wealthy Charles Musgrove and has two small sons. The differences in temperament between the three sisters, as well as the ways in which they relate to one another, are quite significant within the novel, as Austen uses these factors to characterize Anne more fully in comparison to her sisters.
Within the Elliott family, Elizabeth is clearly the recipient of Sir WalterÆs favoritism and greatest affection, as ôFor one daughter, his eldest, he would really have given up any thing, which he had not been very much tempted to doö (Austen 5). I...