Abstract: Persuasion is widely divergent with Austen’s early period works. The heroine Anne in this novel is an upright, selfless and warm-hearted woman, who is unswervingly loyal to love. In the meantime, she is the oldest and the maturest heroine in all of Austen’s novels. In this novel, the author changes her former marriage mode from sense-emphasized to sensibility-emphasized, which demonstrates a completely different writing style. This paper attempts to explore Jane Austen’s transformations of concept and image building in Persuasion, and finally sum up the sources of this transformation from social and family factors.

Keywords: Persuasion; transformation; concept; image building; source

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 About Jane Austen and Persuasion-1

1.2 Previous Studies and Deficiencies on Persuasion-3

2. Transformation of Concepts-5

2.1 Values and Morality-5

2.2 Views of Marriage and Love-7

2.3 The Replacement of Peerage-9

3. Transformation of Image Building-11

3.1 Modern Female Image-11

3.2 Manor Noble Image-15

3.3 Navy Image-15

4. Sources of the Transformations-17

4.1 Social Reform-17

4.2 Family Factors-18

5. Conclusion-19

References-20