ABSTRACT
In alluding to Anne's earlier engagement to Wentworth, the author remarks, 'Half the sum of attraction, on either side, might have been enough, for he had nothing to do, and she had hardly any body to love' (26). Anne was nevertheless persuaded to give him up by her friend Lady Russell, and what this cost both her and Wentworth is clear from the following passage:
Had she not imagined herself consulting his good, even more than her own, she could hardly have given him up. - The belief of being prudent, and self-denying principally for his advantage, was her chief consolation, under the misery of a parting - a final parting; and every consolation was required, for she had to encounter all the additional pain of opinions, on his side, totally unconvinced and unbending, and of his feeling himself ill-used by so forced a relinquishment (28).
