Persuasion Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Anne Elliot

The overlooked middle daughter, twenty-seven, who at nineteen let Lady Russell talk her out of marrying Wentworth and has regretted it since. Calm in crisis and constant in love, she ends up married to the man she never stopped wanting.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Baronetage, a Broken Engagement, a Let Estate; Part 2: Uppercross: Old Wounds and Firm Opinions; Part 3: The Cobb: A Fall That Changes Everything; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance
Themes:: Persuasion and its price; Constancy under erasure; Second chances and late bloom

Captain Frederick Wentworth

A naval officer who returned from war with £25,000 in prize money and a grudge against the woman who refused him. Louisa's fall breaks his creed of stubbornness, and his letter at the White Hart wins her back.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Baronetage, a Broken Engagement, a Let Estate; Part 2: Uppercross: Old Wounds and Firm Opinions; Part 3: The Cobb: A Fall That Changes Everything; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance
Themes:: Persuasion and its price; Constancy under erasure; Rank, money, and vanity; Second chances and late bloom

Sir Walter Elliot

A vain baronet who reads his own entry in the Baronetage for pleasure and spends his family into debt. He lets Kellynch Hall, moves to Bath, and never grasps how close Mrs Clay comes to trapping him.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Baronetage, a Broken Engagement, a Let Estate; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance
Themes:: Rank, money, and vanity

Elizabeth Elliot

The eldest daughter, twenty-nine, beautiful and self-absorbed, running the household since her mother's death. She takes her cousin William's flattery at face value while he courts her sister.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Baronetage, a Broken Engagement, a Let Estate; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance

Lady Russell

Anne's godmother and the late Lady Elliot's intimate friend, who persuaded Anne to break the engagement on grounds of prudence. She lives long enough to admit she was wrong and bless the marriage.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Baronetage, a Broken Engagement, a Let Estate; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance
Themes:: Persuasion and its price

Mary Musgrove

Anne's younger sister, married to Charles, forever claiming illness and imagined slights at Uppercross Cottage. She is oblivious to everything, including her own husband's old proposal to Anne.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Baronetage, a Broken Engagement, a Let Estate; Part 2: Uppercross: Old Wounds and Firm Opinions

Louisa Musgrove

The high-spirited nineteen-year-old who charms Wentworth with her praise of firmness, then proves it by jumping before he is ready on the Cobb. Her concussion humbles her, and she recovers into an engagement with Captain Benwick.

Appears in:: Part 2: Uppercross: Old Wounds and Firm Opinions; Part 3: The Cobb: A Fall That Changes Everything; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance
Themes:: Persuasion and its price

Admiral and Sophia Croft

The good-natured tenants of Kellynch Hall; Sophia is Wentworth's sister, a naval wife of fifteen years who has crossed the Atlantic four times. Their happy marriage shows Anne the life she refused.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Baronetage, a Broken Engagement, a Let Estate; Part 2: Uppercross: Old Wounds and Firm Opinions; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance

William Elliot

The estranged cousin and heir to Kellynch, charming on the surface and calculating underneath. He ruined Mrs Smith's husband, courts the Elliot women to guard his inheritance, and leaves Bath with Mrs Clay as his mistress.

Appears in:: Part 3: The Cobb: A Fall That Changes Everything; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance
Themes:: Rank, money, and vanity; Second chances and late bloom

Captain Harville

Wentworth's slightly lame friend, settled at Lyme for the winter, whose household nurses Louisa. His debate with Anne at the White Hart about which sex loves longest triggers Wentworth's letter.

Appears in:: Part 2: Uppercross: Old Wounds and Firm Opinions; Part 3: The Cobb: A Fall That Changes Everything; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance

Captain Benwick

A mourning officer engaged once to Fanny Harville, consoled by poetry and Anne's sympathy. Reading daily to the recovering Louisa, he wins a second engagement himself.

Appears in:: Part 2: Uppercross: Old Wounds and Firm Opinions; Part 3: The Cobb: A Fall That Changes Everything; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance

Mrs Clay

Elizabeth's companion, a widowed lawyer's daughter angling to marry Sir Walter. She leaves Bath instead as William Elliot's mistress, which conveniently secures his inheritance.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Baronetage, a Broken Engagement, a Let Estate; Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Charles Musgrove

Mary's cheerful, hunting-mad husband, who proposed to Anne about five years before the story opens and was refused. His old proposal, retold by Louisa, startles Wentworth into reconsidering Anne.

Appears in:: Part 2: Uppercross: Old Wounds and Firm Opinions
Themes:: Constancy under erasure

Henrietta Musgrove

Louisa's elder sister, informally engaged to her cousin Charles Hayter but tempted by Wentworth's dash. She returns to Hayter and ends the book buying wedding clothes.

Appears in:: Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance

Mrs Smith

Anne's old schoolfriend, a poor, ailing widow in Westgate Buildings, who knows William Elliot's true character from bitter experience. Her revelations unmask him, and Wentworth later helps her recover her husband's West Indies property.

Appears in:: Part 4: Bath: The Letter and the Second Chance

How they are connected

Key relationships

Anne Elliot Captain Frederick Wentworth
The overlooked middle daughter, twenty-seven, who at nineteen let Lady Russell talk her out of marrying Wentworth and has regretted it since.
Anne Elliot Lady Russell
The overlooked middle daughter, twenty-seven, who at nineteen let Lady Russell talk her out of marrying Wentworth and has regretted it since.
Captain Frederick Wentworth Louisa Musgrove
Louisa's fall breaks his creed of stubbornness, and his letter at the White Hart wins her back.
Sir Walter Elliot Mrs Clay
He lets Kellynch Hall, moves to Bath, and never grasps how close Mrs Clay comes to trapping him.
Elizabeth Elliot William Elliot
She takes her cousin William's flattery at face value while he courts her sister.
Mary Musgrove Anne Elliot
Anne's younger sister, married to Charles, forever claiming illness and imagined slights at Uppercross Cottage.
Mary Musgrove Charles Musgrove
Anne's younger sister, married to Charles, forever claiming illness and imagined slights at Uppercross Cottage.
Charles Musgrove Anne Elliot
Mary's cheerful, hunting-mad husband, who proposed to Anne about five years before the story opens and was refused.
Charles Musgrove Captain Frederick Wentworth
His old proposal, retold by Louisa, startles Wentworth into reconsidering Anne.
Charles Musgrove Louisa Musgrove
His old proposal, retold by Louisa, startles Wentworth into reconsidering Anne.
Louisa Musgrove Captain Benwick
Her concussion humbles her, and she recovers into an engagement with Captain Benwick.
Henrietta Musgrove Captain Frederick Wentworth
Louisa's elder sister, informally engaged to her cousin Charles Hayter but tempted by Wentworth's dash.

Go deeper

Persuasion themes & symbols

Persuasion and its price · Constancy under erasure · Rank, money, and vanity · Second chances and late bloom

Themes explained

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The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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