“Large fat sighings” of a “large bulky figure”: Identity-building and formation of new order in Persuasion

Abstract

This essay provides a multifaceted analysis of Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion through the lens of narrative consciousness, rhythm and sexual anxiety. Drawing on Lacanian theory, it examines the selfidentification processes of the heroine Anne Elliot and Mrs Musgrove against, and with relation to patriarchal norms. By analyzing the dynamics presented in Mrs Musgrove’s “large fat sighings”, the essay explores the effect of incongruity between the human body and spirit; and it further examines Mrs Musgrove’s Sphinx-like figure, who inspires desire and inhibitions in the Oedipus-like Captain Wentworth with a significant impact on the formation of community and order. The essay investigates long-neglected subjects presented in Austen’s novels and enriches the complex portrait of Mrs. Musgrove as both Mother and Sphinx.