In P&P you have Elizabeth, whose talent for the gab is matchless. Whilst Mr Darcy glowers inarticulately she is able to take great pleasure in her ability to tease him. He takes himself so seriously. Yet he is one of those people whose actions speak for them and he clearly redeems himself by the trouble he takes to save her silly sister (and all her family) from scandal. But Elizabeth doesn't take her own emotions seriously - so why should we?
But in Persuasion we have Anne Eliot, who is far lonelier than Elizabeth, because Elizabeth has her dear sister Jane as a confidant, but Anne only has her bossy friend, and has two ghastly sisters, one of whom is a whiner and wants to make use of her for free childcare, and the other of whom is superficial and a snob. She also has to bear her snobbish father who doesn't appreciate her. But like Jane Eyre, Anne does not need to refer to anyone else for approval. She is self-contained, and has high standards of her own to live up to.
In Persuasion we also have Captain Wentworth, who is confident and vigorous and high-spirited, determined to enjoy his leave, and to show Anne that although she turned him down he is very much recovered and set on marrying some other pretty girl. He thinks that Anne hasn't aged well, that she looks quite plain. He is quite a physical creation who catches girls when they jump off steps, and Jane Austen makes one feels his tall, attractive presence as the women plainly did.
He is, in spite of his experience of managing men at sea, too impulsive, and even prone to panic in moments when he should take a lead. But at such moments, in some strange instinctive way, he knows Anne's moral and mental strength and her capability set her ahead of most women, and by the end of the novel he knows that she is the only woman in town worth having, and he almost despairs at the thought that he has lost his chance.
But Anne's love for him had never died. For his sake, she reads the navy Gazette, to find out what he's doing during the years they are apart. He's the one that floats her boat, he's the main attraction, the least stupid of men, the best company in the world. In screen versions they always kiss - in the book they don't need to kiss. One is so pleased for them both! In a world full of charlatans and fatuous idiots, two people of genuine character have found each other and it seems so miraculous!
I am sure that Anne will be far happier when she has a role as a householder, wife and mother - I imagine she will be quite transformed by happiness.
Click on this link to see Mr Robert Webb give us his truly astonishing Mr Darcy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deJ9lpNBZUA
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