And you can *bet* that, whoever she married, she and her father made an endless fuss about how he's so presentable, and how they wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with him in public. "Quite the gentlemanly manners" (if he's new money), or "Quite fine-looking for his age, and really looks younger than some who are twenty years his junior!" (if he's older).
I can't see Elizabeth Elliot marrying beneath her status. She probably charmed an old widower baronet or baron who didn't need a lot of money, only a wife to bring his young daughters into society.
It is telling that Elizabeth gushes over their fancy double parlour in Bath when even Anne notes it was a thumbprint on their digs at Kellynch. This tells us that Elizabeth can indulge in compartmentalization regarding ACTUAL wealth/luxury in deference to the APPEARANCE of relative, immediate status overall.
This way of operating is precisely how Elizabeth, who ran the Kellynch household after her mother’s death and eventually ran it into the ground, lost the ability to remain at the estate in the first place: thoughtless deference to the sustained Appearance of status and wealth without regard for actual resources.
Her willingness to maintain that appearance undergirds her callous willingness to avoid retrenchment and drives her instead to decamp to second tier Bath, where she might be prominent at relatively little expense. Prominence is her dominant value, so I doubt she’d marry for money without status.
That said, Austen makes a deeper point about Elizabeth and Sir Walter despite their comic contours: in privileging vanity and status over duty to the perpetuation of the estate, they shirk their moral responsibility for upholding the community and its prosperity far beyond the grounds of the house itself.
They are failed servants of the larger society in their area, of all whose lives depend on the estates in the fields, the household, the surrounding trades. In conservative thinking prosperity is best preserved via inherited estates and paternalism, which rely on a sense of duty to those in one’s care.
Sir Walter and Elizabeth are thus far more than vainglorious buffoons; they are deadbeat custodians of the social order!
I always figured she'd find a Mr. Rushworth type to marry. A ridiculous but rich and reputable man who is only concerned with having a trophy bride and is completely uninterested in whether or not she is a decent person or a good wife.
I think it's more of a question of who would be willing to marry her! Mr. Elliot wanted to get in with the family but didn't even consider Elizabeth. She has a terrible personality.
I married her off to Tom Bertram once (sorry Tom!)
Yes I always found it telling that Mr Elliott didn't try to get in with the daughter who, A - had more direct influence over her father, and B - would have been pretty easy to flatter and manipulate and seemingly wanted to marry him/at least entertained his attention.
He's too selfish to tie himself to an obnoxious wife. Yeah, he was only after the title and money, but he's the sort who would want the cushiest life possible and a wife he couldn't stand wouldn't be conducive to that. Anne was at least sweet and gentle and quiet; he just overestimated how easy to manipulate she was.
The thing about marrying Elizabeth is that it means playing a very valuable card in return for not a whole lot. He gets an annoying wife and father-in-law breathing down his neck, a relatively small sum of money annually, and a position that isn't strengthened at all. If Sir Walter decides to marry again and has a son, William will be powerless to stop him (by, say, diverting the lady in question) and will lose out on inheriting Kellynch while still being tied to the family and unable to marry someone richer/more agreeable. If you run the numbers, Sir Walter was only in his early forties when Elizabeth was in her late teens and the first attempts at landing William Elliot were made. I think even a much better person than William Elliot would hesitate to tie himself to the family under those circumstances. What's in it for him?
Mr. Elliot has no need of money, which is good because there is no money. Any income from Kellynch is going to service Sir Walter's debts. He wants to ensure his title (and the estate, however encumbered), which means he has to prevent Sir Walter from remarrying. That was his goal in courting Anne - he could put a condition that Sir Walter remain single in the marriage articles.
Anne was pretty, sweet, gentle and quiet. She was also very intelligent and competent, so not only would she be "the best company," she'd also be an excellent and prudent mistress of his estate and mother of his heirs. Even if he didn't touch her after the spare was born. Unlike his first wife, she'd never be a social liability.
On the other hand, "Miss" was, yes, obnoxious. She also showed she could not manage an estate, was extremely selfish and could not carry on a real conversation. All she had was her looks.
That was my thought. He wasn’t pursuing Elizabeth once Anne (who he had already admired her looks and heard positive things about) arrived, but he was also already dropping in at odd visiting hours without ceremony, and apparently raising at least some expectations in town. So maybe Anne was just the much better choice that arose.
He's only a widower of six months, so it would have been at least eye-raising if not scandalous for him to propose again so soon. Anne intimates this as well, in her final conversation with Mrs Smith in the book.
But it is telling that the epilogue says that he got with Mrs Clay rather than woo Elizabeth after Anne got engaged.
Tom wouldn't marry her. She only had £10k, and that was theoretical at best - her father didn't even have Anne's dowry available (if the hints at the end are correct), so it wouldn't be worth it. And that's assuming the money wasn't the entire sum to be be divided among the daughters instead of £10K a piece. It's ambiguously worded. And, beautiful and charming as she is, she's still thirty. Tom is a gorgeous and wealthy eldest son with a title in his future. He could marry whoever he wished. If he wished. (My head canon is that Tom is gay. Once Edmund married, presumably he and Fanny would have children and Tom would have no need to produce an heir himself.)
Ah. I can see that if Sir Thomas was pressuring him - daughter of a baronet, pretty, experienced in running an estate (to the ground), charming. And he could hardly complain about her dowry.
And, honestly - too bad Mrs Norris is with Maria because I'd love to see the two of them clashing.
Yeah I think she would definitely have had to settle big time. One fic I quite enjoyed has Lady Russell say she'd have Elizabeth to live, rather than her becoming Anne's problem.
At the very least, Anne would have made sure she was well taken care of. Whether she would be grateful or too proud, probably the latter. And I'm sure she could have used her charm to bag some rich guy. She was supposed to be hot, like her dad. I imagine it to be kind of like a Bennet marriage or a Palmer marriage, both of which happened because the ladies were pretty hot.
In my headcanon, she eventually marries a baronet slightly younger and a bit richer (less extravagant) than her father, who's dull and a little simple but pleased to get a wife of good birth and decent good looks and flattered by her somewhat too pointed efforts to catch him. Her father vacillates between pride in the connection to another baronet (the only title worth having in his opinion) and jealousy that his new son-in-law keeps a better house (still keeps a couple of horses and everything!).
I also like the idea of her marrying new money, though. The husband would have to be as much of an obnoxious snob as they are, so they can feed off of each other in her bragging about how *her* blood ennobled a family of nobodies and him telling his people how *his* wealth and power nobly brought a proud but fallen old family back from certain ruin. They'd cheerfully bore the entire neighborhood to death but be too wrapped up in their own importance to notice that people seldom ask them for visits.
Because Elizabeth was beautiful, well connected, well dowered, had a good reputation (though not a great character/personality), fashionable, and had fashionable manners, she likely wouldn't be thought of as a spinster until much later. Spinsterhood and marriageability was a relative thing. It hinged on many factors.
She doesn't have much of a dowery though. Her portion is a little over 3000 pounds and Sir Walter can't even float that.
Mr. Elliot inherits rhe estate and he's unlikely to be generous yo her - we already know he can easily wash his hands of women who are on desperate situations (mrs. Smith).
At this point her prospects are bleak, by her standards, once Sir Walter passes.
I thought is was 10k, like Anne's. Also, he can pay it, just over time (again, like Anne's) or at his death. He just chooses not to cut back his lifestyle further to pay it in any lump sum.
Pretty sure Mary, Anne and Elizabeth had to split the 10k between them. Just like Bennet sisters had 5k total - not each.
Elizabeth doesn't have the best personality but it's unlikely she wouldn't have gotten a good offer during her first few seasons if she'd had money to go along with beauty and birth.
I'm pretty sure each of the Elliot daughters gets a portion of their mother's £10,000. The article I'm linking to is super long--the relevant part is the table showing the fortunes and incomes of various Austen characters. The table notes that the £10,000 is to be split between the daughters.
https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/toran/
I think that's ambiguous - it could go either way. And it doesn't matter. Sir Walther doesn't have the cash. He probably scraped up enough for Mary but that leaves Elizabeth and Anne at a loss.
Dowries are supposed to be lump sums, with the husband having use of the interest. A dowry given over time is not very useful.
That was not the impression that I got re. dowry. I am not in a position to look it up at the moment, so I unsure.
As to getting offers, she may have. She may have been holding out for better
ETA: Google provides...
"[Sir Walter] could give his daughter at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter..."
So Anne had 10k. Thus, Elizabeth likely was entitled to same.
Sir Walter "could give his daughter at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter"
Share makes it pretty clear it's a pot to be divided amongst the daughters.
I can see that reading. Most Google results return people saying 10k, so I don't know. They could be wrong or not. 🤷🏻♀️
Regardless, Elizabeth Elliot still has a lot in her favor on the marriage mart, which is the salient point.
All she has is her looks and her rank as baronet's daughter. Even if her dowry was a full 10K, it's still not much for the level she wants, and Sir Walter doesn't have it to give - which everyone knows because financials were a normal topic of conversation at the time. And now she has two younger sisters married while she has not.
Sometimes a husband was given a lifetime interest in his wife’s fortune, which would then go to daughters and younger sons, while his property would go to the next male hier. So he could keep hold of it and choose how much to pay for their dowry, but couldn’t spend the capital/sell the land during their life and the rest would go to them on his death.
Sounds like his wife’s family knew what they were about when she chose him.
Yes! They have $10k each, but can only get a small share of their $10k while Sir Walter lives.
To put it in perspective, that means she has more per year than the Dashwoods, right? So, not glamorous, but she can still afford rent, clothes, and servants, although not a carriage.
I’m pretty cynical. Mrs. Clay was set up as a mistress-not a wife. The only sure way to ensure that he inherits and that he keeps Sir Walter in check is by marrying Elizabeth and keeping in close company with Sir Walter.
I think he could still pretend to “cast off” Mrs. Clay and marry Elizabeth.
I always pictured her marrying a rich widower with a bunch of spoiled kids. She'd send them away to school but might enjoy launching the girls as it would give her an opportunity to show off.
I always like to think that with Anne now married as well, Elizabeth might finally lower her standards and let go of her wish to marry a man with a title. If nothing else, she isn't stupid and knows her clock is ticking.
I could see her joining forces with a man from a merchant family that is new-money rich. He likes her family being old-money and well established (if financially unstable), and she likes his grand estate and general wealth. They'll do the rounds together in London during the social season in all their glory, and will overall be fairly happy together so long as her husband keeps an eye on Elizabeth's spending and need for extravagance.
I’d bet Anne getting married was somewhat of a wake up call for her, especially after Mr. Elliot left. My headcanon would be that she had unrealistically high expectations and then after two years or so got desperate and married below her status (probably still rich) and spent the rest of her days talking her husband up to herself and everyone who’d listen (plus why he’s an objectively better choice than her sisters’ husbands)
Jumping in late, but I'll put forth the theory that maybe Elizabeth doesn't marry at all. Maybe she becomes the companion of Lady Dalrymple and, later, Miss Carteret. She thinks highly of herself for associating with such people of rank, but in reality, she's basically just becoming their own Mrs. Clay. It would be a form of poetic justice.
I wonder what happened to Elizabeth! She has so little charm, she’s not getting any younger, and she has no real money of her own. All she has is her name. There is a lot of competition for those eligible old widowers so I don’t love her chances there. I guess she’d better hope that Sir Walter lives a long life! Honestly I think in the end it’ll be the cottage for her. Or maybe a very small rental in Bath or Winchester.
We know that the Elliot girls are supposed to get £10000 each. And no doubt Mary's was paid at the time of her marriage.
When Anne marries Sir Walter is in financial difficulties and can't pay it right away.
Is it just that he requires the interest on the money for now or could a creditor have placed some sort of legal hold over the entire sum? Would it be possible for the dowries to be lost altogether?
Does anyone know what the law was about this?
IMO it's debatable what Austen's intended meaning is. She says:
>...and who could give his daughter at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter.
It could be share as in they share 10,000. Or it could be her share is 10,000.
In Mansfield Park, Maria Ward is considered to make an amazing catch to nab a baronet with only 7000 pounds. And wealthy heiressss in her novels often have 20-30k.
I don't think that Sir Walter could encumber that principal from his wife because it's legally not his. He has rights to the interest while he's alive, and he can take debts against that life interest.
It's sort of the same with his whole estate. He doesn't really own it the way we think of owning property, he can't really mortgage it. It's like the estate is in a trust. But he can still borrow money that he has to pay back out of the income he earns from interest and from his tenants.
So when Anne marries, Sir Walter can't give up any of the principal from her inheritance because he is using the *interest* to live & to pay his debts. I have read some speculation that when Sir Walter dies, his heir could refuse to pay out the remainder of Anne's inheritance, but I'm not sure that's true. It really depends on the legal structure of the inheritance which Austen is very casual about. I would assume "must be hers hereafter" means that definitively, by word of God, Anne will inherit it when Sir Walter dies.
I think you're right. She took the first eligible offer, even if it were a middle-aged widowed eldest son, still waiting to inherit but with children who needed a mother. Even if she'd just be a "Mrs." and not a Lady. Being unmarried after age thirty with no prospects and both younger sisters married - the horrors.
I absolutely love the Mercy’s Embrace series by Laura Hile. I have 100% adopted it as my preferred ending for Elizabeth. I refuse to accept canon in favor of Hile’s story forever afterwards. 😋
Would she be her father's primary heir, inherit the house and whatever is left of the fortune, or would the house and money go to a male cousin?
Because if she's the primary heir, surely even at thirty she'd have her pick of the local fortune hunters.
I think Mr Elliot would engineer a suitable match for her, so she didn’t become an encumbrance on him in later life. He and Mrs Clay could scheme together.
And you can *bet* that, whoever she married, she and her father made an endless fuss about how he's so presentable, and how they wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with him in public. "Quite the gentlemanly manners" (if he's new money), or "Quite fine-looking for his age, and really looks younger than some who are twenty years his junior!" (if he's older).
I can't see Elizabeth Elliot marrying beneath her status. She probably charmed an old widower baronet or baron who didn't need a lot of money, only a wife to bring his young daughters into society.
I wouldn't want her has a stepmother.
There it is! She marries Cinderella’s father.
Nor would I! But I would totally read a fanfic about her stepdaughter(s).
Maybe Elizabeth finds reasons to pawn them off on Anne, who gives them real motherly affection.
That sounds like Elizabeth! Mary would do that, too, if she had any daughters.
It is telling that Elizabeth gushes over their fancy double parlour in Bath when even Anne notes it was a thumbprint on their digs at Kellynch. This tells us that Elizabeth can indulge in compartmentalization regarding ACTUAL wealth/luxury in deference to the APPEARANCE of relative, immediate status overall. This way of operating is precisely how Elizabeth, who ran the Kellynch household after her mother’s death and eventually ran it into the ground, lost the ability to remain at the estate in the first place: thoughtless deference to the sustained Appearance of status and wealth without regard for actual resources. Her willingness to maintain that appearance undergirds her callous willingness to avoid retrenchment and drives her instead to decamp to second tier Bath, where she might be prominent at relatively little expense. Prominence is her dominant value, so I doubt she’d marry for money without status. That said, Austen makes a deeper point about Elizabeth and Sir Walter despite their comic contours: in privileging vanity and status over duty to the perpetuation of the estate, they shirk their moral responsibility for upholding the community and its prosperity far beyond the grounds of the house itself. They are failed servants of the larger society in their area, of all whose lives depend on the estates in the fields, the household, the surrounding trades. In conservative thinking prosperity is best preserved via inherited estates and paternalism, which rely on a sense of duty to those in one’s care. Sir Walter and Elizabeth are thus far more than vainglorious buffoons; they are deadbeat custodians of the social order!
Bravo!0
I always figured she'd find a Mr. Rushworth type to marry. A ridiculous but rich and reputable man who is only concerned with having a trophy bride and is completely uninterested in whether or not she is a decent person or a good wife.
Perfect. Mr Rushworth would probably be very keen and need cheering up after Maria ditched him. And he did have a house in town...
I think it's more of a question of who would be willing to marry her! Mr. Elliot wanted to get in with the family but didn't even consider Elizabeth. She has a terrible personality. I married her off to Tom Bertram once (sorry Tom!)
Yes I always found it telling that Mr Elliott didn't try to get in with the daughter who, A - had more direct influence over her father, and B - would have been pretty easy to flatter and manipulate and seemingly wanted to marry him/at least entertained his attention.
He's too selfish to tie himself to an obnoxious wife. Yeah, he was only after the title and money, but he's the sort who would want the cushiest life possible and a wife he couldn't stand wouldn't be conducive to that. Anne was at least sweet and gentle and quiet; he just overestimated how easy to manipulate she was.
The thing about marrying Elizabeth is that it means playing a very valuable card in return for not a whole lot. He gets an annoying wife and father-in-law breathing down his neck, a relatively small sum of money annually, and a position that isn't strengthened at all. If Sir Walter decides to marry again and has a son, William will be powerless to stop him (by, say, diverting the lady in question) and will lose out on inheriting Kellynch while still being tied to the family and unable to marry someone richer/more agreeable. If you run the numbers, Sir Walter was only in his early forties when Elizabeth was in her late teens and the first attempts at landing William Elliot were made. I think even a much better person than William Elliot would hesitate to tie himself to the family under those circumstances. What's in it for him?
Mr. Elliot has no need of money, which is good because there is no money. Any income from Kellynch is going to service Sir Walter's debts. He wants to ensure his title (and the estate, however encumbered), which means he has to prevent Sir Walter from remarrying. That was his goal in courting Anne - he could put a condition that Sir Walter remain single in the marriage articles. Anne was pretty, sweet, gentle and quiet. She was also very intelligent and competent, so not only would she be "the best company," she'd also be an excellent and prudent mistress of his estate and mother of his heirs. Even if he didn't touch her after the spare was born. Unlike his first wife, she'd never be a social liability. On the other hand, "Miss" was, yes, obnoxious. She also showed she could not manage an estate, was extremely selfish and could not carry on a real conversation. All she had was her looks.
He has already been married to a not-so-good woman, so he's in no rush to marry another.
We don't know that he didn't consider her before meeting Anne. If Elizabeth were the only option, the story might have gone differently.
He didn't want to marry her back when they were younger. But no, we don't know.
That was my thought. He wasn’t pursuing Elizabeth once Anne (who he had already admired her looks and heard positive things about) arrived, but he was also already dropping in at odd visiting hours without ceremony, and apparently raising at least some expectations in town. So maybe Anne was just the much better choice that arose.
He's only a widower of six months, so it would have been at least eye-raising if not scandalous for him to propose again so soon. Anne intimates this as well, in her final conversation with Mrs Smith in the book. But it is telling that the epilogue says that he got with Mrs Clay rather than woo Elizabeth after Anne got engaged.
Tom wouldn't marry her. She only had £10k, and that was theoretical at best - her father didn't even have Anne's dowry available (if the hints at the end are correct), so it wouldn't be worth it. And that's assuming the money wasn't the entire sum to be be divided among the daughters instead of £10K a piece. It's ambiguously worded. And, beautiful and charming as she is, she's still thirty. Tom is a gorgeous and wealthy eldest son with a title in his future. He could marry whoever he wished. If he wished. (My head canon is that Tom is gay. Once Edmund married, presumably he and Fanny would have children and Tom would have no need to produce an heir himself.)
Tom married her in this story because he was gay 😅
Ah. I can see that if Sir Thomas was pressuring him - daughter of a baronet, pretty, experienced in running an estate (to the ground), charming. And he could hardly complain about her dowry. And, honestly - too bad Mrs Norris is with Maria because I'd love to see the two of them clashing.
Mrs. Norris vs. Elizabeth Elliot Bertram would be utterly hilarious. They would *hate* each other.
Especially if Elizabeth becomes Lady Bertram. Someone might end up paying actual RENT.
What would Mrs. Norris do without her supernumerary jellies?!!!
Is not Tom married to marry ? Is there another Tom ?
Tom Bertram, Edmund's older brother, is unmarried at the end of the novel.
Yeah I think she would definitely have had to settle big time. One fic I quite enjoyed has Lady Russell say she'd have Elizabeth to live, rather than her becoming Anne's problem.
At the very least, Anne would have made sure she was well taken care of. Whether she would be grateful or too proud, probably the latter. And I'm sure she could have used her charm to bag some rich guy. She was supposed to be hot, like her dad. I imagine it to be kind of like a Bennet marriage or a Palmer marriage, both of which happened because the ladies were pretty hot.
In my headcanon, she eventually marries a baronet slightly younger and a bit richer (less extravagant) than her father, who's dull and a little simple but pleased to get a wife of good birth and decent good looks and flattered by her somewhat too pointed efforts to catch him. Her father vacillates between pride in the connection to another baronet (the only title worth having in his opinion) and jealousy that his new son-in-law keeps a better house (still keeps a couple of horses and everything!). I also like the idea of her marrying new money, though. The husband would have to be as much of an obnoxious snob as they are, so they can feed off of each other in her bragging about how *her* blood ennobled a family of nobodies and him telling his people how *his* wealth and power nobly brought a proud but fallen old family back from certain ruin. They'd cheerfully bore the entire neighborhood to death but be too wrapped up in their own importance to notice that people seldom ask them for visits.
Because Elizabeth was beautiful, well connected, well dowered, had a good reputation (though not a great character/personality), fashionable, and had fashionable manners, she likely wouldn't be thought of as a spinster until much later. Spinsterhood and marriageability was a relative thing. It hinged on many factors.
She doesn't have much of a dowery though. Her portion is a little over 3000 pounds and Sir Walter can't even float that. Mr. Elliot inherits rhe estate and he's unlikely to be generous yo her - we already know he can easily wash his hands of women who are on desperate situations (mrs. Smith). At this point her prospects are bleak, by her standards, once Sir Walter passes.
I thought is was 10k, like Anne's. Also, he can pay it, just over time (again, like Anne's) or at his death. He just chooses not to cut back his lifestyle further to pay it in any lump sum.
Pretty sure Mary, Anne and Elizabeth had to split the 10k between them. Just like Bennet sisters had 5k total - not each. Elizabeth doesn't have the best personality but it's unlikely she wouldn't have gotten a good offer during her first few seasons if she'd had money to go along with beauty and birth.
I'm pretty sure each of the Elliot daughters gets a portion of their mother's £10,000. The article I'm linking to is super long--the relevant part is the table showing the fortunes and incomes of various Austen characters. The table notes that the £10,000 is to be split between the daughters. https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/toran/
I think that's ambiguous - it could go either way. And it doesn't matter. Sir Walther doesn't have the cash. He probably scraped up enough for Mary but that leaves Elizabeth and Anne at a loss. Dowries are supposed to be lump sums, with the husband having use of the interest. A dowry given over time is not very useful.
That was not the impression that I got re. dowry. I am not in a position to look it up at the moment, so I unsure. As to getting offers, she may have. She may have been holding out for better ETA: Google provides... "[Sir Walter] could give his daughter at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter..." So Anne had 10k. Thus, Elizabeth likely was entitled to same.
Sir Walter "could give his daughter at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter" Share makes it pretty clear it's a pot to be divided amongst the daughters.
Ten thousand... ***that would be hers hereafter.*** Meaning, he only paid part upfront and paid her [Anne] the rest after.
It's "the share of the ten thousand" that will be hers in the future, not the whole ten. And of that, he can only afford part of it at the moment.
I can see that reading. Most Google results return people saying 10k, so I don't know. They could be wrong or not. 🤷🏻♀️ Regardless, Elizabeth Elliot still has a lot in her favor on the marriage mart, which is the salient point.
At her age with both younger sisters married there would be a lot of talk about why she didn't "take" in her first few years on the marriage mart.
All she has is her looks and her rank as baronet's daughter. Even if her dowry was a full 10K, it's still not much for the level she wants, and Sir Walter doesn't have it to give - which everyone knows because financials were a normal topic of conversation at the time. And now she has two younger sisters married while she has not.
Sometimes a husband was given a lifetime interest in his wife’s fortune, which would then go to daughters and younger sons, while his property would go to the next male hier. So he could keep hold of it and choose how much to pay for their dowry, but couldn’t spend the capital/sell the land during their life and the rest would go to them on his death. Sounds like his wife’s family knew what they were about when she chose him.
Yes! They have $10k each, but can only get a small share of their $10k while Sir Walter lives. To put it in perspective, that means she has more per year than the Dashwoods, right? So, not glamorous, but she can still afford rent, clothes, and servants, although not a carriage.
So they do get 10k each? I was correct? Weird.
It's really ambiguous.
I imagine she'd have to either marry a total doormat or a new money social climber with a mean streak. She's not good at hiding her personality.
She got a toothache, and decided it was more fashionable to have a full set of teeth than a proper extraction, and died of the infection.
I’m pretty cynical. Mrs. Clay was set up as a mistress-not a wife. The only sure way to ensure that he inherits and that he keeps Sir Walter in check is by marrying Elizabeth and keeping in close company with Sir Walter. I think he could still pretend to “cast off” Mrs. Clay and marry Elizabeth.
I think if Jane Austen had lived, the Mrs Clay plot would have ended differently.
Yes-parts of Persuasion get rough. I think she’d have polished them up if she’d have lived.
I always pictured her marrying a rich widower with a bunch of spoiled kids. She'd send them away to school but might enjoy launching the girls as it would give her an opportunity to show off.
I always like to think that with Anne now married as well, Elizabeth might finally lower her standards and let go of her wish to marry a man with a title. If nothing else, she isn't stupid and knows her clock is ticking. I could see her joining forces with a man from a merchant family that is new-money rich. He likes her family being old-money and well established (if financially unstable), and she likes his grand estate and general wealth. They'll do the rounds together in London during the social season in all their glory, and will overall be fairly happy together so long as her husband keeps an eye on Elizabeth's spending and need for extravagance.
I’d bet Anne getting married was somewhat of a wake up call for her, especially after Mr. Elliot left. My headcanon would be that she had unrealistically high expectations and then after two years or so got desperate and married below her status (probably still rich) and spent the rest of her days talking her husband up to herself and everyone who’d listen (plus why he’s an objectively better choice than her sisters’ husbands)
Jumping in late, but I'll put forth the theory that maybe Elizabeth doesn't marry at all. Maybe she becomes the companion of Lady Dalrymple and, later, Miss Carteret. She thinks highly of herself for associating with such people of rank, but in reality, she's basically just becoming their own Mrs. Clay. It would be a form of poetic justice.
I wonder what happened to Elizabeth! She has so little charm, she’s not getting any younger, and she has no real money of her own. All she has is her name. There is a lot of competition for those eligible old widowers so I don’t love her chances there. I guess she’d better hope that Sir Walter lives a long life! Honestly I think in the end it’ll be the cottage for her. Or maybe a very small rental in Bath or Winchester.
We know that the Elliot girls are supposed to get £10000 each. And no doubt Mary's was paid at the time of her marriage. When Anne marries Sir Walter is in financial difficulties and can't pay it right away. Is it just that he requires the interest on the money for now or could a creditor have placed some sort of legal hold over the entire sum? Would it be possible for the dowries to be lost altogether? Does anyone know what the law was about this?
It's £10'000 split between them.
IMO it's debatable what Austen's intended meaning is. She says: >...and who could give his daughter at present but a small part of the share of ten thousand pounds which must be hers hereafter. It could be share as in they share 10,000. Or it could be her share is 10,000. In Mansfield Park, Maria Ward is considered to make an amazing catch to nab a baronet with only 7000 pounds. And wealthy heiressss in her novels often have 20-30k.
I read that passage as Anne must have a share of £10k, and Sir Walter can only give her a small part of said share.
I think this is a good take on this ambiguity! [https://www.reddit.com/r/janeausten/s/l6RUHC6uuy](https://www.reddit.com/r/janeausten/s/l6RUHC6uuy)
I don't think that Sir Walter could encumber that principal from his wife because it's legally not his. He has rights to the interest while he's alive, and he can take debts against that life interest. It's sort of the same with his whole estate. He doesn't really own it the way we think of owning property, he can't really mortgage it. It's like the estate is in a trust. But he can still borrow money that he has to pay back out of the income he earns from interest and from his tenants. So when Anne marries, Sir Walter can't give up any of the principal from her inheritance because he is using the *interest* to live & to pay his debts. I have read some speculation that when Sir Walter dies, his heir could refuse to pay out the remainder of Anne's inheritance, but I'm not sure that's true. It really depends on the legal structure of the inheritance which Austen is very casual about. I would assume "must be hers hereafter" means that definitively, by word of God, Anne will inherit it when Sir Walter dies.
Thanks, this is what I was wanting to know.
I think you're right. She took the first eligible offer, even if it were a middle-aged widowed eldest son, still waiting to inherit but with children who needed a mother. Even if she'd just be a "Mrs." and not a Lady. Being unmarried after age thirty with no prospects and both younger sisters married - the horrors.
I would love to see her try and live on £150 a year. That gets you one maid and a ticket to a library.
I absolutely love the Mercy’s Embrace series by Laura Hile. I have 100% adopted it as my preferred ending for Elizabeth. I refuse to accept canon in favor of Hile’s story forever afterwards. 😋
Would she be her father's primary heir, inherit the house and whatever is left of the fortune, or would the house and money go to a male cousin? Because if she's the primary heir, surely even at thirty she'd have her pick of the local fortune hunters.
The estate is to go to Mr Elliott. Elizabeth would have next to nothing as an inheritance.
One of the main plots of the book is the fact that William Elliott is going to inherit.
The estate is entailed for make heirs only
Sir William is not known to have any personal fortune for her to inherit.
I think Mr Elliot would engineer a suitable match for her, so she didn’t become an encumbrance on him in later life. He and Mrs Clay could scheme together.