Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one; you need not covet it), is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone.”
- Source
- Persuasion
- Date
- 1818
- Local voice
- Fictional character · Anne Elliot
Meaning of “All the privilege I claim for my own…”
Anne claims endurance in love for women within a debate about constancy, but Austen gives the argument to a character in a particular social setting rather than presenting it as objective psychology about either sex.
Where does it come from?
Persuasion, Chapter XXIII, Project Gutenberg #105. Anne Elliot says this to Captain Harville after he describes men’s attachment to wives and families; the exchange immediately leads into Wentworth’s written declaration.
Why the local voice matters
Anne says this to Captain Harville in Chapter XXIII during their debate about constancy in men and women.
