“He looked quite red”: Persuasion and Austen’s New Man of Feeling

Abstract

This article reconsiders the status of sensibility in Jane Austen’s Persuasion (1818), focusing on the blushing hero of the novel, Frederick Wentworth. Although literary scholars have often dis cussed the blushing of Austen’s female characters, they have paid scant attention to her blushing heroes. Despite his incon trovertible mascu linity, Went worth is positioned as a new “man of feeling,” who demonstrates sympathy without the sentimental histrionics of his literary predecessors. Looking especially at Wentworth’s chang ing complexion, this article argues that blushing as depicted in Austen’s novel not only demonstrates the com pati bil ity of sensi bility and masculinity, but also participates in Austen’s larger project of realigning social value on the basis of sym pathy rather than gender.