Introduction
The stories revolve around two protagonists with a resolve to find love. Anne Elliot comes from a well-respected family with land and wealth. However, this is affected by her father’s lavish life. They are forced to sublet their home for a smaller house in Bath. Anne was in a relationship with Captain Fredrick Wentworth, but this did not materialize since Lady Russell, a close family adviser persuaded her against it.
However, she is still in love with Mr. Wentworth and hopes to marry him. Similarly, Rosalind, the daughter of Duke Senior falls in love with Orlando, one of the two sons of Sir Rowland. This happens at a wrestling match where Orlando defeats Charles, a renowned wrestler. They develop feelings for one another but cannot express them. However, fate brings them together, and they forge love once more. The paper explores the two women’s obstacles to finding love. Besides, it compares the kinds of obstacles faced by them. However, because of the tensions, among other obstacles that existed Anne’s route to love, she faced more obstacles in finding Captain Wentworth than Rosalind did (Austen 17).
Anne Elliot vs. Rosalind
Anne Elliot is portrayed as coming from a well to do family. The Elliot family is a respected household that enjoys life in their circle of the elite and wealthy. The family has a trusted family adviser in Lady Russell. Lady Russell helps the family in all contexts ranging from finance to social matters, among others. In this regard, she becomes an obstacle to Anne’s potential marriage to Captain Wentworth, who she felt was not of adequate consequence.
It is quite different from Rosalind’s case in which there is no family adviser, and she is within her free will to fall in love with someone without fear of a backlash. In this respect, it is clear that Anne faced a greater obstacle. For instance, even though she loved Wentworth, as proved in the beginning when we are told she loved Mrs. Croft’s brother, Lady Russell persuaded her to break the engagement. It is not seen on the part of Rosalind who instead has a friend in Celia who encourages her throughout her attempts to find love. This is evident, first in Celia’s love for her, which is proved in Duke Fredrick’s capability of allowing her to stay in the court.
Moreover, this is further portrayed when she accepts to leave with her for the forest despite the dangers associated with their travel. Besides, she helps Rosalind in concealing their identity until the right moment when they both get married to their loved ones. This shows that while Anne had people like Lady Russell, who opposed her decisions, Rosalind enjoyed this from her friend (Austen 38).
Moreover, from the context above, it can also be seen that Anne did not enjoy the emotional as well as psychological support to achieve her dream of marrying Captain Wentworth. It is mainly because her father and advisor we not supportive of their marriage. On the other hand, In Rosalind’s case, she had emotional support in that Celia supported her, and she was the closest person to her as her father had been dethroned.
In this regard, Anne’s obstacles were of a greater degree than that of Rosalind. Sir Walter is also seen as an obstacle to his daughter‘s relationship due to his choice for men. Sir Walter looks to himself as a person of value and integrity; he, therefore, would not wish that his daughters were married to people outside his social circle. He saw himself as a lavish and wealthy person with a respected family; this was not the same in Wentworth’s case as her sister was a tenant.
Moreover, he did not have much at the time. This made Sir Walter be an obstacle to Anne’s pursuance of love. This cannot be said of Rosalind since her father was in hiding and did not even know if she loved anyone. However, it would not have caused tensions since Orlando’s father was his dear friend, as we are told when he meets him in the forest of Ardennes (Austen 57).
We are also told that Anne’s family moved to a much smaller house in Bath. This separated her from Mrs. Croft in Kelly, where she could keep in touch with Wentworth’s progress. Furthermore, the fact that Captain Wentworth was usually at sea on duty also made things difficult. It is mainly because their time together was restricted to times when he was off the sea. In essence, they were separated most of the time, and this separation worked as an obstacle to contact them.
However, on Rosalind’s part, their separation was quite brief because Orlando’s escape almost coincided with her escape to the forest where they met again (although she was disguised as Ganymede). To this extent, it can be seen that contact was much easier on the part of Rosalind as opposed to Anne, who had to make her way to Mrs. Croft to be close to Captain Wentworth (Shakespeare 116).
Another thing that acted as an obstacle to Anne’s love was their social circle. We are told that the Elliot family was a respected household with wealth. This was not the same as Wentworth. In this regard, they came from different social circles. It is what contributed to Lady Russell’s opposition to their possible marriage (Austen 57). This is proved when Elliot’s move to a lower social circle due to Sir Walter’s lavish spending as well as the fact that Captain Wentworth’s wealth increased makes Lady Russell, along with Anne’s father to bless their marriage.
However, this was not similar to Rosalind’s case. Having come from the same region and since their parents were dear friends, they were in the same social circle. Moreover, this is further proved when we are told at the beginning of the story that Orlando’s father was wealthy and Rosalind’s father was the Duke senior (Shakespeare 1)
Another obstacle to Anne’s marriage was the fact that she had broken the engagement. It is why she was afraid of making any steps as she was unsure whether Wentworth would accept her. Moreover, Wentworth seemed to show more interest in Louisa and Henrietta as opposed to Anne, who was quite anxious to see him. This affected her so much that she looked resigned to having him again. It is different in Rosalind’s case since they never broke up and were lovesick of one another throughout the story (Shakespeare 19).
Conclusion
From the stories above, it is quite clear that Anne Elliot faced more obstacles than Rosalind did. It is evident in the way she feels after meeting Wentworth the second time. She even resigns to ever having him. Firstly, she had broken the engagement to Wentworth due to pressure from her family advisor Lady Russell and Sir Walter. In this regard, she had no right to expect love from Wentworth, and this is evident in her response to his new attitude.
Rosalind, on the other hand, fell in love with Orlando at a wrestling match and this was reciprocated appropriately. Furthermore, violence separated them and not a broken engagement. In this regard, they still felt love for each other and hoped to meet again. It is evident when Orlando confides in Rosalind that he is lovesick and therefore attends love lessons (Shakespeare 158). Another reason for this was the fact that Anne’s father and family advisor never wanted the relationship; in essence, they were obstacles to Anne’s love. On the other hand, no one opposed Rosalind’s proposed marriage to Orlando; in fact, their parents had been friends.
Nonetheless, the two protagonists were strong in their push to get what they wanted. Rosalind proves this by tricking the congregation at the Ardennes forest to marry Orlando. Similarly, Anne does not give up until she gets to marry her love. It is evident in her actions as she visits Mrs. Croft, Wentworth’s sister to find out about him. However, from the readings, it is quite clear that Anne faced more obstacles than Rosalind did in her pursuit of love. It is well conveyed in her struggles with anxiety over their reunion.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Persuasion, London: John Murray, 1818. Print.
Shakespeare, William. As You like It, London: Isaac Jaggard and Edmund Blount, 1923. Print.