# Persuasion — Character guide

> Key figures in Persuasion by Jane Austen.

- [Anne Elliot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/anne_elliot.md): Anne Elliot is the overlooked middle daughter of a baronet who values his mirror above his children, useful to everyone and consulted by no one. Years ago she was persuaded to refuse a naval officer with no fortune; the 
- [Captain Frederick Wentworth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/captain_wentworth.md): Wentworth earned his rank and wealth through daring and luck, and the world now treats him as a prize. Eight years ago Anne Elliot refused him; he has not forgotten, and his easy, energetic manner with the Musgrove girls
- [Sir Walter Elliot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/sir_walter_elliot.md): Sir Walter Elliot opens the book by reading his own family history for pleasure, and his vanity of person and situation governs every decision he makes. He spends beyond his means, despises the navy as a source of upstar
- [Elizabeth Elliot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/elizabeth_elliot.md): Elizabeth inherited Sir Walter's vanity without his excuse of charm, and she has spent years waiting for a suitor worthy of her rank. She treats Anne as a drudge and confidante of last resort, and her anxiety about the E
- [Mary Musgrove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/mary_musgrove.md): Mary Musgrove has the Elliot pride without the Elliot looks, and she spends her days cataloguing her ailments and her grievances about precedence against her mother-in-law. She summons Anne to Uppercross whenever she fee
- [Lady Russell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/lady_russell.md): Lady Russell loved Lady Elliot, and she transferred that love and its standards to Anne, whom she considers a daughter. Eight years ago she persuaded Anne to refuse a penniless Captain Wentworth, a decision made from pru
- [Charles Musgrove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/charles_musgrove.md): Mary's good-humored husband, an eldest son who defends his cousin Charles Hayter and cheerfully imagines Captain Wentworth as a fortune-bearing brother-in-law.
- [Louisa Musgrove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/louisa_musgrove.md): The younger Miss Musgrove, all high spirits and decided opinions, who becomes the likeliest prize in the quiet contest for Captain Wentworth's attention.
- [Henrietta Musgrove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/henrietta_musgrove.md): The prettier, gentler Musgrove sister, whose half-formed understanding with her cousin Charles Hayter is quietly unsettled by the arrival of Captain Wentworth.
- [Captain Benwick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/captain_benwick.md): A mourning naval officer whose grief, poetry, and quiet reading make him the still center of the Harvilles' household at Lyme.
- [Admiral Croft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/admiral_croft.md): A weather-beaten rear admiral of the white, hearty and unpretentious, who takes Kellynch Hall off Sir Walter's hands and brings the navy into Somersetshire.
- [Mrs. Croft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/mrs_croft.md): The Admiral's shrewd, well-spoken wife and Captain Wentworth's sister, whose ease at sea and command of business quietly rebuke Sir Walter's vanity.
- [Mrs. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/mrs_smith.md): Once Anne's lively schoolmate, Mrs. Smith now receives visitors in a modest Bath lodging, her cheerfulness edged with the habits of a woman who has learned to make interest go far. Her penetrating guess about Anne's feel
- [Mr. Elliot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/mr_elliot.md): As the presumptive heir to Kellynch, Mr. Elliot arrives in Bath eager to reconcile with the family he once slighted, and Lady Russell finds him everything a sensible woman could wish. Anne, though, notices his value for 
- [Mrs. Clay](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/mrs_clay.md): Mrs. Clay has attached herself to the Elliot household as companion and confidante, and her attentions to Sir Walter are just ambiguous enough to trouble Anne without alarming Elizabeth. Lady Russell sees the danger plai
- [Captain Harville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/captain_harville.md): Captain Harville, invalided out of active service, has turned a lodging-house into a snug domestic world for his wife and children, filling it with rare woods and curiosities from distant ports. His hospitality draws Ann
- [Mrs. Musgrove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/mrs_musgrove.md): The mother of the Musgrove children, kind and sentimental.
- [Mr. Shepherd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/mr_shepherd.md): Sir Walter's lawyer and agent, who arranges the lease of Kellynch.
- [Colonel Wallis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/colonel_wallis.md): A friend of Mr. Elliot in Bath, part of the social circle.
- [Nurse Rooke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters/nurse_rooke.md): A nurse who attends Mrs. Smith and shares gossip from Bath society.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/persuasion_se/characters