Quote by Jane Austen
Captain Harvile: Poor Phoebe, she would not have forgotten him so soon. It was not in her nature. Anne Elliot: It would not be in the nature of any woman who truly loved. Captain Harvile: Do you claim that for your sex? Anne Elliot: We do not forget you as soon as you forget us. We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You always have business of some sort or other to take you back into the world. Captain Harvile: I won't allow it to be any more man's nature than women's to be inconstant or to forget those they love or have loved. I believe the reverse. I believe... Let me just observe that all histories are against you, all stories, prose, and verse. I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which did not have something to say on women's fickleness. Anne Elliot: But they were all written by men.
Summary
In this quote from Jane Austen's novel Persuasion, Captain Harvile and Anne Elliot engage in a conversation about whether women are more inclined to remember their love interests longer than men. Captain Harvile believes that women are quick to forget, while Anne argues that women's constant confinement at home intensifies their feelings and makes it difficult to move on. She suggests that men, with their busy lives, have an easier time forgetting. Captain Harvile counters by citing historical writings that depict women as fickle, but Anne dismisses this notion, pointing out that these writings were authored by men, implying a biased perspective.
By Jane Austen
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