Part 3: William Elliot
Third month in a row of complaining about the 2022 adaptation of Persuasion, and I show no signs of stopping. I understand if y'all are over it by now, but in case you aren't, I bring you another rambling rant, this time on the topic of William Elliot.
Some backstory that the movie does not provide: in the novel, William Elliot is the heir presumptive to the baronetcy. As a young man, William had no interest in marrying Anne's older sister Elizabeth, as everyone expected. Anne's father Sir Walter felt he should to be grateful and visit Kellynch regularly. But William disliked both William and Elizabeth and did not attempt to hide it, in addition to ignoring multiple invitations to visit the estate. Because he could not received any income until the actual inheritance was divided, (and because he did not understand the social advantages of the title and high connections), William found the family, the estate, and his role as heir to be burdensome and annoying. At one point he even said he would "sell the baronetcy for 50 pounds".
To both obtain money and stick it to the family, William ignored family duty to marry an heiress with no title at age 19, becoming wildly wealthy. (Interesting comparison to Anne's predicament, huh?) Both Sir Walter and Elizabeth were extremely offended from his marriage and cut him off from the family entirely. During this estrangement, William became friends with the Smiths, who paid his debts until he married. Through Mrs. Smith, William learned more about the Elliots, namely Anne (Mrs Smith's schoolmate). She tried to convince him that Anne was different (i.e better) than her sister.
Six months before the events of the book, William's wife dies and leaves him her fortune. Having learned how a title can open doors money can't, William viewed the baronetcy in a new, desirable light, and decided to reconcile with Sir Walter to make his position more secure. To appease his relative's damaged pride, he claims that he had married his commoner wife solely for her money and that he was unhappy in their marriage. Sir Walter and Elizabeth forgive William for the indiscretion with the intention of pushing him to marry Elizabeth as originally planned. Unfortunately for them, he decides to set his sights on Anne after running into her serendipitously in Lyme.
Like in the movie, William is also a potential romantic obstacle between Anne and Wentworth, although the film takes great pains to reassure us that Anne is basically just using him as a rebound because she thinks Wentworth and Louisa are engaged. In the film, William appears to have ripped out of the pages of Penelope Clay's self-insert fanfiction: rich, charming, and handsome, his worst flaw appears to be either his thirst or his inability to hide how thirsty he is. In the final quarter of the film, Anne makes a point to rub in Wentworth's face that "[William] is very funny. And charming. And rich.” Whether she's trying to convince him, herself, or the audience that William has a shot is unclear. What is clear is that this funny, charming, and rich guy is in no way an actual option he's simply a temporary obstacle to a reunion that we already know is inevitable. A hot obstacle, though. So there's that.
I also have no issue with Henry Golding's performance, nor the depiction of William as a skirt chaser. I was disappointed he didn't get more screentime, which considering how much I desperately wanted this movie to end, says a lot. Although I do have to say the scene where he tries to force an innuendo out of her octopus dream was super cringey ("You should one day let the octopus ensnare you.” GROSS). Textually speaking, William does make a habit of openly admiring the beauty of women (as evidenced by his and Anne's first meeting at Lyme), and generally he views interactions with them as an amusing, self-satisfying game: "He wanted to animate [Anne's] curiosity again as to how and where he could have heard her formerly praised; wanted very much to be gratified by more solicitation."
My problem is the movie's dilution of William's character to nothing more than an amiable horndog. Not only is Williams' character far more interesting in the book, his cunning and self-serving nature is incredibly relevant to the plot as well as to the development of Anne & Wentworth's romance. Whether you call him a villain, an antihero, or something else, the guy has a dark side. As I've ranted about before, the exclusion of Mrs. Smith in the movie is why we never heard about it. The closest we get is the scene at the concert where he tells Wentworth he hopes he can come to Anne & William's wedding, followed by (what was intended to be a major zinger) "I do know how she values your friendship" and a scandalous hand on Anne’s back. It's not nothing, but it heavily contrasts his response to Anne & Wentworth's reunion: an "oh well" shrug and a marriage to another woman (WHICH WE WILL GET TO LATER).
Where's the spice? Where's the danger? Where's a scammer leaving behind a line of broken hearts and penniless former friends? Where is he???? IN LYME?
For those who've never read the novel, Mrs. Smith confesses to Anne that "Mr. Elliot is a man without heart or conscience; a designing, waray, cold-blooded being, who thinks only of himself; who, for his own interest or ease, would be guilty of any cruelty, or any treachery, that would be perpetrated without risk of his general character. He has no feeling for others. Those whom he has been the chief cause of leading into ruin, he can neglect and desert without the smallest compunction. He is totally beyond the reach of any sentiment or compassion. Oh! He is black at heart, hollow and black!" Much of her dislike lies in the fact that Mr. Elliot did not return her and her husband's previous favor of covering expenses or paying their debts, even refusing to lend them any money. Eventually, the couple bankrupted themselves and fell into ruin, shortly followed by the death of Mr. Smith, approximately three years before the events of the novel. As Anne cares deeply for Mrs. Smith, this is a heavy blow to her impression of William.
Worse still, Mrs. Smith who shows Anne letters where he makes disrespectful and cruel comments about Sir Walter and Elizabeth, calling them boorish fools and openly stating how much he cannot stand them. Mrs. Smith also exposes that he only came to reconcile with the family because he heard rumors that Penelope Clay had been attempting to seduce Sir Walter into marrying her, putting his succession goals into jeopardy.
What makes William more interesting than just your average villain is that Mrs. Smith also makes a point to partially defend him: she assures Anne that William has genuinely come to appreciate the baronetcy, and that his attraction to Anne has always been real and sincere. Regardless, Anne is disgusted by Mr. Elliot's remarks about her family, and it is because of this that she no longer entertains their connection.
By reducing his character to a hot bimbo who Anne might choose but only if Wentworth doesn't get his act together, the film also prevents Anne's character from having one of her shining moments in the novel: her turning him down based not on social or familial pressures, but on his character. When Anne turns him down, she is making a statement that money, social status, and whether people will approve or disapprove of her decision is not as important to what kind of man is worthy of being her husband. Although this refused proposal does contrast her initial refusal to Wentworth's proposal in many ways, there is one main similarity: Anne's love for Wentworth did not keep her from refusing him for what she felt (and still feels) are sensible reasons; her refusal to Elliot is not because she loves Wentworth still (which she does), but because William's character is not worth the personal sacrifice. By all accounts, an engagement to William would be the perfect validation for her refusal of Wentworth all those years ago: William is rich, will inherit the baronetcy, finds Anne attractive and prefers her personality to her sister, and introduces the Elliots to people like Lady Dalrymple and her daughter--connections would only further their rise into Bath society; whereas at this time she believes Wentworth is practically engaged to Louisa and either despises of her or does not think on her at all. Why should she care if William dislikes her family but fakes niceties to their faces? Why should she care if he has left Mrs. Smith in the lurch? If character mattered more than all of that, what was the point of turning down Wentworth all those years ago when he was a good man, albeit a poor and titleless one? Go for it, girl!
But Anne does not go for it, because Anne does care. And not only does she care, she finds William's lack of good character to be a valid reason to refuse him. To summarize: Anne holds firm to her values and does not waver, even when doing so would be in her own best interest. This revelatory moment of her strength is so important to her characterization, and it makes her reunion with Wentworth all the sweeter of a reward. This is why its exclusion in the movie is so egregious, not only because it is a hero moment her badly written film counterpart sorely needed, but because the romance between Anne & Wentworth felt less earned. Not a great look, considering the film was HEAVILY resting on its rom-com status as an excuse for eviscerating the source material.
Onto another point: Movie!William getting MARRIED to Penelope Clay, of all people. Again, the text clearly supports a mutual attraction, but to insinuate that conniving, calculating William Elliot would literally + figuratively shrug off Plan A and then make Plan B full on marrying Penelope skipped the final chapter of the novel. As discussed previously, there is reason to believe Elliot was attracted to Anne and genuinely enjoyed her company; however, do not forget that his main goal in all of this is to ensure he inherits the baronetcy. As far as marriage prospects in the Elliot family goes, he has two options: Elizabeth and Anne. As to why he does not entertain Elizabeth, the simplest answer is that he hates her. The slightly less simple answer is that Anne would be by far the better wife: respectful, not frivolous with money, won't embarrass him in public or at social events, etc. (In the book anyway--the film version of Anne is incredibly embarrassing in public but luckily William missed her drunkenly announcing that her brother-in-law proposed to her first/mocking her ex with a jam mustache/screaming Wentworth's name out the window and then dumping plum juice on her head.) He already tried the "marry the woman who loves you when you don't love her back to get her money" thing with his first and now-deceased wife, so it makes sense he would avoid doing it again with Elizabeth if he can help it. Also, the Elliots have a title but also mountains of debt, and a good portion of that is due to Elizabeth's frivolous spending. Considering he gets the title as long as Sir Elliot has no sons, I can see why he sees the elder sister as not worth the trouble.
Speaking of "as long as Sir Elliot has no sons"... what we do know is that William's primary objective of hanging around Bath is to keep Penelope Clay away from Sir Elliot (Anne's father), so that she cannot marry him and produce any sons that would instead inherit the title. Anne herself worries about this and dislikes Penelope because of it, so the idea does have some merit.
As for his views on Penelope, William verbally trashes her to Anne (whether speaking honestly or to gain Anne's trust is unconfirmed) and yet also shows some attraction, so exactly how he feels about her remains unclear. As a poor widow with children, Penelope's only way to change her circumstances bar taking advantage of her friends' kindness is marrying up. That is why, in the novel, William's tactic to prevent her from doing so is to make her his mistress. Simple, efficient, and still keeping him free and single in case any better options make themselves known. And although the book remarks that Penelope may outwit him into marrying her eventually, it is clear that ay marriage between the two is not Plan B, C, or even D in William's mind. Seeing their wedding as the grand finale in the film felt extremely strange.
In conclusion, the film made fewer mistakes in regards to William Elliot but they heavily diluted his character to the point that important plot points and characterization arcs suffered as a result...and contributed to the erasure of other characters entirely. #justiceforMrsSmith
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