Take Austen's Persuasion.
The Romeo & Juliet tension here is between a squire's daughter (Anne is further up the social scale from both Elizabeth and from Darcy) and a captain from a gentleman's family. Since the Napoleonic Wars began, sailors have risen in people's estimation. Several years earlier, Anne's albeit pompous father would never have deigned to address a navy man. Now, Anne and Captain Wentworth's courtship is acceptable. But there is still a sense of two people from two different worlds trying to find common ground. Would Anne truly be able to adjust to a non-manorial, sea captain's lifestyle?
Mrs. Croft's honest monologue at the Musgroves
addresses and resolves the issue. In Persuasion (1995),
this speech is delivered by Fiona Shaw. As she speaks, her husband
(played by the excellent John Woodvine) listens with an intimate smile
on his face. One comes away convinced that yes, a marriage between
someone as matter-of-fact as Mrs. Croft (like Anne) and a rough sailor
like Admiral Croft can work, no matter the differences:I have crossed the Atlantic four times, and have been once to the East Indies, and back again . . . and I can safely say that the happiest part of my life has been spent on board a ship. While we were together, you know, there was nothing to be feared. Thank God! I have always been blessed with excellent health, and no climate disagrees with me. A little disordered always the first twenty-four hours of going to sea, but never knew what sickness was afterwards. The only time I ever really suffered in body or mind, the only time that I ever fancied myself unwell, or had any ideas of danger, was the winter that I passed by myself at Deal, when the Admiral (Captain Croft then) was in the North Seas. I lived in perpetual fright at that time, and had all manner of imaginary complaints from not knowing what to do with myself, or when I should hear from him next; but as long as we could be together, nothing ever ailed me, and I never met with the smallest inconvenience.
