In Persuasion, Austen presents the epitome of England during the Regency Era from 1811 to 1820 with a society focusing on social niceties as well as surface appearances that were believed to signify status and the minimum but still existing social advancement.

The Regency Era, during which Persuasion was written and published, was known for its position as the transition between the industrializing Georgian Era and the aesthetic Victorian Era. England initially entered the phase of industrialization during the late 1770s of the Georgian Era. As types of machinery generated unprecedented prosperity for corporate businesses and manufacturing industries, class divisions intensified as the wealthy gained leverage from the decrease in demand for human labor, and the urban poor suffered as work became replaceable after Eli Whitney’s concept of interchangeable parts. Poor living conditions resulted in the prevailing sentiments of rationalism that pessimistically marked social mobility as impossible and pragmatism as the most important value. 

The Regency Era, however, signified a shift away from rationalism towards romanticism, and the growth of Romantic emphasis was evident in Austen's writing. Romanticism involved the pursuit of aesthetic beauty that presented itself on the surface. Appearances and mindsets were believed to be tightly connected, as Anne believed her loss of beauty was an outward manifestation of her regrets and that Captain Wentworth maintained his handsome looks because of his current happiness. Austen implicitly argued against this Romantic conviction that the surface niceties indicate more than just appearances by revealing how Captain Wentworth was equally distraught by his separation from Anne and that the niceties he retained, such as his polite manners and outstanding features, were nothing to suggest his true depressed mind. Contending against the surface niceties that the Regency Era upheld, Austen further explained how appearances, rather than revealing minds, were evidence of people’s obsessions with class and the vanity of beauty. Sir Elliot and Elizabeth were the caricatures that Austen condemned for placing sole attention on surface appearances, as they ignorantly believed that such niceties were indicative of social status. In this way, Austen created Elizabeth as a foil for Anne in the fact that when judging people, Anne valued character the most, whilst Elizabeth placed appearance before everything else (volume 5.15-5.16). When Anne worried over the impropriety of Mrs. Clay becoming a prospective new wife of Sir Elliot, Elizabeth absent-mindedly claimed that Clay was simply not handsome enough for this possibility. Similar to Elizabeth, Sir Elliot was obsessed with appearances and delighted himself with his innate, handsome features. He was implicitly condemned by Austen for his vanity, which began and ended only with things he had since birth: beauty and rank (volume 1.6). Though Sir Elliot continuously proclaimed how surface niceties suggest social class, Austen flipped the accuracy of this claim common to the Regency Era by writing about Sir Elliot’s contradictory attitudes toward Captain Wentworth’s gain of status through his naval career. Sir Elliot despised Captain Wentworth for his escalation up the social ladder through his hard work because Elliot was bigoted about how birth should determine one’s rank. This class snobbery was then presented to be half-witted as he contradictorily believed that beauty could be an avenue for social advancement but discredited other forms of social mobility. 

A positive aspect of the Romantic-becoming Regency Era was highlighted by how social mobility became more feasible than in the Georgian Era. A new idea of what defined a gentleman was introduced: self-made men who earned their social rank and wealth not by birth but by their careers. While Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice was the exemplar of a gentleman whose privileges were given since birth, Captain Wentworth and Admiral Croft were the typical self-made gentleman whose material comfort was given by their successful naval career. However, class rigidity was not completely diminished in the Regency Era since the original definition of a gentleman remained in place, as proven by Sir Elliot’s existence. Captain Wentworth and Admiral Croft were both characterized by refined manners and welcoming presence, but the social rank they resided in was still lower than that of the unworking, narcissistic Sir Elliot. Even though Austen presented the increasing flexibility of the definition of “gentleman,” the titled men of aristocratic birth and land-owning names were still positioned above the hardworking naval officers who created their fortunes. Austen remained ambivalent about class rigidity and social mobility: she did not assume the position of a revolutionary who opposed social classes at all causes demonstrated by how the main character Anne, painted as an intelligent and ideal lady of Austen’s time, was repelled by the possibility that the low-classed Mrs. Clay would heighten her social class through the marriage with Sir Elliot. However, despite accepting the rigid traditions of social structure and being at times subversive towards social flexibility, Austen recognized the benefits of social mobility by creating the characters of Captain Wentworth and Admiral Croft with praise for their character and granting them a happy ending of merry marriages and successful professions. 

Austen depicted the typical England during the Regency Era, which lasted from 1811 to 1820, in Persuasion, with a society centered on social niceties that communicate emphasis on appearances and the growth of social mobility. Austen was not a revolutionary nor did she fully endorse the traditional values of old England, and through Persuasion, her multifaceted attitudes about the early 19th century society were portrayed exhaustively.