Discuss the impact of the past upon the present in both "Persuasion" by Jane Austen and "The Magic Toyshop" by Angela Carter, from the point of view of both characterisation and plot.

In both Persuasion by Jane Austen and Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop, the past has significance both in terms of characterisation and of plot. Persuasion focuses on a renewal of an old love between the main character, Anne Elliot, and Captain Frederick Wentworth. Eight years before Anne accepted a marriage proposal from Wentworth thinking of nothing but her love for him. However, she is persuaded by her friend and mentor not to marry him, her …

…on. She is growing into something that she would never have done if her parents had lived. Her ending is only just a beginning. Persuasion has more of an ending conventionally. Anne is happy, her past is restored and she looks forward to a life with Wentworth. So through this regeneration of her past the unhappy chapter of her life ends, while with Melanie the separation of her from her past sparks a new beginning.