Elizabeth is the character I most dislike in “Persuasion.” Sir Walter, puffed up as he is about his own importance, makes me laugh, while Elizabeth always irritates me somehow. When reading about her, it struck me that I always had to stop and remind myself that Elizabeth and not Anne, is the eldest sister. To me Elizabeth never acts as the eldest daughter should, excepting the fact of her ably discharging the official dudies, accompanying her father to social outings and the like. She even failed to suggest any real motive for economizing when her father at last told her of the financial difficulty he found himself in.