Crippled

Crippled is a physical state in Persuasion that afflicts Mrs. Smith, rendering her a poor, helpless widow confined to a noisy parlour and dark bedroom in Westgate Buildings, Bath, and unable to move without assistance. The condition is the result of a severe rheumatic fever that settled in her legs, and it defines her social isolation, economic hardship, and dependence on the kindness of others, while also revealing her remarkable resilience and cheerfulness.

Origin and Nature of the Condition

Mrs. Smith's crippled state arose from a severe rheumatic fever that, after settling in her legs, made her for the present a cripple. She came to Bath on that account, living in a very humble way, unable even to afford herself the comfort of a servant, and of course almost excluded from society. Her accommodations were limited to a noisy parlour and a dark bedroom behind, with no possibility of moving from one to the other without assistance, which there was only one servant in the house to afford, and she never quitted the house but to be conveyed into the warm bath. The condition was not merely a physical limitation but a comprehensive social and economic catastrophe, stripping her of mobility, independence, and the ordinary pleasures of human intercourse.

Contrast with Other Forms of Physical Impairment

The novel presents crippled as a state distinct from other physical impairments. Admiral Croft is thought to be gouty, a condition that brings him to Bath but does not confine him; he is ordered to walk to keep off the gout, and Mrs. Croft seems to go shares with him in everything, walking for her life to do him good. Captain Harville is a little lame from a severe wound received two years before, but his lameness does not prevent him from taking exercise or from being a perfect gentleman, unaffected, warm, and obliging. Louisa Musgrove's fall from the Cobb produces a severe contusion to the head, leaving her for a time with her eyes closed, not breathing, her face like death, and later with a weak head and susceptible nerves, but she is not crippled. Mrs. Smith's condition is more permanent and more total, a complete loss of the power to move independently.

Mrs. Smith's Response to Her Condition

Despite her crippled state, Mrs. Smith displays a remarkable elasticity of mind, a disposition to be comforted, and a power of turning readily from evil to good. Anne observes that this is not a case of fortitude or of resignation only; a submissive spirit might be patient, a strong understanding would supply resolution, but here was something more: the choicest gift of Heaven. Mrs. Smith herself recounts that there had been a time when her spirits had nearly failed, particularly when she first reached Bath, caught cold on the journey, and was again confined to her bed suffering under severe and constant pain, all among strangers with the absolute necessity of having a regular nurse and finances at that moment particularly unfit to meet any extraordinary expense. She weathered it, however, and could truly say that it had done her good, increasing her comforts by making her feel herself to be in good hands. She learned to knit from her nurse, and through Nurse Rooke's professional acquaintance, she disposed of her merchandise—little thread-cases, pin-cushions and card-racks—which supplied her with the means of doing a little good to one or two very poor families in the neighbourhood.

Narrative Significance

Mrs. Smith's crippled state serves as a crucial narrative device. It is her physical confinement that makes her dependent on Nurse Rooke for news, and it is through Nurse Rooke that she learns of Mr. Elliot's true character and his designs on Anne. Her condition also makes her a sympathetic figure, one whose past kindness to Anne at school is now repaid by Anne's visits, and whose eventual recovery of her husband's property in the West Indies is secured by Captain Wentworth's active assistance. The crippled state thus becomes not merely a personal tragedy but a catalyst for revelation and for the demonstration of true friendship and love.