Synopsis:
Adopted into the household of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, Fanny Price grows up a meek outsider among her cousins in the unaccustomed elegance of Mansfield Park. Soon after Sir Thomas absents himself on estate business in Antigua, Mary Crawford and her brother Henry arrive at Mansfield, bringing with them London glamour, and the seductive taste for flirtation and theatre that precipitates a crisis.
My thoughts:
Mansfield Park was a very interesting book to read.
What I like so well about Jane Austen’s female main characters is that they all differ so greatly from one another. Fanny Price was no exception. She differed greatly from Elinor, Marianne, Anne, Catherine, Elizabeth and Emma. I think she could be seen as the direct opposite of Emma.
Fanny Price is rather shy and outwardly reserved, yet at the same time she is extremely passionate and social around those familiar to her.
Mansfield Park is a very enjoyable read and it is mentioned often enough in literary lists, but in my opinion, not enough. Mansfield Park is a beautiful portrayal of the struggles women face when they have become of age and the struggle of marrying into a social class that differs from your own. The book began with a clear portrayal of this. The family history of Fanny Price is explained and the reader will notice that only the people who married below their status and class were truly happy. Poor, but happy.
“But there are certainly not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them.” (Austen, 3)
“But Miss Frances married, in the common phrase, to disoblige her family, and by fixing on a Lieutenant of Marines, without education, fortune or connections, did it very thoroughly.” (Austen, 3)
I feel like this idea goes back to the days of courtly love but then specifically, the days of peasantry in Chaucer’s time. People of a low social class were believed to marry for love and for carnal pleasure, and people (read: women) of a high social class were expected to marry for fortune and business prospects and apparently only copulated with their spouses in hopes to produce off-spring.
Families of a lower social standing seem to be larger in number. This is shown in Mansfield Park on several occasions. The Prices are a large family, the Betrams are of a smaller number, the Crawfords resemble a normal contemporary household, and the Norrises have no children at all.
Mansfield Park also discusses the struggles men face in trying to get a profession when coming from different social classes. Fanny Price’s brother for example, joins the Navy as well, having no other option. He needs to make money and provide for his family. Henry Crawford is a gentleman, who could choose to become a businessman, but does not seem inclined to do so. Tom Betram is obliged to follow in his father’s footsteps and take over the business. Edmund can choose between joining the clergy or becoming a lawyer. Of course men can work and earn a living which women cannot do, but Mansfield Park interestingly portrayed the struggles of middle to high-class men and their, dare I say it, forced, profession. Edmund clearly does not want to become a lawyer and has his heart set on becoming a member of the clergy, but is told on several occasions that it is uncommon for him to do so and that he would be wasting his talents and letting his family down, if he joins the Church. Tom Bertram does not have a choice at all. It is made for him.
Sometimes I forget to remember that relationships are different these days and that relationships between men and women, amorous or platonic, were so much more constricted back then. It is shown in multiple instances that women, but also men, did not really have the time to properly get to know one another before marrying one another.
Maria Bertram for example, marries Mr Rushworth while in love with Henry Crawford and comes to regret her decision to do so when she meets Mr Crawford again. She even runs of with Mr Crawford near the end of the book. The pressure of marrying into a good family, or fortune or social standing forces women to see marriage as a business transaction. Marrying is not just a matter between two parties, the family is always involved in the matter.
Mansfield Park showed this with the Bertrams. Everything the Misses Bertrams did, reflected positively or negatively on the reputation of the family.
Mansfield Park also challenges the idea of traditional family and home. Fanny Price is a cousin of the Bertrams, and treated at first as a stranger when she arrives, but slowly, the Bertrams begin to see and treat Fanny as a part of their family and home. When Fanny is sent back to her true home and family, she feels no ties and seems to be unwelcome and forgotten. This was interesting to see as most novels always stress the importance of parental ties and romanticize the physical idea of what to call ‘home’. In Mansfield Park Fanny sees Mansfield Park and its inhabitants as her home and family and as mentioned before, does not feel at home with her family at her parental house.
Fanny Price was an interesting character. She was easily manipulated and often ordered to do things against her will. Which she minded at times more than others. Despite her “weak” nature, there was a strength in her character. The depth of her emotions made her very memorable and it was easy to put yourself in her shoes. Fanny is easily manipulated but is also steadfast. When the inhabitants and visitors of Mansfield Park want to perform a play, Fanny puts her foot down and refuses to participate in the shenanigans of the others.
This is the only time when Fanny is unwavering in her decision. There is also the instance when she is gifted a cross by her brother and she has no chain to wear it on. Mary Crawford offers Fanny one of her chains and Fanny, after refusing several times, ends up accepting the chain Mary presents to her. When she later on finds out that it was actually a gift from Henry Crawford, a man she despises, she is pressured to wear it any way, even when she has made it clear that she does not want to do so.
The other characters in the book were inconsistent, they continuously made up their minds, had fickle emotional displays and did not seem to learn from their mistakes. Ironically, Fanny’s character seemed to be much stronger, steadfast, mature and resilient than that of the other characters, while she is introduced to be weak and easily complying to accost others.
Cited works:
Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park. Penguin English Library, 2012.
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