Mansfield Park

Renowned English novelist Jane Austen published her third novel, Mansfield Park, in 1814. Despite the sensational reception that her first two published novels, Sense and Sensibility and especially Pride and Prejudice, received, Mansfield Park was met tepidly. As Austen herself pointed out, the novel was a departure from her previous work—Austen herself described it as “not half so entertaining” as Pride and Prejudice in a letter to her brother (primarily because its protagonist Fanny Price lacked the sparkling wit and insight of previous main characters). Nevertheless, Mansfield Park is now known to have been Austen’s favorite of her own works and has—like all of Austen’s novels—been adapted many times into movies, TV series, and opera, among other media.

Despite coming from a higher social status, Fanny’s mother married beneath her station—her husband is a former sailor who has a disability and cannot find work. Fanny is born in the city of Portsmouth to the large and relatively impoverished Price family. When Fanny is 10 years old, her parents, to lessen their load, send her to live with her mother’s sister, who married the rich Sir Thomas Bertram and now lives at a country estate called Mansfield Park.

Fanny’s early years at Mansfield Park are miserable. The Bertrams ignore her; their daughters—snobby and selfish Maria and Julia—are mean to her; their eldest son Tom is a bully with an alcohol addiction; and her mother’s other sister Mrs. Norris, the wife of a nearby parson, is abusive and cruel. Only the youngest Bertram son, Edmund, who aspires to become a clergyman, treats Fanny with kindness. Things deteriorate when Mrs. Norris becomes a widow and essentially moves into Mansfield Park. At the same time, Sir Thomas—whose presence in the novel is minimal—leaves to manage his plantation in Antigua. Mrs. Norris dotes on Maria and Julia, whose main preoccupation is marrying well, and despises the quiet and self-effacing Fanny for being the product of her mother’s ill-advised marriage.

When Fanny is 16, the lively and attractive young Londoners Mary Crawford and her brother Henry arrive at the town of Mansfield to visit their relatives—the new parson and his wife—and soon befriend the Bertrams. Mary is often described as a dark version of Austen’s previous heroines, with the sparkling wit and insight of Pride and Prejudice’s Lizzie Bennett but seen in a deeply negative light by Fanny.

Although Maria is engaged to the ridiculous but wealthy Mr. Rushworth, Henry flirts with her and Julia—behavior that stokes conflict, as Julia is bitterly jealous of her sister, while Maria’s mistreatment of Mr. Rushworth endangers the relationship. Meanwhile, Mary, who is interested in Tom but switches her attention to Edmund when Tom rebuffs her, scoffs at Edmund’s religious calling while charming him into tentatively accepting her attention. Fanny, as always, worries and judges as an observer of these events; she fears that only she can see the Crawfords are manipulative and impious. It is clear to the readers that Fanny is in love with Edmund, though she is not aware of it.

For entertainment, the young people organize an amateur theatrical, putting on the play Lovers’ Vows. Edmund objects—believing the play to be too coarse and that Sir Thomas would never allow his daughters to act out such a thing. However, Mary convinces Edmund to join the play, playing her character’s love interest. Fanny is appalled by the idea of acting, as it seems too much like lying. As rehearsals are in full swing, Sir Thomas suddenly and unexpectedly returns from Antigua and forbids the play to continue.

Maria marries Mr. Rushworth and moves to London with him and Julia, and Sir Thomas encourages Fanny to become closer to Mary, whom he sees as a positive influence on the reserved and overly serious Fanny. Edmund, who has fallen in love with Mary, tells Fanny that he is often on the verge of proposing, though Mary’s sarcastic and often irreligious jokes get in the way. Henry, meanwhile, decides to amuse himself by making Fanny fall for him—though the plan backfires, as he falls in love with her himself.

When Fanny’s brother William, an aspiring sailor, visits Mansfield Park, the Bertrams throw a ball in Fanny’s honor. At the ball, Mary definitively tells Edmund that she would never marry a clergyman; devastated, he resolves not to propose. To indirectly woo Fanny, Henry uses his connections to get William a Navy promotion, but Fanny nevertheless rejects Henry’s proposal because she has seen how he typically treats women. Shocked that his niece would throw away the opportunity to marry such a wealthy man, Sir Thomas sends Fanny back to Portsmouth as a kind of lesson on what her life would be without money.

Fanny cannot help but be horrified by her family’s house, which is dirty, chaotic, and lacking in every convenience that Mansfield Park residents take for granted. Slightly softened towards Henry, Fanny forces herself to see his good qualities—charm, attractiveness, and intellect—as Mary sends her letters urging her to accept Henry’s proposal. Similarly, Edmund considers abandoning his vocation to be with Mary.

The novel’s ending is precipitously full of action, especially considering its previous pace. Tom almost dies after falling off his horse after drinking excessively; Henry and Maria run off together to have an affair that becomes public; Mr. Rushworth sues for divorce, thus adding more fuel to the scandal; Julia elopes as a way to upstage Maria; and Edmund finally sees Mary’s true amoral colors when Mary admits that she hoped Tom would die so Edmund would become heir. She further admits that she doesn’t mind Henry and Maria’s extramarital affair itself—only the fact that it’s gotten into the newspapers.

Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram are devastated—their good name and reputation have been dragged through the mud, and most of their children are disappointments. Only Fanny is their comfort—Sir Thomas now sees her as a daughter. Just desserts are handed out to all. Mary is kicked out of Mansfield Park. Henry leaves the spoiled Maria, who is forced to flee to the continent where she lives with the hateful Mrs. Norris. Edmund is distraught about Mary, but as Fanny consoles him, they realize their mutual love and decide to get married. Edmund will be the new parson in Mansfield, where the couple will live with Fanny’s younger—and most full of potential—sister Susan.