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Fanny Price is born to a poor family, but is sent to her mother's rich relations to be brought up with her cousins. There she is treated as an inferior by all except her cousin Edmund, whose kindness towards her earns him her steadfast love. Fanny is quiet and obedient and does not come into her own until her elder cousins leave the estate following a scandalous play put on in their father's absence. Fanny's loyalty and love is tested by the beautiful Crawford siblings. But their essentially weak natures and morals show them for what they really are, and allow Fanny to gain the one thing she truly desires.
Modern sensibilities do get in the way of our sympathies for various characters. Fanny is too staid and her touted moral good sense, rooted in the values of the English aristocracy not quite so appealing as that might once have been and even a little intimidating to 21st century squishy moralists.
Mr. Crawford seems like the creep he is intended to be, but his sister, Mary Crawford, has a modern and feminist bent that makes her appealing despite her rather utilitarian deployment of morals.
Pride and Prejudice is still the one! It combines Mary's vivacity and appeal with Fanny's (mostly) sound judgment. And unlike Fanny who seems to have sprung from the womb a perfectly morally formed being, Elizabeth Bennet is self-possessed and assured but also able to change to become a better Lizzy by the end. She feels like the heroine we want and want to love. ( )
I love Jane Austen and have read all her novels. I have enjoyed each and every one. My only comment is that I have yet to see a movie/ tv version of Mansfield Park to do it justice. ( )
This is my third favorite Austen novel after Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility. I'm happy that Fanny's life becomes all she deserves by the end. ( )
About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet's lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income.
Quotations
But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them.
It is Fanny that I think of all day and dream of all night.
Last words
On that event they removed to Mansfield, and the parsonage there, which under each of its two former owners, Fanny had never been able to approach but with some painful sensation of restraint or alarm, soon grew as dear to her heart, and as thoroughly perfect in her eyes, as every thing else, within the view and patronage of Mansfield Park, had long been.
Fanny Price is born to a poor family, but is sent to her mother's rich relations to be brought up with her cousins. There she is treated as an inferior by all except her cousin Edmund, whose kindness towards her earns him her steadfast love. Fanny is quiet and obedient and does not come into her own until her elder cousins leave the estate following a scandalous play put on in their father's absence. Fanny's loyalty and love is tested by the beautiful Crawford siblings. But their essentially weak natures and morals show them for what they really are, and allow Fanny to gain the one thing she truly desires.
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Book description
Adopted by the rich Bertrams, Fanny finds her bold cousins are daunting, her aunts and the remote Sir Thomas intimidating. Only thoughtful Edmund recognises her qualities and helps to improve her lot. But when the delightful Mr and Miss Crawford arrive to enliven the family group, even he dismisses Fanny's reservations. At first all is excitement and pleasure. Gradually, however, the effects of recklessness and selfishness accumulate. As Fanny's unswerving integrity and quiet strength become the support of the shattered family, she finds a happiness she could not have anticipated. While displaying the sparkle and clarity for which Jane Austen is renowned, the tone here is often sober and uncompromising. The issues of probity and responsibility are explored, alongside the often unhappy complexities of family life, in a considerable and profoundly satisfying novel.
Haiku summary
A maid of pure heart, Enduring persecution, Her wisdom triumphs. (hillaryrose7)
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Discussion Thread: Mansfield Park
Wikipedia in English (1)
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Mr. Crawford seems like the creep he is intended to be, but his sister, Mary Crawford, has a modern and feminist bent that makes her appealing despite her rather utilitarian deployment of morals.
Pride and Prejudice is still the one! It combines Mary's vivacity and appeal with Fanny's (mostly) sound judgment. And unlike Fanny who seems to have sprung from the womb a perfectly morally formed being, Elizabeth Bennet is self-possessed and assured but also able to change to become a better Lizzy by the end. She feels like the heroine we want and want to love. (