Mansfield Park - from Annette

I was expecting to like Mansfield Park better than I did. I'm glad I read it. I always enjoying hearing Jane's voice but I didn't find this as satisfying as Pride, Emma, or Sense. There were times when frankly...I skimmed paragraphs....I know horrifying...but it was either that or fall asleep or worse, give up. I just thought that there was more narration and less action/dialogue than I would have liked. And i believe in some cases, she could have achieved the same effect with less narration.

Favorite characters?: Fanny, of course, Edmund (although he was amazingly dense at times!), William, and eventually Mr. Bertram (the elder) who I believe was the character who made the most "growth" of all of them.

Least favorite: Mrs. Norris...Jane gave her a wonderfully gawdawful "voice". So proper, so insipidly vacuous. ugggh.



1. Though it was very successful, Jane Austen deemed Pride and Prejudice "rather too light." Austen hoped to address more serious issues in her next novel, Mansfield Park. Many readers and critics think Mansfield Park is Austen's most serious and most profound novel. How does it differ from other Austen novels? How are her treatments of class, gender, relationships, and most especially, faith, more nuanced and more mature?

It is more serious than Pride and Prejudice, but I enjoyed P and P much more. I felt that Jane was preaching at me more in this book that its style was not just more serious but more heavy handed. . There were times when she describes interactions and conversations as opposed to relaying them...I found it much harder to pay attention frankly. I felt that she was wielding a much bigger hammer when a smaller one would do...but perhaps at the time it was written a BIG one was needed? What she has to say isn't as shocking or revelatory now than it would have been then. Perhaps that is a difference. I can't talk about the "nuance/mature" question because its been a couple of years since I read P and P.





2. Describe the social positions of the three Ward sisters: Lady Bertram, Mrs. Norris, and Mrs. Price. How did they arrive at such different circumstances and how have their circumstances presumably affect their personalities? How do the sisters treat each other and how much of this is a result of their respective status?

hmmm...they arrived where they are by their choice of who they married. And that has defined what class they inhabit, the amount of financial security, and the extent of leisure they possess. Lady Bertram has the luxury of idleness and self-centerness...it is in fact not just tolerated but encouraged at least by some. Mrs. Norris...well I believe she was a piece of work from birth...the fact she didn't have children of her own probably makes her more meddlesome than she might have been...but I don't know...she pretty much likes to tell the world how it should be. Mrs. Price...well...her life became a struggle and remains a struggle. No room for lofty thoughts, self-edification, or much else.


3. Describe the family's feelings for Fanny as the novel develops. How does the treatment of Fanny by Mrs. Norris and the Bertram sisters distinguish her from the rest of the children? How does Fanny feel about the Bertrams and how do her feelings change?



Edmund is the only one who attempts to see Fanny as Fanny...worthy of attention and care. Mrs. Norris and the sisters see her at best as a "project" or as something that should make them feel superior for being so charitable to her. They do not view her as an equal in class or in person. Fanny is at first afraid and in awe of them. I believe as time passes she sees them more clearly but she always seems to keep to "her place" as would "be proper"...but I do think she begins to see them more 3 dimensionally.



4. Mansfield Park was divided into three volumes, published separately. Why do you think Austen chose this structure, and how does it affect your reading of the book?

I wasn't aware of it...so it didn't affect the reading of the book at all. I'm not sure why it would?



5. From the moment the idea is suggested, Edmund is against the staging of a play. Why is the play seen as inappropriate by both Edmund and Fanny? Why, once it is decided upon, does Edmund accept a part in the play, even though he would appear a hypocrite? What is the significance of their choice of plays, Lover's Vows?



I must admit...from my viewpoint in the "Modern" future...it took me awhile to figure out what the fuss was all about for Edmund and Fanny. But I think it boils down to that Edmund didn't believe acting was a suitable activity for the women. I think he also felt it was too "frivilous"...but I don't think that was the main concern. Edmund taking part in the play was somewhat of a "necessary evil" in that it kept someone (was it Yates? I can't remember) who he felt completely inappropriate from acting and interacting with his sisters in the play.





6. Describe the similarities and differences between the courtship of Edmund and Mary and that of Fanny and Henry. What are the stumbling blocks in these two courtships that cause them to fail? To what extent were the trials of these courtships



Fundamentally Edmund and Fanny viewed the world (what was important, values, propriety etc) very differently than Mary and Henry. Fanny knew this all along....Edmund for whatever reasons had difficulty seeing this of Mary.



I look forward to hearing what eveyrone else has to say.