Book Review: Jane Austen's Mansfield Park
The Jane Austen Cycle: Mansfield Park
I've actually finished reading the book four days ago. But no matter, I'll quickly jot down some of my thoughts of this work.
I think Mansfield Park is perhaps the most underrated work of Austen's six novels. Maybe others didn't think so, but I certainly did unrated the work without reading it. Mansfield Park is so unlike the other Austen novels because it lacks a brilliant protagonist. In Pride and Prejudice, we have the unbelievably charming Elizabeth; in Emma, we have the lovely Emma ("faultless despite of her faults"); in Persuasion, we have the reflective Anne; in Sense and Sensibility, we have the contrasting sisters Marianne and Elinor; in Northanger Abbey, we have the comic mock protagonist Catherine.
Fanny of Mansfield Park is a girl with low self-confidence, lack of wit; but if anything compensates for this lack of brilliance, she is highly moral and self-conscious. Throughout the novel she displays a genuine moral virtue, which is to be admired. She certainly does not take charge in any of the actions in the novel; she is a very passive character from the beginning to the end. But her moral stance makes her active, in the sense that she actively defends her values. Women of the time is mostly a yes or no sayer; they are not encourage to ask questions. Most of the time women are expected to say yes, but several times Fanny makes her stance by saying no. I'm not sure if Austen wants us to like Fanny; on the other hand, I'm sure Austen doesn't want us to hate her. She wants us to pity her.
I say pity her because Mansfield Park is a novel that very subtly critiques the upperclass ideology at the time. Fanny is a victim of this ideology. Ever since she has moved into Mansfield she has internalized the superfical upperclass values: wit, virtue, learning, elegance, etc. The trouble is she does not realize that these values are not to be genuine; rather they are mere appearances. As Mary Crawford in the novel comments, if Henry (her brother) and Maria's extra-martial-affair is not caught, then they are perfectly fine as lovers. This, of course, absolutely shocks Fanny. But it doesn't shock us as readers (given that you are familiar with 18th/19th century upperclass culture), and Austen produces a very profound reflective affect for her 19th century readers.
The other passage that is very interesting, in which Austen displays her dazzling subtlety in critiquing the upperclass. When Fanny, nearing the end of the novel, revisits her old improvished family, she is disgusted by the manners of her family. She finds them vulgar and desparately wishes to return to Mansfield. She doesn't like the loudness and the vulgar words the family uses; she does not like the smallness and lack of taste of the rooms. What's ironic is that Austen has been criticizing Mansfield since the beginning of the novel. By making Fanny feel wanting to go back to Mansfield, even though Mansfield is hardly her home (as Fanny herself mentioned at the beginning of the novel) Austen effectively creates a post-colonial situtation for Fanny. Now, true enough, Fanny does marry Edmund and (supposedly) live happily ever after. But what about Susan, Fanny' sister, whom she brought to Mansfield at the end of the novel to effectively replace her? I do not know if there is or will be another Edmund. I certainly hope Susan does not turn into another one of George Eliot's Dorathea. Jane Austen is very subtle in her raising the question of the fate of Susan, completing her critique of upperclass ideology.
I've actually finished reading the book four days ago. But no matter, I'll quickly jot down some of my thoughts of this work.
I think Mansfield Park is perhaps the most underrated work of Austen's six novels. Maybe others didn't think so, but I certainly did unrated the work without reading it. Mansfield Park is so unlike the other Austen novels because it lacks a brilliant protagonist. In Pride and Prejudice, we have the unbelievably charming Elizabeth; in Emma, we have the lovely Emma ("faultless despite of her faults"); in Persuasion, we have the reflective Anne; in Sense and Sensibility, we have the contrasting sisters Marianne and Elinor; in Northanger Abbey, we have the comic mock protagonist Catherine.
Fanny of Mansfield Park is a girl with low self-confidence, lack of wit; but if anything compensates for this lack of brilliance, she is highly moral and self-conscious. Throughout the novel she displays a genuine moral virtue, which is to be admired. She certainly does not take charge in any of the actions in the novel; she is a very passive character from the beginning to the end. But her moral stance makes her active, in the sense that she actively defends her values. Women of the time is mostly a yes or no sayer; they are not encourage to ask questions. Most of the time women are expected to say yes, but several times Fanny makes her stance by saying no. I'm not sure if Austen wants us to like Fanny; on the other hand, I'm sure Austen doesn't want us to hate her. She wants us to pity her.
I say pity her because Mansfield Park is a novel that very subtly critiques the upperclass ideology at the time. Fanny is a victim of this ideology. Ever since she has moved into Mansfield she has internalized the superfical upperclass values: wit, virtue, learning, elegance, etc. The trouble is she does not realize that these values are not to be genuine; rather they are mere appearances. As Mary Crawford in the novel comments, if Henry (her brother) and Maria's extra-martial-affair is not caught, then they are perfectly fine as lovers. This, of course, absolutely shocks Fanny. But it doesn't shock us as readers (given that you are familiar with 18th/19th century upperclass culture), and Austen produces a very profound reflective affect for her 19th century readers.
The other passage that is very interesting, in which Austen displays her dazzling subtlety in critiquing the upperclass. When Fanny, nearing the end of the novel, revisits her old improvished family, she is disgusted by the manners of her family. She finds them vulgar and desparately wishes to return to Mansfield. She doesn't like the loudness and the vulgar words the family uses; she does not like the smallness and lack of taste of the rooms. What's ironic is that Austen has been criticizing Mansfield since the beginning of the novel. By making Fanny feel wanting to go back to Mansfield, even though Mansfield is hardly her home (as Fanny herself mentioned at the beginning of the novel) Austen effectively creates a post-colonial situtation for Fanny. Now, true enough, Fanny does marry Edmund and (supposedly) live happily ever after. But what about Susan, Fanny' sister, whom she brought to Mansfield at the end of the novel to effectively replace her? I do not know if there is or will be another Edmund. I certainly hope Susan does not turn into another one of George Eliot's Dorathea. Jane Austen is very subtle in her raising the question of the fate of Susan, completing her critique of upperclass ideology.
posted by Tristan at 12:05 p.m.
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