Mansfield Park
Review: Mansfield Park is a novel by Jane Austen. Fanny Price, niece of Lady Bertram, is brought to live at Mansfield Park, owned by her aunt, Lady Bertram and Sir Thomas Bertram. The Bertrams have two daughters, Maria and Julia, and two sons, Tom and Edmund. Of her cousins, it is only Edmund who Fanny finds friendly. Sir Thomas has always impressed on his children the need for manners and social accomplishments. When Sir Thomas leaves home for the West Indies on business, the children plan to stage a play, 'Lovers' Vows' by Elizabeth Inchbald. In this play they engage in self-indulgent flirtations. Fanny is not a willing participant. Maria is attracted to Henry Crawford but she is already engaged to Mr Rushworth. Edmund Bertram likes Mary, Henry's sister. Maria decides to marry Rushworth. Henry turns his attention to Fanny but she refuses his proposal. Sir Thomas, now back at Mansfield, is displeased by her decision. Fanny goes to visit her own family in Portsmouth. Annoyed by the noise and disorder in her father's house, she misses Mansfield Park. Meanwhile, Tom got very ill from carefree partying. Maria, now Mrs Rushworth, runs off with Henry Crawford. Julia, on the other hand, elopes with a Mr Yates, Tom's friend. Fanny goes back to Mansfield but bringing along Susan, her younger sister. Edmund, who has taken orders to be a clergyman, is rejected by Mary Crawford as she has no desire a minister's wife. Fanny along with Susan, nurses her sick aunt back to health and also helps Tom. Edmund calls it off with Mary when he realized that she supported Henry and Maria, hoped for Tom to die so that Edmund could be heir, and also bore ill will to Fanny. Edmund realises it has always been the qualities of Fanny he wants. Edmund and Fanny eventually marries. Maria and Henry separates, and along with her infant daughter from Henry, settles in Scotland. Julia and Yates are reconciled to the family. Susan is taken to live with the Bertrams like their own daughter. As in any Jane Austen novels, in the end, the heroine lives happily ever after.
Category: Books
Additional Info: 4 stars