Fanny Price is one of the most
boring heroines in literature. She is
always good, always correct, and it seems that her only faults lie in being too
timid and being too easily fatigued.
Edmund Bertram is one of the least
interesting heroes in literature. He is
sincere, intentional, and sober. His
primary shortcoming seems to be thinking the best of people and making the most
of bad circumstances.
But isn’t real life and real
goodness more like this duo? Do they not
refute our human tendency to buy into bright personalities, to follow
confidence, to love foolishly? Isn’t it
hard to draw the line between dying to self and giving in to the pressures of
those less wise?
How are good people to resist the
allure of reforming their lovers? How
are good people to judge accurately?
While simultaneously facing these
dilemmas and illustrating them, Fanny
Price and Edmund Bertram move through the excitement of new connections in the
small neighborhood that has been their comfortable home. Over and over again you see the heroine and
hero making mistakes because of the things that influence their
perspectives. They doubt
themselves. They deceive
themselves. They reproach
themselves. They deny themselves.
And all through the plot,
following paths merely tangential to each other, they’re getting a chance to
discover the value of each other’s steady, reverential characters. So when the events conspire to divide them
from all the temptation of flattery, charm, and attraction, little wonder they
proceed to fall in love with unsatisfactory brevity and with a felicity the
envy of all their foolish relations.
To God be all glory.
exactly!
ReplyDeleteI love this about this book. The good seems boring and the bad seems fun.
I had a friend who read this book. She doesn't look at the world in black and white- bad and good. She hated Fanny and loved Mary. She thought it was strange that Edmund didn't stay with Mary and she thought Mary's advice to accept the adulterous duo at the end was good advice.
I tried to explain to her how they didn't want to condone certain sinful situations.
I love the part where you said, " The most charming characters are the ones who oppose the good. Mr. Henry Crawford and his sister Mary may not set out to be wicked, but they don’t try to be good. They try to seem good. They may even wish they were good. What good could be done with them if good people took them under wing, befriended them, taught, influenced, married them? "
We have to decide whether or not we marry unequally yoked or wait for marriage. Fanny knew that Henry wasn't the character he was trying to be. Mary mocked her a little bit for not accepting him and even blamed Fanny for Henry's sins. Blaming the innocent because the sinner sins.
Wow, Rachel! It never occurred to me that someone might miss the point in Mansfield Park. I don't like Fanny either, but at least I see that she was right and that Mary Crawford would not have been good for Edmund!
ReplyDeleteTo God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn
I think people read Mansfield Park quite differently - I've definitely read a few reviews that miss the point! I don't dislike Fanny but she is not the most fun character to be around. That isn't a massive criticism but it does mean I won't hurry back to read her story for a second time.
ReplyDeleteMy review: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen