Mansfield Park is one of those books I'd always wanted to read but for some reason had never gotten around to (let's be honest, I have a lot of those). Earlier this week though, I left the book I'd been reading at home, which required an impromptu trip to a used bookstore to acquire a replacement. It was there that I came across the prettiest cover of Mansfield Park and decided it was the perfect occasion to give Jane Austen a try again.
I'd heard a bit about Fanny (mostly, I've seen her typed as an INFP , which is my Myers Briggs personality type also) that already made me a fan of her. So I was excited to read it, and you could say my expectations were high.
Jane Austen has yet to let me down. As expected, the story was addicting and I had a really hard time setting the book down. I read the whole thing in three days and stayed up past my bedtime finishing. But that's not to say Mansfield Park was everything I expected.
The story of Mansfield Park follows young Fanny Price (who is 18 or 19 for most of the book's events) as she is sent to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle. She isn't treated badly, exactly - not in comparison to characters such as Jane Eyre, anyway. But she isn't treated all that kindly either. Because of her mother's inferior social class, she is always seen as less than her cousins and purposefully excluded from much of their education and entertainment. It all serves to make Fanny very timid and shy, and her sensitive nature only adds to that (a true INFP for sure).
One person in the family continually goes out of his way to make Fanny feel included however, and wow does Jane Austen know how to write a good leading guy. Edmund, Fanny's cousin, protects her from the start, and so it isn't any wonder Fanny eventually falls in love with him (remember, these were acceptable times for falling in love with your cousin).
The rest of the novel follows the events that occur when two visitors arrive at Mansfield Park and cause drama for everyone in the family. I'll leave it there as to avoid spoilers, but I will say it was around this time that the book got quite difficult to put down.
Though I truly did love the story, and especially the love story, I did have one major issue with the book, and it had to do with Fanny's character. I can always root for a timid, modest character who always does the right thing (those tend to be my favorite characters actually). But I think it's fair to say Fanny was too timid. This would have been okay, however, had she overcome that timidity by the end of the book, especially when it came to doing something to secure the one thing she wanted more than anything.
In the end things worked out for Fanny in a way, but it was all mostly due to happenstance. She did absolutely nothing to fight for what she wanted other than refuse something she didn't want. I spent much of the novel waiting for Fanny to grow as a character, but quite frankly, she never did. Her heart was always in the right place, as were her principles, and somehow fate (Jane Austen?) rewarded her for it. But what I would have really loved to have seen is Fanny do something that showed a belief in herself. Most other Austenian heroines learned a major lesson by the end of their book, so I don't really understand why Fanny didn't get one too.
All that to say, I do think the few movie adaptations of Mansfield Park don't do her justice either by taking her timidity and shyness away completely. Here's where my defense of Fanny comes in. It's quite possible to have a strong character who is also very timid and modest, and Fanny could have been the perfect example of that. I wish the adaptations gave her book version more of a chance, though perhaps with a modified ending where Fanny does a bit more to secure her happiness.
Rating: 4/5 stars
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