Mansfield Park centres on Fanny Price, a 'timid, doubting, anxious' girl. She is taken away from her large family and poor circumstances, and raised by her rich uncle and aunt at their stately home, Mansfield Park. At the end of the novel, Fanny is 18 and considering the options of marrying quickly for money and status, or waiting for kindness and love.

The Author

Jane Austen was born in 1775 in Hampshire. She had five brothers and a sister, so there was a limited amount of financial support that her parents could provide to them all. Given the limited career options for women at that time, it was considered that her best hope for financial stability was to marry. In 1795/6, she attended balls and spent time with a man named Tom Lefroy. However, he went abroad in January 1796 so their flirtations did not lead to marriage. The Austen family had relatives in the city of Bath, so they visited occasionally, and moved there in 1800 after her father retired as a rector. In 1802 Jane received a marriage proposal, from the wealthy but difficult Harris Bigg-Wither. She initially accepted, but withdrew her acceptance the following day.

Writing novels was a way for women to earn money, although it was considered to be more suitable as a hobby rather than a profession. Jane had been writing stories and poems from an early age. Her first published novel was Sense and Sensibility - it appeared in 1811, with the author named as 'A Lady'. Pride and Prejudice appeared in 1813, followed by Mansfield Park in 1814 and Emma in 1816. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously in 1818 (Jane died in 1817 and was buried at Winchester Cathedral).

Sisters

The story begins with the family history of three sisters. Miss Maria Ward married Sir Thomas Bertram of Mansfield Park, and gained the title of 'Lady' as well as 'an handsome house and large income'. Her older sister married Mr Norris, a clergyman 'with scarcely any private fortune' - Sir Thomas was able to arrange for Mr Norris to be employed in Mansfield. Her other sister Fanny married a lieutenant, Mr Price, 'to disoblige her family' - we meet her after her husband has become disabled and she is pregnant with her ninth child¹. To help Fanny, it is decided that her oldest daughter (also named Fanny) should be taken to live with Maria and her four children (Tom aged 17, Edmund aged 16, Maria aged 13 and Julia aged 12).

Aged ten, Fanny is described as 'somewhat delicate and puny'. Homesick at first, she is comforted by Edmund and begins to settle in. She takes lessons alongside Maria and Julia, but is considered 'ignorant' because her previous education had focused on basic reading and writing, rather than art, history or geography². To build up her strength, Edmund provides her with a horse, even though Aunt Norris is not sure it would be proper for her, given her poorer family background. Fanny then becomes the companion of her Aunt Bertram, especially looking after her when Sir Thomas is away on business.

Some years later, the arrival in Mansfield of a new clergyman, Dr Grant, his wife and his wife's siblings, disrupts the settled scene. Maria is engaged to be married, but is captivated by Mrs Grant's half brother Henry Crawford. Henry's sister Mary has set her sights on Tom, as the heir to a baronetcy, but Edmund falls in love with her. Fanny is not impressed by Henry, so he resolves to make her fall in love with him in two weeks and 'feel when I go away that she shall be never happy again'. Will they succeed in their plans, or will events send them in different directions?

Main Characters

The characters in the novel include the Bertram, Norris and Price families and their network of friends and acquaintances.

Fanny Price

Fanny is frequently reminded that, although she lives in Sir Thomas's house, she is not the equal of her cousins. She is expected to be grateful for an offer of marriage, even if she doesn't love the proposer. However, although she is quiet and reserved, she is not without feelings - her love for Edmund Bertram is second only to her love for her brother William.

Lady Maria and Sir Thomas Bertram

Sir Thomas is a generous man, using his fortune to help his family as best he can. To his children he 'was no object of love to them; he had never seemed the friend of their pleasures'. However, he shows kindness in his own way, and eventually grows fond of 'his dear Fanny'.

Lady Bertram is 'a woman who spent her days in sitting, nicely dressed, on a sofa, doing some long piece of needlework, of little use and no beauty, thinking more of her pug than her children'.

Mrs Norris

As a clergyman's wife, Mrs Norris is not wealthy, and lives frugally to save money. She expects others to live frugally, too, and is particularly keen to ensure that Fanny experiences fewer luxuries than her cousins. She begrudges Fanny carriage rides and does not even allow Fanny to have a fire in her room in winter. She is good at 'spunging' - for example, one summer she obtains free cheese and eggs from the housekeeper at a nearby stately home.

Edmund Bertram

Edmund is kind and thoughtful, and well suited to becoming a clergyman. He falls in love with Mary Crawford, but she dislikes clergymen. He could change career, or find someone who is well suited to become a clergyman's wife.

Tom, Maria and Julia Bertram

As Sir Thomas's heir, Tom expects to inherit a fortune, so spends money freely. Sir Thomas takes him abroad on business, in the hopes of distancing him from unsuitable acquaintances.

Maria marries Mr Rushworth, 'a heavy young man, with not more than common sense' but who has 'a larger income than her father's'. However, money isn't everything - after her wedding, she doesn't forget her admirer Henry Crawford.

Julia, as the youngest daughter, is also expected to marry someone of advantage. 'She had always used to think herself a little inferior to Maria. Her temper was naturally the easiest of the two; her feelings, though quick, were more controllable, and education had not given her so very hurtful a degree of self-confidence.' To her father's dismay, she takes an interest in Mr Yates, a friend of Tom who is in debt.

Dr and Mrs Grant

Dr Grant is 'a hearty man of forty-five' who is 'very fond of eating'. His wife is about 30. They have no children, and gladly welcome Mrs Grant's half-siblings Henry and Mary Crawford to stay with them to provide 'some variety at home'.

Henry and Mary Crawford

Mary Crawford is pretty and wealthy, so Mrs Grant decides that she should marry Tom Bertram, to gain a title as the wife of a future baronet. Mrs Grant suggests Henry could marry one of Tom's sisters, but Mary describes her brother as 'the most horrible flirt that can be imagined'. Henry toys with Fanny's affections, but the game backfires when he begins to fall in love with her.

Themes

Mansfield Park includes several themes of interest to modern readers as well as to readers in the 19th Century. Current affairs of the time are mentioned - for example, Fanny asks her uncle about the slave trade after he has been away on business in Antigua in the Caribbean - she does not ask follow-up questions, even though Sir Thomas would have welcomed them, because her cousins don't seem interested.

The roles and expectations of women are also considered. For example, Fanny is polite to Henry Crawford when he tries to make her fall in love with him, even though she is disturbed by his past behaviour. She tells him that she cannot accept his proposal of marriage, but he won't take 'no' for an answer and finds the challenge 'new and animating'. Her uncle thinks she encouraged Henry's affections - she tells him 'His attentions were always - what I did not like.' Sir Thomas tries various tactics to persuade her to accept the proposal, but later learns she was a good judge of character after all. Even then, there is consideration of whether Fanny could have prevented scandal by marrying Henry. 'He will make you happy; but you will make him everything.' 'The glory of fixing one who has been shot at by so many... I am sure it is not in a woman's nature to refuse such a triumph.' 'Had she accepted him as she ought, they might now have been on the point of marriage, and Henry would have been too happy and too busy to want any other object.'

Let him have all the perfections in the world, I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself.

Legacy

Mansfield Park has been adapted for film and television. Notable adaptations include: the 1983 BBC TV miniseries featuring future Miss Moneypenny Samantha Bond as Maria Bertram; the 1999 film including more focus on the slave trade and sex scenes; and a low-budget 2007 TV movie featuring Doctor Who's Assistant Billie Piper as Fanny.

The book has also been studied in academic publications. For example, Fanny's Place in the Family: Useful Service and the Social Order in Mansfield Park by Ruth G Garcia (2020) considers Fanny's situation as almost a servant to the Bertrams, but also almost a daughter. Fanny Price's Curation of Lively Things in Mansfield Park by Holly Fling (2020) considers the significance of Fanny's personal belongings. The Incurable Fanny Price: Disabled Perspective and Resistance
to the Cure Narrative in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park by Aurora C Soriano (2023) considers Fanny as a heroine disabled by chronic illness.