Mary Crawford
But before we get to Mary Crawford, a character in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, a letter:
Mary Crawford should be the hero of Mansfield Park. She's funny, flirty, interesting, and intelligent. Instead, though, Jane Austen sticks us with Fanny Price. Because for some reason, Jane Austen hates us. Probably because of all the mean things we said about her in high school -- but that was years ago and we were stupid. We didn't mean any of it. Seriously, Jane: call me.
To explain why Mary Crawford should be the hero of Mansfield Park and not Fanny Price, I'll need to bring you all up to speed:
The Ward sisters of Huntingdon marry different men (because this is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, not V.C. Andrews -- in which case all three sisters would marry the same man, and that man would be their brother. And they'd have gigantic heads, like that one sister who didn't make it out of the attic). Two of them marry well, one marrying Sir Thomas Bertram and the other marrying the Rev. Mr. Norris. The third sister, Frances Ward, though, marries recklessly (maybe for love; maybe for spite), and ends up in Portsmouth with something like eleven kids and a husband who needs to meet the pointed end of a boot-to-the-ass toot sweet.
Mrs. Norris comes up with the great idea of "adopting" one of Frances's kids, a girl named Fanny. Fanny is uprooted from her home in Portsmouth and treated like so much extra baggage among the Bertrams (who have four kids of their own: two boys, Thomas and Edmund, and two girls, Maria and Julia -- and why are they at the Bertram's instead of with Mrs. Norris, who came up with the idea? Because Mrs. Norris is awesome in her passive-aggressive splendor). Now, at this point, you might be thinking, "Jesus, Mike, give the kid a break. How'd you like to be uprooted from your home and shuffled around like someone else's good deed?" And the answer is, I wouldn't like it at all. And if that's where the novel stopped then yeah: sucks to be Fanny and we should all feel sorry for her.
But Fanny? She is evil.
She's not evil in the way Rhoda Penmark is, or these kids are. But she's channeled all of her neediness into a very annoying passive-aggressive stew. And whereas Mrs. Norris's passive-aggression is fun and entertaining, Fanny's is simply long-suffering and enervating. She lets herself get left out of things like balls and outings, staying at home with Mrs. Bertram and her annoying pug. Instead of telling someone that she's feeling a little sun-strokey after picking goddamned roses for everyone else's lazy ass, she waits until someone notices that she's looking peaked and then kinda revels (midrashically) in the extra attention to her illness. And rather than remind Edmund that she needs the horse for horseback riding for her health (no, seriously), she just sighs a lot and lets Edmund use the horse as a stand-in for his own libido as he uses it to woo Mary Crawford.
Mary Crawford is the half-sister of Mrs. Grant, whose husband is the new reverend after Mr. Norris bites it (no doubt to get away from Fanny's whining). Mary Crawford asks for things if she wants them. Mary Crawford says what's on her mind when she wants to. Mary Crawford would totally smoke roll-your-owns with you behind the shed out back. Fanny Price would simply cough weakly, hoping you'd notice, and then find some way to tattle on you without actually tattling on you.
My point: Mary Crawford is the bomb.
The thing is, I think Jane Austen likes Mary Crawford more than she likes Fanny, too, even though she tries not to. I don't want to give the end of the novel away, but Jane has to jump Mary Crawford through some awkward hoops to bring it about -- and I don't know that I agree with Austen's conclusion. But that's what I love so much about this novel: there's stuff to grapple with as a reader. There's an actual argument here, rather than just a nice love story, like in Pride and Prejudice.
Here's a current scene that I just read that illustrates the difference between Fanny Price and Mary Crawford beautifully. The set-up: The gang is visiting this guy's estate. Edmund Bertram (whom Fanny has a crush on), Fanny Price, and Mary Crawford are walking about the grounds; Fanny has non-complained complained that she's tired:
Dear Irritating Old Guy at the Deli:_________________________________________________________
They're soda choices, not ancient Coptic script. It shouldn't take you 5 minutes to peruse them all. Helen Keller could have filled her soda cup (finally) faster. This is why we are bitter enemies: I don't care that you're in a walker.
Huffily,
Michael Bevel: British Adventuress
Mary Crawford should be the hero of Mansfield Park. She's funny, flirty, interesting, and intelligent. Instead, though, Jane Austen sticks us with Fanny Price. Because for some reason, Jane Austen hates us. Probably because of all the mean things we said about her in high school -- but that was years ago and we were stupid. We didn't mean any of it. Seriously, Jane: call me.
To explain why Mary Crawford should be the hero of Mansfield Park and not Fanny Price, I'll need to bring you all up to speed:
The Ward sisters of Huntingdon marry different men (because this is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, not V.C. Andrews -- in which case all three sisters would marry the same man, and that man would be their brother. And they'd have gigantic heads, like that one sister who didn't make it out of the attic). Two of them marry well, one marrying Sir Thomas Bertram and the other marrying the Rev. Mr. Norris. The third sister, Frances Ward, though, marries recklessly (maybe for love; maybe for spite), and ends up in Portsmouth with something like eleven kids and a husband who needs to meet the pointed end of a boot-to-the-ass toot sweet.
Mrs. Norris comes up with the great idea of "adopting" one of Frances's kids, a girl named Fanny. Fanny is uprooted from her home in Portsmouth and treated like so much extra baggage among the Bertrams (who have four kids of their own: two boys, Thomas and Edmund, and two girls, Maria and Julia -- and why are they at the Bertram's instead of with Mrs. Norris, who came up with the idea? Because Mrs. Norris is awesome in her passive-aggressive splendor). Now, at this point, you might be thinking, "Jesus, Mike, give the kid a break. How'd you like to be uprooted from your home and shuffled around like someone else's good deed?" And the answer is, I wouldn't like it at all. And if that's where the novel stopped then yeah: sucks to be Fanny and we should all feel sorry for her.
But Fanny? She is evil.
She's not evil in the way Rhoda Penmark is, or these kids are. But she's channeled all of her neediness into a very annoying passive-aggressive stew. And whereas Mrs. Norris's passive-aggression is fun and entertaining, Fanny's is simply long-suffering and enervating. She lets herself get left out of things like balls and outings, staying at home with Mrs. Bertram and her annoying pug. Instead of telling someone that she's feeling a little sun-strokey after picking goddamned roses for everyone else's lazy ass, she waits until someone notices that she's looking peaked and then kinda revels (midrashically) in the extra attention to her illness. And rather than remind Edmund that she needs the horse for horseback riding for her health (no, seriously), she just sighs a lot and lets Edmund use the horse as a stand-in for his own libido as he uses it to woo Mary Crawford.
Mary Crawford is the half-sister of Mrs. Grant, whose husband is the new reverend after Mr. Norris bites it (no doubt to get away from Fanny's whining). Mary Crawford asks for things if she wants them. Mary Crawford says what's on her mind when she wants to. Mary Crawford would totally smoke roll-your-owns with you behind the shed out back. Fanny Price would simply cough weakly, hoping you'd notice, and then find some way to tattle on you without actually tattling on you.
My point: Mary Crawford is the bomb.
The thing is, I think Jane Austen likes Mary Crawford more than she likes Fanny, too, even though she tries not to. I don't want to give the end of the novel away, but Jane has to jump Mary Crawford through some awkward hoops to bring it about -- and I don't know that I agree with Austen's conclusion. But that's what I love so much about this novel: there's stuff to grapple with as a reader. There's an actual argument here, rather than just a nice love story, like in Pride and Prejudice.
Here's a current scene that I just read that illustrates the difference between Fanny Price and Mary Crawford beautifully. The set-up: The gang is visiting this guy's estate. Edmund Bertram (whom Fanny has a crush on), Fanny Price, and Mary Crawford are walking about the grounds; Fanny has non-complained complained that she's tired:
"I shall soon be rested," said Fanny; "to sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment."
After sitting a little while Miss Crawford was up again. "I must move," said she; "resting fatigues me. I have looked across the ha-ha till I am weary."
posted by Mike at 2:11 PM
9 Comments:
Well, I think part of Jane Austen's point here is that while Mary is indeed attractive and charming, Fanny is the better match FOR EDMUND, as the final chapters make clear. She shares his morals and precepts -- most particularly in their condemnation of Maria and Edmund's behavior.
Mary's take on it is much more modern and practical and lighthearted, which I also find enjoyable, but if one is a moral absolutist, it isn't an admirable take. It would be fun to hear the entire story through Mary's voice, wouldn't it? And she seems as if she'd be a much better match for you.
I will just add, though, that while Mary might be a lot more fun to go out and drink all night with, Fanny is the friend I'd rather have at the other end of the phone when I've got a flat tire after midnight in the rain.
jfwlucy
My theory is that Mary would've been a far better lay than Fanny. But I still like Fanny: a better wife outside the bedroom.
Mike, you ought to check out the Mansfield Park essay in A.S. Byatt and Ingres Sodre's "Imagining Characters." It's great. Lionel Trilling also had an essay about Mansfield Park that talked about some of the problems you mention.
Oh, and here's my fave review of V.C. Andrews EVER:
http://www.mrsgiggles.com/books/andrews_petals.html
I've always enjoyed Jane Austen for her lovely girls, Anne in Persuasion and of course, Elizabeth B. I have to say that it was easier to read her incomplete and rather dragging Sanditon than Mansfield Park. How on earth could a woman who created a clear-eyed wit like Elizabeth Bennett create a somber, prudish bag like Fanny and expect us to accept her? Dear Lord, *Fanny*...
I have tried to figure a way to make the whole thing satire, but I'm left at a loss; she means it. Every bit of it. We're supposed to admire her.
Her name is *Fanny*!
Heidi
"How on earth could a woman who created a clear-eyed wit like Elizabeth Bennett create a somber, prudish bag like Fanny and expect us to accept her? Dear Lord, *Fanny*..."
Yeah, she's dead serious about it; I don't know that it's a bad thing, though. One of the things I find tragic is that, by dying so young, we've only really got the six complete novels, and I would have liked to have seen her writing about older heroines in novels not so much about finding a suitable match and falling in love.
I think she's moving that direction a little with Mansfield Park; this novel isn't as concerned with marrying off the heroine (though, yeah, she marries) as it is with giving us a portrait of extreme subservience coupled with extreme moral authority.
Which is an interesting -- though very frustrating -- experiment.
I'm curious, though: when did "Fanny" become a British sland for a woman's...you know...down there?
I'm still learning the ropes on this blogger business -- and I'm sorry for taking so long to respond to posts.
jfwlucy wrote, "Well, I think part of Jane Austen's point here is that while Mary is indeed attractive and charming, Fanny is the better match FOR EDMUND."
That's odd; Edmund is not a good match for Fanny. Edmund doesn't have Fanny's moral compass, and he only chooses Fanny because choosing Mary proves to be too much of an impossibility. Edmund isn't as bad as Henry Crawford (right? It is Henry? I'm -- fuck it: unpacking isn't an excuse when I have the internet in my lap. Hold on...and yes: it's Henry Crawford) -- though, for the record, I don't know that I think Henry is all that bad anyway. Mostly Edmund's trouble is that he just isn't in to Fanny. Oh, and he crumbled under pressure and took part in the play.
I think that, with her firm moral code and her holier-than-God-iness, Fanny is actually the better choice for Henry. He needs someone like Fanny in his life to show him, again and again and again, the straight and narrow. All Edmund needs is a talent show now and again.
I will just add, though, that while Mary might be a lot more fun to go out and drink all night with, Fanny is the friend I'd rather have at the other end of the phone when I've got a flat tire after midnight in the rain.
I'm not so sure about that. Due to her jealousy of Mary's relationship with Edmund, Fanny pushed away Mary's overtures of friendship time and again. She tried to use Mary's moral compass as an excuse for her actions. In reality, Fanny was simply being a hypocrite. I don't believe that Fanny would have made a better friend . . . just a different one.
I loved your take on Mansfield Park. I've always found Fanny a study in passive-aggression, and assumed that Austen never intended anyone to be taken with her, only to understand what a waste of her qualities her dependence on her relatives had resulted in.
I often suspect Austen took an unholy satisfaction in imagining the antics her readers would put themselves to in order to feel affection for a character never intended to illicit it. When you think of Fanny - and Henry Crawford as well - you can only imagine what she could have become, and imagine how many women there were in reality who, like Fanny, could have been far different if society had allowed them to choose their own courses.
I've seldom seen it pointed out, but Fanny has more than one cause to be jealous of Mary Crawford: Mary can afford to behave as she chooses because her income allows her a freedom that Fanny, unless she wants to be banished back to poverty, can allow herself.
Darrin
I've seldom seen it pointed out, but Fanny has more than one cause to be jealous of Mary Crawford: Mary can afford to behave as she chooses because her income allows her a freedom that Fanny, unless she wants to be banished back to poverty, can allow herself.
Fanny's only reason for being jealous toward Mary was the latter's romantic relationship with Edmund.
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