It's funny because when I defend the end pairing of Jane Eyre I usually say, "But Jane got what she wanted" which is exactly what people say for Mansfield Park and Fanny Price ending up with Edmund Bertram and yet it doesn't work for me there.
Why?
I think one reason is because Jane is so assertive about her desires. The famous "Reader, I married him" is a clear declaration of her will and her control of the narrative. Jane wanted Rochester and she went and got him. For Fanny on the other hand, we're told, "Well... eventually Edmund came around."
I only entreat everybody to believe that exactly at the time when it was quite natural that it should be so, and not a week earlier, Edmund did cease to care about Miss Crawford, and became as anxious to marry Fanny as Fanny herself could desire.
And yes, Fanny desires it, it's right there in the quote, but she feels like a much more passive partner in this pairing.
Then we have the fact that Jane, before divine intervention sends her back to Rochester, gains financial and personal freedom, something that Fanny Price never achieves. Jane does not have to marry anymore. She has her inheritance, she demonstrates her ability to hold down a job, and genuinely enjoyed herself while doing it. She has family who loves her and wants to live with her (and also St. John Rivers). Fanny Price ends her novel still stuck between a rock (Mansfield Park) and a hard place (Portsmouth), with no solid plan other than marrying Edmund to secure her future. I think it's harder to accept something as her choice when it's really her only viable option. And yes, Mansfield becomes a much better place to live, but we never see Fanny Price as someone who could be independent.
Jane Eyre didn't need to marry Rochester, but she wanted to, and that is why I support her marrying that weird little attempted bigamist. Fanny Price needed to marry to secure her future and she marries the man she wants, but I'm still left wishing she didn't have to.
