#mansfield park

[shitty-fanfic-prompts]

At the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Pevensies go back to their world... but they arrive in Mansfield Park instead of Prof. Kirke's mansion, and Edmund is apparently confused with the son of the house by everyone.

[lavandaverde]

Despite her pettiness and materialism, Mary Crawford was so relatable here. I can't handle how she never misses a chance to badmouth her uncle(-and that pun 🤣). And her speech about the chapel is so good, I had to side with her on that one; Fanny's suggestion really seemed like a drag (I love her, but no).

[bethanydelleman]

Character parallels thought: Emma Woodhouse and Henry Crawford, both creating problems for people because they’re rich, clever, and bored.

Henry obviously has far more freedom, but they’re both people with a lot of time on their hands, no need to do anything useful with it, and no habit of self-discipline or serious focus. Emma is at least well-meaning unlike Henry.

I don’t think they’d work as a couple, this isn’t about that – they both fall for steady, principled people – but the similarities are interesting.

(Also Mary Crawford and Emma both illustrate how constrained life could be even for a wealthy single woman.)

Thoughts?

Oh this is so interesting!

I think the boredom thing is a real similarity and they both choose poor outlets for their talents. Emma's matchmaking and Henry's trifling both cause harm to those around them, even if Emma is trying to do it out of good intentions, as you mentioned.

The big difference of course is that Emma has accepted, or been forced to accept, the massive responsibility of caring for her father. Henry Crawford, like Frank Churchill, has duties that he neglects. Mary wanted Henry to take up residence at Everginham so she could live with him but he refused. Frank Churchill also has a sick guardian, but he is nowhere near as devoted as Emma.

It would be really interesting to see what Henry Crawford would get up to if he was pinned down in one location, and a boring one like his own estate with no young ladies around to mess with. Maybe he'd pick up a hobby or something...

Re: Mary Crawford and Emma Woodhouse, that is also an interesting comparison. Despite all her wealth, Mary needs to live with family to maintain respectability and ends up banished to the country. Emma is the wealthiest of Jane Austen's heroines but also the most constrained. It's almost like society is arranged to keep women down or something...

Also, it would be really funny to see Emma Woodhouse trying to match-make Henry Crawford... ouuu, Henry Crawford post-affair trying to find a girl like Fanny Price with post-Mr. Woodhouse death Emma Knightley in London. That could be a fun farce.

[whateverhappenedtomarymary]

On GOD we hate Henry Crawford

[whateverhappenedtomarymary]

Just started That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally and Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Both are great so far! Though I’m in a bit of a slump after reading Tcomc. So good and now everything else isn’t good

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

When Li Shu sent him the invitation, she made it clear that he was being summoned specifically to meet Jincheng, euphemistically calling it "cultivating marital affection."

She had become stingy now, unwilling to even write him a note in her own hand. The handwriting was careless, clearly scribbled by some servant. She truly was a scoundrel who forgot all about him once she left the bed. Now she wouldn't even spare him her handwriting, Shen Xiao thought. He should never have let her get out of bed in the first place.

Zhao Yang Gong Zhu/The Shadow Sovereign

Somehow I find it so funny that Shen Xiao gets angry about Li Shu not writing him a note personally. It reminds me of a passage from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen where the FL is obsessed with a half written letter from her crush:

she seized the scrap of paper on which Edmund had begun writing to her, as a treasure beyond all her hopes, and reading with the tenderest emotion these words, “My very dear Fanny, you must do me the favour to accept” locked it up with the chain, as the dearest part of the gift. It was the only thing approaching to a letter which she had ever received from him; she might never receive another; it was impossible that she ever should receive another so perfectly gratifying in the occasion and the style. Two lines more prized had never fallen from the pen of the most distinguished author—never more completely blessed the researches of the fondest biographer. The enthusiasm of a woman’s love is even beyond the biographer’s. To her, the handwriting itself, independent of anything it may convey, is a blessedness. Never were such characters cut by any other human being as Edmund’s commonest handwriting gave! This specimen, written in haste as it was, had not a fault; and there was a felicity in the flow of the first four words, in the arrangement of “My very dear Fanny,” which she could have looked at for ever.

[laurasauras]

One day I will write Mary Crawford/Fanny Price having the most fucknasty sex that two ladies from Regency England could conceive of. Fanny will pretend to be Edmund at one point, but Mary will peg her for this service with something terribly improvised and urgently acceptable.

And on another day I will write Sir Thomas unlacing Lady Bertram's corset and removing her jewellery and giving her one cherished kiss upon the forehead before they go to sleep in separate rooms.

I think of this often. I also think about the sophisticated allegory for slavery and the critique of women's lack of autonomy and respect in contrast with the whims of callous men who think it's cute that girls think they know what they want, but more frequently I think about how Fanny deserves a much better sex life than Jane Austen condemns her to, and Mary would have really fucking delivered.

[rebeccasteventaylor]

You don’t know how delighted I am to find Kerry’s favourite book is Mansfield Park.

Austen seems obvious for Kerry but Mansfield Park is her least popular. Her heroine lacks the spark and fire of Emma or Elizabeth.

But she is loyal. And steadfast. And has a sense of her own self. And despite the machinations of Mrs Norris (one of the great villains of English literature) she is loved. And she is chosen over the fascinating, sexy Maria Crawford.

It’s all about the unseen, the unappreciated, the weak, the frightened, the lonely one being seen and loved.

At first she may not seem like Fanny Price, the heroine of Mansfield Park. But it’s such an interesting insight into Kerry’s character that of all Austen’s heroines, she chooses Fanny to love most.