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| Edition: | Barnes & Noble Classics (Hardcover) |
| Author: | Jane Austen |
| Published: | August 2005 |
| Pages: | 464 |
| ISBN 10: | 1593083564 |
| New: | $4.73 (33) |
| Used: | $0.01 (41) |
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Plot Summary
The main character, Fanny Price, is a young girl from a poor family, raised by her rich uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram, at Mansfield Park. She grows up with her four cousins, Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia, but is always treated as inferior to them; only Edmund shows her real kindness. He is also the most virtuous of the siblings: Maria and Julia are vain and spoiled, while Tom is an irresponsible gambler. Over time, Fanny's gratitude for Edmund's kindness secretly grows into love.
When the children are grown, the stern patriarch Sir Thomas leaves them for two years to deal with problems on his plantation in Antigua. The siblings Henry and Mary Crawford arrive at the village, which begins a series of romantic entanglements. Mary and Edmund begin to form an attachment, though Edmund often worries that she lacks manners and disrespects his profession, that of clergyman. However, she is engaging and charming, and goes out of her way to befriend Fanny. Fanny fears that she has Edmund, and that love has blinded him to Mary's flaws. Henry Crawford plays with the affections of both Maria and Julia, despite the fact that Maria is already engaged to the dull, but very rich, Mr. Rushworth.
The young people decide to put on Elizabeth Inchbald's play Lovers' Vows; Edmund and Fanny oppose the plan, believing that Sir Thomas will disapprove, but are eventually drawn into it. In particular, the play provides a pretext for Henry and Maria to flirt in public. Sir Thomas arrives unexpectedly in the middle of a rehearsal, which aborts the plan. Henry leaves, and Maria is crushed; she marries Mr Rushworth and they leave for their honeymoon, taking Julia with them. Fanny's improved looks endear her to Sir Thomas, who now pays more attention to her care.
Henry returns to Mansfield Park and decides to amuse himself by making Fanny fall in love with him. However, her genuine gentleness and kindness cause him to fall in love with her instead. When he proposes marriage, Fanny's knowledge of his improper flirtations with her cousins, as well as her continuing love for Edmund, cause her to reject him. The Bertrams are dismayed, since it is an extremely advantageous match for a poor girl like Fanny. Sir Thomas rebukes her for ingratitude, and sends her back to her shabby home so she might realise that it is useful to have a rich husband. Henry goes to visit her there, to demonstrate that he has changed his ways and is now worthy of her affection. Fanny's attitude begins to soften.
Shortly after Henry leaves, Fanny learns of a scandal involving Henry and Maria. It turns out that they met up again in London and began an affair that, when discovered, ends in scandalous divorce and elopement. To make matters worse, the dissolute Tom has taken ill, and Julia has eloped with a man named Mr. Yates. Fanny returns to Mansfield Park to comfort her aunt and uncle. Edmund thinks that Mary is not properly scandalized by these events, and that she seems a little too eager for Tom to die and Edmund to inherit the property. He breaks off relations with her, returns Fanny's affection, and marries her. Austen points out that if only Crawford had persisted in his kindly treatment of Fanny, and not pursued the affair with Maria, Fanny would eventually have come to love him. They would have had a happy marriage, as would Edmund and Mary.
