'Mansfield Park' is probably one of Jane Austen's least popular novels, and its heroine Fanny Price, probably her most bemoaned leading lady. Everyone loves Elizabeth's wit and vivacity, Emma's misguided determination, Eleanor's sense and practicality, the long-suffering ever faithful heroine of 'Persuasion' (I can't remember her name at the moment), and we can even laugh at the gullibility of that bit of fluff that stars in 'Northanger Abbey,' but what is to be commended in the terrified, shrinking heroine of 'Mansfield Park,' at least in this day and age of the independent, strong woman? Elizabeth is certainly my favorite, but strangely, I rather like the unassuming Miss Price and find the whole tale a peculiarly timely commentary on our own day and age, especially its supposedly enlightened morals, but then human foibles and follies haven't changed much in the last ten thousand years, so why should a mere 200 make a difference?
Our modern 'do whatever you like, be whatever makes you happy' culture is personified to perfection by the Crawfords, a brother and sister of no common wit, vivacity, manners, personal beauty, and material possession that immediately attract the adoration and envy of those about them but whose guiding compass is solely their own thirst for attention and approval. Fanny, embodying the mythologized prudishnesses of the Victorian Age and the Puritans combined, enters the scene as little more than a mouse, a shrinking shadow, a prim little wren hidden amongst the gaudy splendor of peacocks. She is overlooked and underrated, by Austen's readers as well as by her fellow characters. For all of her timidity she has a passionate heart, and though she says little, she is a very sensible creature indeed. She is not vulgar or rude or loud, but rather quiet, gentle, considerate of others, and humble to the point of ignorance as to her own value. As the whole world collapses around her, her quiet strength at last is revealed to others amidst the folly of their own mistakes while she feels more keenly for their own moral failure than they do for themselves.
'Mansfield Park,' is a lovely fable of what happens when the modern world abandons those things that truly make civilization civil, but it is also an interesting case study of the inner life and struggles of a sensitive child raised with emotional abuse, maltreatment, and neglect. What would Fanny have been without the bullying and repression of Mrs. Norris? I very much believe she could have been a character to rival Elizabeth Bennet, perhaps a livelier version of Jane? Perhaps that is why nobody likes Fanny: they see her only as a quiet, timid thing with no color or personality or energy, save deep within the confines of her soul, wherein no one, sometimes not even herself, is aware of it? But there is fire there, a glowing ember deep beneath the cold and soggy coals, a passionate heart that thinks itself nothing but wet ash. Perhaps that is why I like Miss Price: her story is mine. Of all the Austen heroines, her life is the harshest, the saddest, the most miserable, and in light of this, she is perhaps the strongest, the most surprising of the set, for she shines despite the ambient gloom that is her life. When she has a chance to secure a fortune and social prominence, she declines, she who has nothing, who sometimes feels she is nothing, because she will not embrace the hedonistic siren song of her suitor though all about her think her mad, until he proves his spectacular want of character and sets their world afire, wherein Fanny's rather good sense is obvious to all.
Due to my own peculiar history and personality, I can very much sympathize with poor Fanny, but I suppose it is a very good thing that most of the world cannot, for I hope that means they have not lived as wretchedly themselves. Of all Austen's tales, this one is probably the hardest for modern sensibilities to understand and therefore enjoy, for we have not the introspection or patience to care much for personal character in this day and age, which has produced far too many Crawfords and Wickhams and the havoc attendant thereunto, more's the pity!
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