Austen's Mansfield Park, A Synopsis

Mansfield Park is a novel by Jane Austen.
By Inspiredpen

Fanny Price, niece of Lady Bertram, is brought to live at Mansfield Park, owned by her aunt, Lady Bertram and Sir Thomas Bertram. The Bertrams have two daughters, Maria and Julia, and two sons, Tom and Edmund. Of her cousins, it is only Edmund who Fanny finds friendly. Sir Thomas has always impressed on his children the need for manners and social accomplishments. When Sir Thomas leaves home for the West Indies on business, the children plan to stage a play, "Lovers' Vows" by Elizabeth Inchbald. In this play they engage in self-indulgent flirtations.

Fanny is not a willing participant. Maria is attracted to Henry Crawford but she is already engaged to Mr Rushworth. Edmund Bertram likes Mary, Henry's sister. Maria decides to marry Rushworth.

Here's the full article --- [Mansfield Park by Inspired Pen]

Mansfield Park - Quest #5

"In most books, the villains are identifiable through their mistreatment of the hero/heroine. In Mansfield Park, the Crawfords are among the tiny handful of people who see the value of Fanny Price. Are they ever unkind to her?Why is Fanny so little moved by their interest and esteem?In your opinion, is any of this esteem genuine?"


-source readinggroupguides.com

Mansfield Park - Quest #4

"Kingsley Amis said, "Edmund and Fanny are both morally detestable and the endorsement of their feelings and behavior by the author . . . makes Mansfield Park an immoral book." Do you agree? Is there any difference in your mind between Austen herself and the book's narrator?"

-source readinggroupguides.com

Mansfield Park - Quest #3

"Plato has suggested that one cannot be both a good actor and a good citizen. What do you imagine he meant? Discuss the relevance of this to Mansfield Park."

-source readinggroupguides.com

Mansfield Park - Quest #2

"In one of the book's most famous scenes, Fanny sits wilted in the heat at the Rushworth's estate, while the other characters come and go around her. Discuss the ways this epitomizes the entire plot of the book."

-source readinggroupguides.com

Mansfield Park - Quest #1

"Mansfield Park was written after a silence of more than a decade. During this period, Austen moved several times, saw the deaths of her father and a potential suitor, and became the dependent old maid we find so often among her more pitiable characters. The Napoleonic Wars continued; England embarked on imperialistic adventures. Austen followed both with interest. Do you see evidence of these things in the novel?"

-source readinggroupguides.com

Jane Austen's Mansfield Park - Excerpt

*** The contents below were copied from "ReadingGroupGuides.Com"

(Excerpted from The Jane Austen Book Club)

Mansfield Park was written between 1811 and 1813, and published in 1814. It marks Austen's return to novel writing after an interruption of more than a decade.Ten-year-old Fanny Price is taken from her impoverished home to the estate of her wealthy aunt and uncle Bertram. There she is tormented by her aunt Norris, disliked by her cousins Tom, Maria, and Julia, and befriended only by her cousin Edmund. Her position is less than a daughter, more like a servant. Years pass. Fanny grows up shrinking and sickly (though very pretty).While Uncle Bertram is away on business, Henry and Mary Crawford come to stay at the nearby parsonage. The Crawfords, brother and sister, are lively and charming. Both Maria and Julia are taken with Henry. Edmund is equally smitten with Mary.Amateur theatricals are planned, then cancelled by Uncle Bertram's return. But the rehearsals have already encouraged several damaging flirtations. Maria, humiliated by Henry's lack of real interest, marries Mr. Rushworth, a wealthy buffoon.Henry then falls in love with shy Fanny. She refuses the advantageous match and, as punishment, is sent back to her parents. Henry pursues her for a time, then has an affair with Maria that results in her disgrace. Edmund's eyes are opened by Mary's casual response to this.Tom, the eldest Bertram cousin, nearly dies of vice and dissipation; Fanny is fetched back to Mansfield Park to help nurse him. At the end of the book, Edmund and Fanny marry. They seem well suited to each other, though not, as Kingsley Amis has pointed out, the sort of people you would like to have over for dinner.