Mansfield Park is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814. The novel tells the story of Fanny Price, starting when her overburdened, impoverished family sends her at age ten to live in the household of her wealthy aunt and uncle; it concludes with her marriage.
The novel was first published by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any critical attention when it was initially published. The first particular notice was in 1821 in a positive review of each of the published novels by Jane Austen.
From the late 20th century onward, critical reception has been diverse and Mansfield Park is now considered Austen's most controversial novel. In recent decades, historical context and allusions have featured prominently in criticism as has a growing awareness of Austen's sophisticated psychological characterisations. Questions addressed in the critical reviews below include the following. Is the heroine Fanny Price appalling or appealing? Was Austen a traditionalist or a feminist? Is Mansfield Park simplistic or ironic? Did Austen support or oppose the slave trade? Does Mansfield Park portray city immorality as more attractive than country morality? How did Austen understand the church of her day? Was Austen for or against theatrical performance?
Paula Byrne, writing in the 21st century, found this to be one of Austen's best novels, and called it pioneering for being about meritocracy.
Frances "Fanny" Price, at age ten, is sent from her family home to live with her uncle and aunt in the country in Northamptonshire. It is a jolting change, from the elder sister of many, to the youngest at the estate of Sir Thomas Bertram, husband of her mother's older sister. Her cousin Edmund finds her alone one day and helps her. She wants to write to her older brother William. Edmund provides the writing materials, the first kindness to her in this new family. Her cousins are Tom Jr. (age 17), Edmund (16), Maria (13) and Julia (12). Her aunt, Lady Bertram, is kind to her, but her uncle frightens her (unintentionally) with his authoritative demeanour. Fanny's mother has another sister, Mrs Norris; the wife of the clergyman at the Mansfield parsonage. Mrs Norris and her husband have no children of their own, and she takes a 'great interest' in her nieces and nephews; Mrs Norris makes a strict distinction between her Bertram nieces and lowly Fanny. Sir Thomas helps the sons of the Price family find occupations when they are old enough. William joins the Navy as a midshipman not long after Fanny arrives at Mansfield Park. He visits them once after going to sea, and writes to his sister.

When Fanny is fifteen, Aunt Norris is a widow and moves into a small cottage. The frequency of her visits to Mansfield Park increases, as does her mistreatment of Fanny. Tom Bertram incurs a large debt and to pay it, Sir Thomas sells the living of the parsonage, freed up by the death of Uncle Norris, to clergyman Dr Grant.

When Fanny is sixteen, Sir Thomas leaves to deal with problems on his plantation in Antigua. He takes Tom along and trusts to Aunt Norris for the others. Mrs Norris takes on the task of finding a husband for Maria and finds James Rushworth, with income of ?12,000 a year, but weak-willed and stupid. Maria accepts his marriage proposal, subject to Sir Thomas's approval on his return. After a year in Antigua, Sir Thomas sends Tom home to Mansfield Park. One year later, the wealthy, and worldly Henry Crawford and his sister, Mary Crawford, arrive at the parsonage to stay with Mrs Grant, their half-sister. The arrival of the fashionable Crawfords enlivens life in Mansfield and sparks romantic entanglements. Mary and Edmund begin to form an attachment. She is disappointed to learn that Edmund will be a clergyman, due to her love of fashionable society.

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• Literature & Fiction

• Publication Date: August 29, 2018
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Print Length: 445 Pages
• File Size: 4,014 KB