Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Book Analysis) E-Book

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• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 29

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of Mansfield Park with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, which follows the shy, unassuming Fanny Price as she grows up with her wealthy relatives the Bertrams. She is often overlooked in favour of her livelier cousins, particularly after the arrival of the ebullient, outgoing siblings Henry and Mary Crawford. In this atmosphere, she is drawn to her cousin Edmund Bertram, who shuns the frivolous pursuits of his siblings, although he is still far from immune to Mary’s charms… Mansfield Park is arguably Austen’s most serious work, exploring as it does the essential falseness of much social interaction and the slavery that made the lives of the Georgian middle and upper classes possible;

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This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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Leseprobe

JANE AUSTEN

ENGLISH NOVELIST

Born in Steventon in 1775.Died in Winchester in 1817.Notable works:Pride and Prejudice (1813), novelNorthanger Abbey (1818), novelPersuasion (1818), novel

Jane Austen was born in Hampshire in 1775, the daughter of an Anglican rector. Although the Austens had a modest income, Jane and her siblings were encouraged to read widely. She wrote her first spoof novella, Love and Freindship (1790) – misspelling deliberate – when she was just 14. Jane apparently read excerpts of the work aloud to her family, developing a writing style characterised by social observation and wit.

In 1801, Jane moved from Hampshire to Bath with her parents and sister Cassandra. Their life in the city was cut short, however, when her father died in 1805. Jane, her mother and Cassandra finally settled in the village of Chawton, where Jane wrote her most famous novels: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. In 1816, at the age of 41, she became ill and died the following year, possibly of Addison’s disease. She continued to write until the very end and is buried in Winchester Cathedral.

MANSFIELD PARK

A STUDY OF FAMILIAL DUTY

Genre: novelReference edition: Austen, J. (2011) Mansfield Park. London: Penguin.1stedition: 1814Themes: class, family, marriage, propriety, slavery, acting, the home

Mansfield Park was written immediately after Pride and Prejudice. Considering the novels’ proximity, readers may wonder at the difference between the two: while Pride and Prejudice is an homage to wit, Mansfield Park reveals the dark side of charisma, using Fanny Price as a foil to the glamorous Crawfords, whose clever conversation endangers those around them.

Of all Austen’s novels, Mansfield Park arguably has the largest scope. The atmosphere of Mansfield Park itself – at once both stately and claustrophobic – is offset by the references to Antigua and the episode set in raucous Portsmouth. The undertones of the slave trade add a political dimension that invites us to read the novel through a lens of power, control and freedom.

SUMMARY

FANNY ARRIVES AT MANSFIELD

The novel opens with the marriage of a young woman, Miss Maria Ward, to the wealthy Sir Thomas Bertram of Mansfield Park. The marriage is much discussed in the community, as Sir Bertram is socially superior to the Wards. Maria has two sisters, neither of whom make so advantageous a match: one marries a man named Reverend Norris, and the other, Frances, fares even worse – she marries a sailor, Mr Price, who is injured at sea and returns home a drunk. While Mr and Mrs Norris live near the Bertrams, the Prices are cast out as a familial embarrassment and live in Portsmouth. Mrs Price has no contact with her family for many years, until – pregnant with her ninth child – she writes a letter begging her wealthier sister for help.