Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Summary: It all starts with Fanny Price going to live with her wealthy aunt and her family, the Bertrams, due to the poverty her own family lives in; being her father an inactive sailor, unable to support a big family, her mother decides to send her away to her sister. As soon as Fanny gets to Bertram State in Mansfield Park, she is treated badly by her aunt, Mr. Norris who lives with the Bertrams. Tom, the elder cousin is a gambler and a drinker; Maria and Julia Bertrams, are two ambitious girls who look down on her for her upbringing; and Edmund the younger male son of the family is the only person who is kind to her, which causes that both become close to each other. In time, Fanny grows to a shy and ingenuous person, due to the poor indifferent treatment the family seems to cast upon her, but still beautiful and with a kind mind. While Mary and Henry Crawford arrive to Mansfield Park to their sister’s State; Maria Bertram is promised in marriage to Mr. Rushworth, a wealthy man. The Crawfords and the Bertrams are introduced, Julia and Maria are attracted to Henry, while Mary is to Edmund; and from that point forward relationships start to develop coming to fruition the ambition on some of them, infidelity, and realizations of love.

Opinion: It should be said, this has been a first for me concerning Austen; this is my second book by Jane (after Proud and Prejudice years ago), and I certainly didn’t expect such “damaged view, and perspective” that mostly all characters seems to have in regards to moral in this book. It seems like you are reading a damaged part of Society, a truthful, negative part of Society in the 18^th century that is just shameful. And I’ll say “crafty” since there is a sense of “being right” in all the story development, a tone of hypocrisy very present. However, as bad and negative as this might sound to some of you so far, I did like it. When you are ahead of this piece, you realized you’ve become involved in an interesting moral trip to the standards of the characters. It’s interesting to watch how natural comes to all of them to just let things be; and the same happens when you see the heroes, Fanny, and Edmund, specially the former, struggle around their family, and all the other that seem to be attracted to them. 


Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆