the market for a guy who’s going to have status and a lot of money.That’s why at first she thinks she might marry Edmund’s older brother Tom, heir to Mansfield Park and a baronetcy. 3 But when Tom leaves Mansfield for a while, Mary can’t help being attracted by his younger brother Edmund, despite the fact that Edmund won’t inherit the family estate. “There was a charm, perhaps, in his sincerity, his steadiness, his integrity, which Miss Crawford might be equal to feel, though not equal to discuss with herself.” 4
And Edmund is strongly attracted to Mary, too, despite the fact that she’s continually upsetting him with her flippant way of talking about things that he takes seriously. She never really clues in to how uncomfortable she’s making him, and for a while their mutual attraction smoothes over all the rough places. He excuses all her faults to himself. 5 The abortive love story between Mary and Edmund is all about blindness. Her cynicism blinds her to the things he cares about—and to the value of his love. 6 And the illusions of love blind him to the depth of her cynicism, up until the very end.
For a while, under the influence of Edmund and the other residents of Mansfield, Mary does begin to get a glimpse of the realities that cynicism has made invisible to her. She hesitates between the worldly ideas and ambitions she brought with her to Mansfield—her prejudice against the
clergy (Edmund is planning to be ordained), her addiction to conspicuous consumption (Edmund is preparing for a modest life in a small country parsonage), her requirement of a house in London (Edmund can’t afford one) on the one hand—and on the other hand the sterling qualities, more really valuable than money, that she’s just learning to appreciate in her new Mansfield friends: “You have all so much more heart among you, than one finds in the world at large. You all give me a feeling of being able to trust and confide in you; which, in common intercourse, one knows nothing of.”
Sex and the City
But then Mary leaves Mansfield for a visit with her old friends in London. Edmund sees her there, and doesn’t think much of them. Janet Fraser, the friend Mary’s staying with, is “a cold-hearted, vain woman, who has married entirely from convenience, and though evidently unhappy in her marriage, places her disappointment, not in faults of judgment or temper, or disproportion of age, but to her being after all, less affluent than many of her acquaintance, especially than her sister, Lady Stornaway.”
Mrs. Fraser has learned nothing from the mistake she made in marrying for money; she’s still “the determined supporter of everything mercenary and ambitious, provided it be only mercenary and ambitious enough.” And Mary can’t see what her friend did wrong, either. 7
Poor Janet has been sadly taken in, and yet there was nothing improper on her side; she did not run into the match inconsiderately, there was no want of foresight. She took three days to consider of his proposals; and during those three days asked the advice of every body connected with her, whose opinion was worth having; and especially applied to my late dear aunt, whose knowledge of the world made her judgment very generally and deservedly looked up to by all the young people of her acquaintance; and she was decidedly in favour of Mr. Fraser. This seems as if nothing were a security for matrimonial comfort! I have not so much to say for my friend Flora, who jilted a very nice young man in the Blues, for the sake of that horrid Lord Stornaway,
who has about as much sense, Fanny, as Mr. Rushworth, but much worse looking, and with a blackguard character.
You can see exactly what Fanny means by “a mind led astray and bewildered, and without any suspicion of being so; darkened, yet fancying itself light.” The “knowledge of the world” that all these women—Mary’s friends, Mary’s aunt, Mary herself—rely on is actually ignorance of
And Edmund is strongly attracted to Mary, too, despite the fact that she’s continually upsetting him with her flippant way of talking about things that he takes seriously. She never really clues in to how uncomfortable she’s making him, and for a while their mutual attraction smoothes over all the rough places. He excuses all her faults to himself. 5 The abortive love story between Mary and Edmund is all about blindness. Her cynicism blinds her to the things he cares about—and to the value of his love. 6 And the illusions of love blind him to the depth of her cynicism, up until the very end.
For a while, under the influence of Edmund and the other residents of Mansfield, Mary does begin to get a glimpse of the realities that cynicism has made invisible to her. She hesitates between the worldly ideas and ambitions she brought with her to Mansfield—her prejudice against the
clergy (Edmund is planning to be ordained), her addiction to conspicuous consumption (Edmund is preparing for a modest life in a small country parsonage), her requirement of a house in London (Edmund can’t afford one) on the one hand—and on the other hand the sterling qualities, more really valuable than money, that she’s just learning to appreciate in her new Mansfield friends: “You have all so much more heart among you, than one finds in the world at large. You all give me a feeling of being able to trust and confide in you; which, in common intercourse, one knows nothing of.”
Sex and the City
But then Mary leaves Mansfield for a visit with her old friends in London. Edmund sees her there, and doesn’t think much of them. Janet Fraser, the friend Mary’s staying with, is “a cold-hearted, vain woman, who has married entirely from convenience, and though evidently unhappy in her marriage, places her disappointment, not in faults of judgment or temper, or disproportion of age, but to her being after all, less affluent than many of her acquaintance, especially than her sister, Lady Stornaway.”
Mrs. Fraser has learned nothing from the mistake she made in marrying for money; she’s still “the determined supporter of everything mercenary and ambitious, provided it be only mercenary and ambitious enough.” And Mary can’t see what her friend did wrong, either. 7
Poor Janet has been sadly taken in, and yet there was nothing improper on her side; she did not run into the match inconsiderately, there was no want of foresight. She took three days to consider of his proposals; and during those three days asked the advice of every body connected with her, whose opinion was worth having; and especially applied to my late dear aunt, whose knowledge of the world made her judgment very generally and deservedly looked up to by all the young people of her acquaintance; and she was decidedly in favour of Mr. Fraser. This seems as if nothing were a security for matrimonial comfort! I have not so much to say for my friend Flora, who jilted a very nice young man in the Blues, for the sake of that horrid Lord Stornaway,
who has about as much sense, Fanny, as Mr. Rushworth, but much worse looking, and with a blackguard character.
You can see exactly what Fanny means by “a mind led astray and bewildered, and without any suspicion of being so; darkened, yet fancying itself light.” The “knowledge of the world” that all these women—Mary’s friends, Mary’s aunt, Mary herself—rely on is actually ignorance of
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