Posted by Claudine on May 15, 1997 at 19:03:47:
In reply to MP tedious? posted by Amy on May 14, 1997 at 21:29:44
] Question: does one have to identify with Fanny to enjoy Mansfield Park
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I did not identify with Fanny but did enjoy reading MP. Perhaps I have an overly nasty habit of trying to read "between the lines" in attempting to understand the dynamics and motivations Austen may have had in moulding her characters. The issue of Austen's views on morality as manifested in the characters of MP were recently discussed on the Austen-L list, so I am wondering what the folks on this board think about the issue.
I especially loved Barbara's comment when she posted,
"But my enjoyment in it is not so much in seeing how the heroine will solve her problems as
in seeing what horrible thing Auntie will do next"
While I did not read MP in this way, (that is, waiting with anticipation to see what evil each of the unsympathetic characters would wreak) I nonetheless found the depiction of Aunt Norris so real there were times in which I wanted to fling down my book and physically shake her! I am more ambivalent towards Mary Crawford. I liked her in some instances (during her anticlerical speech in Sotherton) and despised her at other times for having such a hold on Edmund (so yes, if pressed I guess I must admit to being on Fanny's side, ultimately).
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