Pride, of course--and perhaps a dash of Prejudice?
Posted by gkb on May 17, 1998 at 18:40:39:
In response to Sir Thomas's sin, written by Bonny on May 15, 1998 at 05:27:20
"Quasi-allegorical moral structure" is not meant to be reductive and The lecturer suggested that the traits overlap, as you quite rightly pointed out in Mrs Norris. Lust doesn't end with Maria, and Julia can be said to be angry as well as Envious. Do you care to discuss the motivations of Mrs Norris further?
She is the most perfectly realized domestic villain, is she not? I cannot help but wish that she had indeed been given to managing her youngest sister's life more and Lady Bertram's life less.
But idle dreams aside, and considering that my current mission in Republic life is to mine the comedic aspects of MP, I should like to discuss what makes Mrs. Norris funny? That is, JA viewed her with the satiric eye, but also the compassionate eye and found ways to neutralize her toxic moral effects by making fun of her. My favorite is the part where Mrs. Norris fails to send a used (and in storage, no less) prayer book to her god-daughter in Portsmouth because one was too big for a child to carry and the small, easy-to-carry one had print to small for a child's eyes. Greed! Greed! How it doth rule the Norris!
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