Résumé
Résumé de Mansfield Park
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who enjoy close study of character, quiet moral drama and a steadfast heroine. Austen’s comedy explores family, class and the choices that set conscience against charm.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Mansfield Park is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1814. It was her third book to appear in print, and she wrote it in her late thirties, in the quiet of a Hampshire cottage. It follows Fanny Price, a shy and poor girl who is taken from a crowded home in Portsmouth to be raised among rich relatives in a great house in Northamptonshire.
The book asks a plain question that Austen makes hard to answer. What is a good person worth in a world that rewards charm, money and rank? Fanny has little of the first two and none of the third. Around her move people who are quick, witty and attractive, and who do real harm without meaning to. You get a close picture of a family, its servants and its guests, and of the choices that decide how they end up.
Austen gives you an observant comedy with a serious centre. There are walks, dinners, a ball, a private play and a proposal that is refused. Each one tests someone's character. Let us begin where the story begins, with a small girl on a long journey and an aunt who has decided what she is for.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A poor girl is sent to MansfieldFree
- 2Fanny grows up as the lesser cousin
- 3The Crawfords bring charm and trouble
- 4A day at Sotherton shows hidden strains
- 5Sir Thomas leaves and the play begins
- 6Fanny alone says no
- 7Henry Crawford sets his heart on Fanny
- 8What the book is really about
- 9How Austen tells it
Point clé 1 sur 9
A poor girl is sent to Mansfield
The story opens with three sisters who made three very different marriages. Maria Ward marries Sir Thomas Bertram and becomes mistress of Mansfield Park, a grand house with a large estate. Her sister marries the Reverend Mr Norris, a clergyman who owes his living to Sir Thomas. The third sister marries a lieutenant of marines in Portsmouth, against her family's wishes, and spends years in poverty with a growing brood of children.
When the Portsmouth sister writes to ask for help, the sisters talk it over. Mrs Norris, the sharp, bossy one, proposes that the family take in the eldest daughter, a girl of ten named Fanny Price. She loves to arrange other people's lives, and she loves it best when someone else pays. She makes plain that Fanny will live at Mansfield, but that she herself will not be adding to her own costs.
Fanny arrives frightened, homesick and tiny for her age. The house is vast and cold to her, and her cousins are older, polished and a little amused by how little she knows. Tom, Maria and Julia Bertram laugh at her lack of French and her plain clothes. Lady Bertram, who spends her days on a sofa with a pug, takes almost no notice of her.
One person does notice. Edmund, the younger son, finds her crying on the stairs, asks what is wrong and learns that she misses her brother William. He gives her paper and helps her write to him. It is a small act, but it fixes his place in her heart for good, and Austen lets you see that this will matter more than any grand event.
The opening shows how Austen works. She does not describe a dramatic wrong. She shows a child placed a little below everyone, in a house where the kindness is real but thin. Fanny will spend years learning where she belongs, and the book is partly about how much a few steady kindnesses can build or fail to build.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Fanny Price
- A shy girl raised by wealthy relatives, Fanny values her cousin Edmund's kindness and holds firm moral convictions.
- Edmund Bertram
- Fanny's considerate cousin, Edmund plans to enter the church and is attracted to Mary Crawford.
- Sir Thomas Bertram
- Fanny's stern uncle and Edmund's father, Sir Thomas expects obedience and respectability from his household.
- Mrs Norris
- Fanny's interfering aunt, Mrs Norris flatters the Bertrams while continually reminding her poorer niece of her dependence.
- Henry Crawford
- Mary's charming brother, Henry enjoys attracting women and makes Fanny the object of his attentions.
- Mary Crawford
- Henry's witty sister, Mary attracts Edmund while questioning the clerical profession he intends to enter.
- Maria Bertram
- Sir Thomas's proud elder daughter, Maria is engaged to the wealthy Mr Rushworth without loving him.
- Lady Bertram
- Sir Thomas's indolent wife and Fanny's aunt, Lady Bertram prefers her sofa and pug to household responsibilities.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 162,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 10 h 45 min
- Listening time18 h
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Mansfield Park
What is Mansfield Park about?
It follows Fanny Price, a poor girl raised by wealthy relatives at Mansfield Park. As two charming visitors arrive, the family's values are tested, and Fanny's quiet principles are set against fashion, money and easy pleasure.
Who is Fanny Price in Mansfield Park?
Fanny is the heroine, a shy, dependent niece taken in at ten from a poor home in Portsmouth. She is gentle and often ill at ease, but she holds firmly to what she thinks is right.
Why does Fanny refuse to act in the play?
Fanny feels the play, Lovers' Vows, is improper and that her uncle Sir Thomas would object. She also thinks she lacks talent. Her refusal, under strong pressure, shows the steadiness that defines her through the book.
Is Mansfield Park hard to read?
No. The story is easy to start because it follows one clear person, Fanny Price, a shy girl sent to a great house. Austen gives you walks, dinners, a ball and a play, and each short episode is lively and easy to follow.
Is Mansfield Park a true story and when was it written?
No, it is a work of fiction. Jane Austen wrote it in the years before its publication in 1814, setting it in the English country society she knew, among landed families and the clergy.