Comments on: Literal and Metaphoric Slavery in Mansfield Park http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997 Reading, Writing, Movies and Mothering in Minneapolis, Mostly Tue, 12 May 2026 07:37:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Mags http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997&cpage=1#comment-9026 Mags Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:02:10 +0000 http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997#comment-9026 I meant the elopement with Henry. She gave up great wealth (Rushworth is richer than Mr. Darcy) and social position to run away with him. I don't think it was because she was in love with him, though she might have thought he would marry her eventually, as Mary hoped he would. She entered into her engagement voluntarily, because it was a girl's duty to marry and if possible to marry well. I don't think she thought it through--and wouldn't have if there were no Henry Crawford in the case. Though I agree about the "so there" nature of her marriage. Perhaps her father could have talked her out of it if she hadn't been nursing wounded pride over Henry. MP is a great novel to discuss, isn't it? :-) I meant the elopement with Henry. She gave up great wealth (Rushworth is richer than Mr. Darcy) and social position to run away with him. I don’t think it was because she was in love with him, though she might have thought he would marry her eventually, as Mary hoped he would.

She entered into her engagement voluntarily, because it was a girl’s duty to marry and if possible to marry well. I don’t think she thought it through–and wouldn’t have if there were no Henry Crawford in the case. Though I agree about the “so there” nature of her marriage. Perhaps her father could have talked her out of it if she hadn’t been nursing wounded pride over Henry.

MP is a great novel to discuss, isn’t it? :-)

]]> By: girldetective http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997&cpage=1#comment-9003 girldetective Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:41:13 +0000 http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997#comment-9003 To which of Maria's acts are you referring--her marriage to Rushworth or her affair with Henry? I read her decision to marry as reckless, mercenary, and a "so there" to Crawford that obviously didn't work. Her affair with HC at the end was a desperate bid to get out of the marriage that she entered into so rashly. Like so many women, in life and literature, she paid a high price for sexually flouting convention. Her exile with Mrs. Norris was the very embodiment of Sartrian hellishness. I thought it was depicted well, and economically, in the 1999 MP film. To which of Maria’s acts are you referring–her marriage to Rushworth or her affair with Henry? I read her decision to marry as reckless, mercenary, and a “so there” to Crawford that obviously didn’t work. Her affair with HC at the end was a desperate bid to get out of the marriage that she entered into so rashly. Like so many women, in life and literature, she paid a high price for sexually flouting convention. Her exile with Mrs. Norris was the very embodiment of Sartrian hellishness. I thought it was depicted well, and economically, in the 1999 MP film.

]]> By: Mags http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997&cpage=1#comment-8917 Mags Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:24:05 +0000 http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997#comment-8917 Maria's act is really desperate, and Austen even says flat-out that there is a double standard: Henry can go about his life as if nothing happened, but Maria is stuck in the country with Mrs. Norris. Maria’s act is really desperate, and Austen even says flat-out that there is a double standard: Henry can go about his life as if nothing happened, but Maria is stuck in the country with Mrs. Norris.

]]> By: girldetective http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997&cpage=1#comment-8912 girldetective Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:44:18 +0000 http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997#comment-8912 Mags, THANK YOU for expanding so well on your comment about restriction. My example of the shrubbery was a weak one. I think it's interesting to compare Fanny and Jane Fairfax. They are both intelligent women with good family connections but no money, and it is this lack that so limits their possibilities and their agency. And they are interesting to contrast with Maria, who willingly enters into the metaphorical slavery of the marriage to Rushworth, for its social position and money, then can't stand it, and does get out, rather messily. Mags, THANK YOU for expanding so well on your comment about restriction. My example of the shrubbery was a weak one. I think it’s interesting to compare Fanny and Jane Fairfax. They are both intelligent women with good family connections but no money, and it is this lack that so limits their possibilities and their agency. And they are interesting to contrast with Maria, who willingly enters into the metaphorical slavery of the marriage to Rushworth, for its social position and money, then can’t stand it, and does get out, rather messily.

]]> By: Mags http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997&cpage=1#comment-8878 Mags Sat, 28 Jul 2007 05:02:08 +0000 http://www.girldetective.net/?p=997#comment-8878 Hi, By "restriction" I meant Fanny being shuttled about against her will, first to MP and then to Portsmouth, and Maria quoting "I can't get out, said the starling." Think about how Maria sold herself into "slavery" of a sort in her loveless marriage to Rushworth for position and fortune, and how supposed slave owner Sir Thomas attempted to "sell" Fanny into a similar marriage with Henry Crawford. Maria's unhappiness is seen; Fanny's unhappiness in a marriage to Crawford can only be imagined. In Emma, there is a reference made to slavery by Jane Fairfax, to which Mrs. Elton replies, "Mr. Suckling has always been a friend to the abolition." Yet Mrs. Elton (whose surname, Hawkins, and hometown, Bristol, can be read as a reference to a slave-ship builder) insisted on selling Jane into service as a governess to one of Mr. Suckling's rich friends. The slavery references ARE there in those two novels but I think it's more interesting to consider them in the light of the situation of women in Jane Austen's society than as mere commentary on British colonialism. Hi,

By “restriction” I meant Fanny being shuttled about against her will, first to MP and then to Portsmouth, and Maria quoting “I can’t get out, said the starling.” Think about how Maria sold herself into “slavery” of a sort in her loveless marriage to Rushworth for position and fortune, and how supposed slave owner Sir Thomas attempted to “sell” Fanny into a similar marriage with Henry Crawford. Maria’s unhappiness is seen; Fanny’s unhappiness in a marriage to Crawford can only be imagined.

In Emma, there is a reference made to slavery by Jane Fairfax, to which Mrs. Elton replies, “Mr. Suckling has always been a friend to the abolition.” Yet Mrs. Elton (whose surname, Hawkins, and hometown, Bristol, can be read as a reference to a slave-ship builder) insisted on selling Jane into service as a governess to one of Mr. Suckling’s rich friends.

The slavery references ARE there in those two novels but I think it’s more interesting to consider them in the light of the situation of women in Jane Austen’s society than as mere commentary on British colonialism.

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