Views of Marital Relationship in Mansfield Park
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In Mansfield Park Jane Austen is a staunch defender of the idea of conserving the way of life of the landed gentry that was threatened by changes in society. But her conservatism does not extend to her view of marriage. In terms of the relationship between men and women Austen's novel clearly conveys her sense of the need for an equality of relations as the basis of a marriage that works. The two people need not be the same or possess the same abilities and talents. But they must be complementary and one person, traditionally the man, cannot bear the entire weight. Her general outlook on gender relationships was not radical. She believed in marriage and she believed in it as the foundation of the life that she felt should be protected from the advance of the new spirit in society. Indeed the most radical thing about Jane Austen was that she believed that the colloquial domestic novel could be a vessel for serious thought and devoted her energies to producing a work that is complex, profound, reflective and conservative--a radical thing for anyone, especially a woman, to do in the early nineteenth century. The novel makes both the point about conserving the way of life represented by Mansfield Park and the point about the importance of equal partners in a marriage by demonstrating, by implication, that a marriage between people who are unsuited, unsteady, or simply not in possession of the moral virtues does not preserve that way of life and cannot do so. This is a
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phold them as even he believes he should. First, as Tanner mentions, the fact that Sir Thomas was a slave-owner who made money from his Antiguan plantations, "rather than his own land," means that there was "a dangerous split in his loyalties" (149). And the danger lies not only in the possibility of neglecting his English possessions but of neglecting the family and the small society in which he is expected to take the lead. The debacle of the theatrical production that takes place in his absence is, of course, symbolic of how things fall apart when no one who appreciates true decorum is in charge.
Second, as Sir Thomas only comes to understand far too late, he does not choose the correct method of conveying his principles to his children. In part he was severe with them in order to counteract Mrs. Norris' foolish indulgence and flattery. But, as he reflects after Maria is lost, Tom has nearly killed himself with dissipation, and Julia has married another fool, he could now see "that he had but increased the evil, by teaching them to repress their spirits in his presence, as to make their real disposition unknown to him" and making them turn to their ignorant aunt for indulgence (422). As Tanner says, "the characters reve
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Approximate Word count = 2427
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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