Mansfield Park 4 (Chapters 35 - 42)

 SPOILERS!!!

Everybody thinks that Fanny is a fool and should agree to marry Henry Crawford. Even Edmund is of the opinion that Henry is a good man and Fanny should be happy with him. Fanny explains her reasons, even tells him about her disapproval of Henry's treatment of her cousins, Mary and Julia. Yet, Edmund does not share the opinion and thinks that was a question of harmless flirtation. Naturally Fanny does not voice the first reason for her refusal: she is in love with someone else, Edmund.

Mary Crawford comes to see Fanny and the family the day before she goes to London. She is angry that Fanny has turned Henry down, and in her speech she tries to make Fanny see how wonderful her brother is. Both Mary and Henry are going away, and Fanny feels relief even though she knows she will miss Mary. Edmund is to spend some time in London and Fanny fears that this will be the occasion when he will eventually ask Mary to marry.

Fanny finds herself alone in Mansfield Park with her aunts and uncle. Then Sir Thomas comes up with the idea that Fanny could visit her family in Southampton, and that way she can spend time with William. Sir Thomas has some other ulterior motives. If Fanny realises what her life with her family is like, she will reconsider her feelings towards Henry.

Sir Thomas is right in a way. William travels with Fanny to Southampton, and on arriving, he gets notice that he should board at once. So Fanny doesn't get to spend time with her brother. Her parents and other siblings are a disappointment. It is noisy and chaotic in the house. Her mother is like her aunt Bertram, weak and inefficient, but without the money. Her father has no interest in her and is often drunk. Her brothers are out of control. The only one who she feels she likes is Susan, her fourteen-year-old sister, who looks up to her, and they spend many hours talking. Fanny misses Mansfield Park and the peace and quiet there, and the soft and controlled behaviour of the family.

Henry turns up announced, and she thinks that he will be scared away when he learns what her family is like, but he spends those days with her and her parents and siblings. He expresses his fondness again, and after seeing him, Fanny misses Mansfield Park even more. Henry has told her that Edmund is in London, but she has not received any letter from him, and she fears that when she gets one, it will be to announce his engagement. 

I am curious to know how the book will finish. I imagine that Fanny will end up with Edmund, but in the last chapters she makes reference to having improved her opinion of Henry. So now I wonder what will be her end.