S03E11 Mansfield Park: Episode 11, Chapters 46-48

In this episode, we finish up reading Mansfield Park, with Chapters 46 to 48. We talk about contrasts within the book, the attitude to Maria and Henry, Edmund and Fanny’s views of Mary, Sir Thomas’s reflections in the final chapter, the wrapping up of the other characters and how we are told about Edmund falling in love with Fanny.

We discuss Fanny Price, then Ellen talks about principle and education, and Harriet looks at how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters. 

Things we mention: 

General and character discussion:

• Margaret Drabble,  “Introduction”,  Mansfield Park (1996 – Signet Classics edition)
• Anthony Powell, Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant [volume 5 of A Dance to the Music of Time] (1960)
• William Shakespeare, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) and More Talk of Jane Austen (1950)
• Tony Tanner, various works including “Introduction”, Mansfield Park (1966 – Penguin Books edition)
• Marvin Mudrick, Jane Austen; irony as defense and discovery (1952)
• Mary Brunton, Self-Control (1810)
• Linda V Troost and Sayre N Greenfield, “A History of the Fanny Wars”, Persuasions 36 (1), 2014, pp. 15–33.
• D W Harding, ‘Regulated Hatred: An aspect of the work of Jane Austen’, Scrutiny, 8 (4), 1940, pp. 346–362.
• C S Lewis, ‘A Note on Jane Austen’, Essays in Criticism, IV (4), October 1954, pp. 359–371.
• Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.
• Kingsley Amis, “What Became of Jane Austen?”, The Spectator, 4 October 1957 – republished in What Became of Jane Austen? And Other Questions (1970)

Historical discussion:

• Maria Edgeworth, Moral Tales: Angelina; Or L’amie Inconnue. the Good French Governess. Mademoiselle Panache. the Knapsack (1801)

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)
  • D.E. Stevenson, Celia’s House (1943)

For a list of music used, see this episode on our website.