I very much enjoyed Mansfield Park, even though it didn't have the wit of Pride and Prejudice nor the humor of Emma. It has a decidedly more serious tone, and it is not so much a discourse on love and marriage (as other Jane Austen books are), as it is on morals, principles, and even parenting. Characters are complex and well-developed. Jane Austen believably depicts shades of character, and though it was sometimes inconvenient to not know exactly how I should feel about one person or another, it was certainly a realistic portrayal of relationships - because how often, in real life, do we ever unchangingly regard other individuals in one single way, regardless of circumstances?
My wished-for ending fluctuated as the story progressed, and at more than one point I wondered how Jane Austen would bring about the satisfactory ending that I was sure she would provide. Not surprisingly, once I finished the book, I was not disappointed!
Yeah, I think I had different wished-for endings as well...I kinda wanted the Crawfords to redeem themselves and all happily ever after with the 2 couples (partly cuz I kept thinking it's weird for first cousins to get married). If I can get past the first cousins thing, then I completely love how it all turned out in the end. If they ever 'modernized' this book, I'd say they'd have to write in Fanny coming from a friend's family or a step family, as opposed to a direct relative! But i guess that's my own cultural bias.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I REALLY wanted the Crawfords to redeem themselves! That was kind of disappointing, but I'm glad everything worked out for Fanny. And yeah, with the whole first cousins thing, it's definitely weird to think of now, but you just have to remember it was a different time back then!
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I was struck with last night (watching the 1999 movie), was how the newspaper leaked (like current tabloids) the adulterous affair,and how shaming it was to Maria and the family, and these days, famous rich people have affairs so often that we barely blink an eye at such behavior! That made me kinda sad though, that we've become so calloused to these types of things, that it's just commonplace. Not that it's GOOD that Maria was outcast and shamed, but just the seriousness of the offense was captured, whereas if it happened today, to some rich girl who married for money, we'd all just be like, 'oh, well, that's not surprising, she'll be happier now.' or even 'good for her for leaving that love-less marriage'. Just sad that we often don't take marriage seriously anymore. I mean, it was a bad choice for her to marry that doofus anyway, just for his money, but then again, that was life back then, it was the only way to secure a comfortable future as a woman. Not saying it was a good way to enter a marriage, I guess that's sad in and of itself. There's probably with every generation, I guess.
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