Fanny Price And Sir Thomas Bertram

My Favourite Relationship Dynamic In Mansfield Park

The well meant condescensions of Sir Thomas Bertram by Charles E. Brock

Hello!!!

This is Joyie and welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet where I talk all things books!

This week, I haven’t read a single line from any book. Have you been reading anything this week?

So in my last week’s letter, I talked about Mansfield Park. Why even after a re-read it remains my least favourite Jane Austen novel. There I mentioned that my favorite relationship dynamic in the novel is that of Fanny and her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. I think it is the one relationship that is the closest to the heart of Fanny’s character journey throughout the story. 

Sir Thomas is rich, well-accomplished and respected in society (also, a slave owner most likely, but the story doesn’t really go there). He’s quite ‘conservative’ in his views, and very strictly enforces those views upon his family, especially his children. However, he is also emotionally distant, so even though he has good intentions, it doesn't get conveyed well to his children. He is feared by them but hardly loved or respected.

This Sir Thomas takes Fanny in. Partly out of duty towards his wife’s family and I believe it was also partly a vanity boost, as if he’s doing some great charity by taking in a poor child. 

Fanny holds similar moral values as him. So ideally it could be a great dynamic between them but it doesn’t happen that way because, even though Sir Thomas provides for Fanny, he doesn’t consider her in the same regard as his own children. And given his distant and strict nature, a timid girl like Fanny never dares to get close to him. 

Then Fanny rejects the proposal of Henry, a man Sir Thomas considers an excellent match. It’s because she is in love with Edmund and also because she knows Henry to be morally corrupt. None of Sir Thomas’ own children, despite not agreeing with his values and finding them suffocating, ever openly defy him the way Fanny does. And the irony is that, unlike his children, Fanny actually holds similar values. But being unaware of Henry’s true nature, Sir Thomas fails to see that. 

He tries to convince her with his authority and when that doesn’t work, he sends her home specifically so that seeing the poor living condition of her own family, she’d be grateful for everything Sir Thomas has provided her with and accept Henry's proposal. Of course that doesn’t happen and in the end when Sir Thomas learns about Henry ‘s true nature, he stops seeing him as an excellent match. This, and the knowledge that most of his children have turned out to be disappointments, is what finally reconciles him and Fanny. It also makes him see the flaws in his way.

I think because Sir Thomas is the main authority figure in the story, and Fanny, who is extremely timid by nature, is the one who directly challenges his authority, and in the end wins said challenge, it is the relationship through which the development of her character is the most evident. As I said in my last week’s letter, Fanny isn’t so much about changing as a character as she is about making other characters change, and in making Sir Thomas change is where her biggest character strength lies.

What about you? Have you read Mansfield Park? Do you like Fanny? I'd love to hear about it!!!

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That’s it for today, I'll be back in your inbox next week.

Until then,

Joyie 🌻