For all those who recently said Mansfield Park was their least favourite book, allow me a sales pitch. Mansfield Park: Something for Everyone...
Are you an extrovert who wants to understand the other side, have you ever experienced: “pausing a moment for what she knew would not come, for a courage which the outside of no door had ever supplied to her“? Try Mansfield Park and live inside the head of an introvert!
Are you tired of everyone loving the highly extroverted and witty Elizabeth Bennet, Fanny Price is your heroine! Watch her go from unappreciated to, “the daughter that he wanted,” by being quietly helpful, moral, and kind, not bright and sparkling.
Do you enjoy watching university-aged people creating drama, being selfish, and having elaborate love triangles? TV ratings seems to indicate yes. Look no further than Mansfield Park! Sisters who love the same guy, unrequited love, hidden jealousy, and can the bad boy finally go good?
Not into drama? How about intelligent critiques of the Church of England, a good deal of it still relevant today? Mary Crawford has you covered!
Into Poetry? Fanny Price thinks in poetry! Check out her monologue on “tyrannic memory” or her reflections on sunlight when she’s staying with her family in Portsmouth. Mary Crawford didn’t pay attention, but you will love it!
Do you love free stuff? Who doesn’t love free stuff? Watch the master of mooching, Mrs. Norris, abscond with all the extra jellies after the ball and sponge a heath, some eggs, AND a cream cheese from Southerton. Have you ever made someone feel better by stealing green baize?
Want romance? Only read Ch 30 and forget everything else that happens!
Mansfield Park, give it another chance. (and neither movie follows the book, unfortunately, the 1983 mini is the only one true to canon).