What is Up with Tom Bertram

SPOILERS!!!

   So yes, I made Tom gay. But I followed canon and I am not relying on stereotypes (it’s not because he loves the theatre). I will give credit to Byrne, Paula (2013) The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things for this idea. I have not read her book and the evidence below is my own, but a summary of her opinion sparked the idea to make Tom’s character gay.

   Tom Bertram is not a major character in Mansfield Park. He does not feature much until the infamous Mansfield play, Lover’s Vows. Once that is over, he disappears again. His next entrance into the story is when he is gravely ill. We learn at the end that he has reformed his ways. So what do we know about Tom?

   One interesting thing we know is that at least at present (Tom is 25 years old for the bulk of the book), he doesn’t have any interest in women. The lovely Mary Crawford attempts to flirt with him and fails (Ch. 7, paragraph 2). Now Mary might not be his type, but Sir Thomas also comments that:

  his (Henry Crawford’s) wishing to marry at all so early is recommendatory to me. I am an advocate for early marriages, where there are means in proportion, and would have every young man, with a sufficient income, settle as soon after four-and-twenty as he can. This is so much my opinion, that I am sorry to think how little likely my own eldest son, your cousin, Mr. Bertram, is to marry early; but at present, as far as I can judge, matrimony makes no part of his plans or thoughts.

Sir Thomas does not see his son displaying interest in marrying or in women in general? This is not clear but it is something I can use as support for Tom’s inclinations.

   Next, we know that Tom has trouble telling if women are “in” or “out”. He has a conversation about it with Mary and Edmund. When Mary brings up this subject, Tom says, “I believe I have, but this is hardly fair; I see what you are at. You are quizzing me and Miss Anderson.” The story about Miss Anderson is that he mistook an “in” sister for an “out” sister. Interestingly, he expects Mary, with whom he has a passing acquaintance, to know this story. To me, that indicates how big a blunder he made. Again, Tom could just be careless, but it’s another possible indication that he just doesn’t pay attention to women and more importantly, which women are acceptable to flirt with.

   Lastly, we have Tom’s reformation:

   There was comfort also in Tom, who gradually regained his health, without regaining the thoughtlessness and selfishness of his previous habits. He was the better for ever for his illness. He had suffered, and he had learned to think: two advantages that he had never known before; and the self-reproach arising from the deplorable event in Wimpole Street, to which he felt himself accessory by all the dangerous intimacy of his unjustifiable theatre, made an impression on his mind which, at the age of six-and-twenty, with no want of sense or good companions, was durable in its happy effects. He became what he ought to be: useful to his father, steady and quiet, and not living merely for himself.

Interestingly, there is no indication that he marries. This isn’t that significant, Jane Austen also does not tell us the eventual fate of Georgiana, Kitty, or Mary in Pride & Prejudice, and we can assume that all of them marry, but again, it’s a possible clue.

   Lastly, we have the play, but more than that, the fact that this is the only time, pre-illness, that Tom is willingly at home for an extended period of time. Tom is always away from home, either at the races or hanging out with friends at party places like Weymouth. When he returns from Antigua, he’s off again right away, but when he comes with Yates and convinces the other young people to put on a play, he stays. Why?

   It’s possible that Tom wants to simply escape the responsibility of home (which Edmund always takes over in his absence) but it’s also possible that Tom doesn’t want to be around his family because he is always playing a part. The play allows him to play make-believe “honestly”. My experience with a closeted friend taught me that sometimes, if you fear your family cannot accept you as you are, it is easier to avoid them entirely then to live a lie. This is not something that I have personally experienced, but I can understand the inclination. Secrets can tear relationships apart, and in this era, Tom could never tell.

    Tom becoming ill because of a dreadful breakup is very Jane Austen, very Marianne Dashwood to be exact. As for his ending, I gave Tom the best outcome that a man of his time could reasonably expect. Molly-houses, which were the Regency equivalent of gay bars, were dangerous to visit and often raided by police. If Tom was ever caught, he could face capital punishment and most certainly family disgrace. I think it is very realistic to suppose that he would eventually marry and probably produce a child or two, however, he marries Elizabeth Elliot.

   Consent is a tricky thing when you write historical fiction and it is not fair to marry and sleep with a woman if she is unaware of your homosexuality. This would not be acceptable today. Unfortunately, Tom never trusts Elizabeth enough to tell her the truth. I hope I made it very clear that Elizabeth Elliot does not love Tom nor actually think that he loves her. Elizabeth married Tom for his title (and to get away from her new stepmother) and he married her for her money. It was a mutually unloving, mercenary relationship. This is why I used Mr. Collin’s proposal as a basis for Tom’s, because, “his attachment to her must be imaginary” and that is clear to both of them.

   It was also very common for heterosexual married men in this era to have a mistress or otherwise cheat on their spouse. Tom is acting like anyone else in an unhappy marriage at the time, he’s just going to someone of the same gender. It would be understood that sex within marriage, while hopefully enjoyable, was for making children. We see many relationships in Jane Austen’s works where a couple who certainly does not love each other have children.

   While it served my literary purposes to make Tom homosexual, it is not a decision I made lightly and I tried to write Tom’s story seriously, within the bounds of a comical book. While Jane Austen may have never address homosexuality directly (besides the comment from Mary Crawford about Rears and Vices), it is reasonable to expect that some portion of her characters would be LGBTQ+, if only because of statistical probability. I believe I have reasonable evidence from cannon to make Tom attracted to men. I hope that you enjoyed his story.

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