S03E06 Mansfield Park: Episode 6, Chapters 22-25

In this episode, we read Chapters 22 to 25 of Mansfield Park. We talk about the friendship between Fanny and Mary, the tension between Mary and Edmund, Henry’s plan to make Fanny fall in love with him (and Mary’s reaction), William’s view of Fanny, the tour de force of Chapter 25 (the Speculation chapter), and Ellen’s articulation of why she cares about what happens to Fanny.We discuss Dr and Mrs Grant, then Harriet’s partner Michael talks about the navy, with a focus on the process of passing from midshipman to lieutenant. Harriet talks about how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters.Things we mention: General and character discussion:John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)Pam Perkins, “A Subdued Gaiety: The Comedy of Mansfield Park“, Nineteenth-Century Literature, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Jun., 1993).Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) Barbara Pym, Excellent Women (1952) Mary Grant Bruce, Back to Billabong (1921) [NB Goodreads has put up a quite misleading cover illustration.]Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (1838)Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850) Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903) L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna (1913)J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997)Frances Burney (Burneyesque heroine)Elizabeth Goudge, Henrietta’s House (1942)Historical discussion:Brian Southam, Jane Austen and the Navy (2003) Samantha Cavell, Playing at command: midshipmen and quarterdeck boys in the Royal Navy, 1793-1815 (2006) [Master’s thesis] and A Social History of Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the Royal Navy, 1761-1831 (2010) [Ph.D. thesis] For a list of other references and music used, see this episode on our website.