Mansfield Park

Fanny Price is the protagonist of Mansfield Park. At the beginning of the novel, she is a metaphorical orphan. An unwanted burden to the Price family, Fanny is dependent on the charity of her relatives, the Bertrams. Her lack of a solid place in the world is emphasized in her initial treatment at Mansfield Park (largely instigated by Mrs. Norris). The lack of a fire in her room is a reminder that, while Fanny may live in the same household, she is not a Bertram and does not share their social status.

Sickly, “timid and shy” (49), Fanny is an unusual protagonist for Austen. The author’s heroines are typically lively and undergo character development involving overcoming character flaws. However, as Fanny embodies constancy and moral integrity, her character arc is largely static in terms of inner growth. Therefore, her trajectory in the novel involves the other characters coming to value her understated traits. Fanny’s journey of increasing importance at Mansfield Park corresponds with a rise in her social status from poor relation to Edmund Bertram’s wife. Her rags-to-riches transformation evokes the fairy tale Cinderella in that moral goodness is patient and ultimately all-prevailing.

Fanny’s character is central to the theme of