S03E09 Mansfield Park: Episode 9, Chapters 35-39

In this episode, we read Chapters 35 to 39 of Mansfield Park. We talk about how Edmund and Mary dismiss Fanny’s concerns about Henry, Sir Thomas’s decision to send Fanny back to Portsmouth, Fanny and William’s journey, the comedy of the arrival in Portsmouth, Fanny’s reaction to the house, and the very realistic and grounded nature of the Portsmouth scenes .

We discuss Edmund Bertram, then Harriet’s partner Michael talks about the Marines. Harriet looks at how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters, and then Ellen talks about a later nineteenth century novel influenced by Mansfield Park.

Things we mention:

General and character discussion:

• John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943)

Historical discussion:

• Brian Southam, Jane Austen and the Navy (2003)

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)
  • Charlotte M. Yonge, Heartsease (1854)
    And an article about the connection with Mansfield Park:
    • June Sturrock, “Money, morals, and Mansfield Park: the West Indies revisited“, Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 28, annual 2006, pp. 176+.

For a list of music used, and a map of Mansfield Park locations, see this episode on our website.