Shipping and Handling: Some Words on Fanny Price and Henry Crawford

No matter who you think should have ended up together in Mansfield Park, we can all admit that keeping track of the changing feelings (and the romantic whiplash caused by Henry) is pretty exhausting. To many of us, the conclusion of the romances appear to be uneven. Maybe some of us still wonder if Ed could find lasting happiness with a woman like Mary. Maybe we feel cheated by the convenience of Henry’s temptation.

I hope that, over the course of this analysis, I’ve made a well-structured case against Henry and Fanny being a couple. A spirited courtship, in theory, can make for a strong relationship; but all the spirit belongs to Henry, creating an imbalance that does not bode well for their union. Yet Austen lays out a potential blueprint for a courtship between the two that would lead to the “reward” of Fanny’s accepting his proposal. This is unique in Austen’s novels, so it’s worth it to take a closer look.

“Henry Crawford, ruined by early independence and bad domestic example, indulged in the freaks of a cold–blooded vanity a little too long. Once it had, by an opening undesigned and unmerited, led him into the way of happiness. Could he have been satisfied with the conquest of one amiable woman’s affections, could he have found sufficient exultation in overcoming the reluctance, in working himself into the esteem and tenderness of Fanny Price, there would have been every probability of success and felicity for him. His affection had already done something. Her influence over him had already given him some influence over her. Would he have deserved more, there can be no doubt that more would have been obtained, especially when that marriage had taken place, which would have given him the assistance of her conscience in subduing her first inclination, and brought them very often together. Would he have persevered, and uprightly, Fanny must have been his reward, and a reward very voluntarily bestowed, within a reasonable period from Edmund’s marrying Mary.”

Not only does the above paragraph demonstrate how Henry would win over Fanny, it also implies that Mary would marry Edmund regardless of Edmund’s second-brother status. There’s no indication of what a union between Edmund and Mary would look like. Would Mary grow bored as the wife of a country clergyman? Or would she find entertainment in urging Fanny to marry her brother? And, hell, there’s no reason to think that Mrs. Grant won’t be around as a sympathetic sound board for her. Okay, so Mary has one or two outlets once she gets bored of Edmund (or tries to convince him to move to London). Tom would still be alive and Edmund, the younger son, so Mary wouldn’t have gotten her wish. This means that Fanny would hold onto the secret of said wish … forever. Maybe she’d be able to brush it off; maybe the severity of it would fade over time. But Fanny will always know that Edmund married the woman who thought it was natural and just to hope that a bad fever would kill off his older brother.

Let’s extrapolate further: this knowledge (if she keeps the letter, she would have actual documentation) would likely exacerbate her disappointment in Edmund. However, Fanny’s not going to spill the beans. Edmund has made his choice and Fanny will respect it and double-down on her efforts to get over her crush. One of those ways will involve Henry renewing his proposal and her at last giving him the answer he wants. I think that is what Austen means when she describes Fanny’s acceptance being “voluntarily bestowed”: she wouldn’t be in love with Henry, but rather, she’d know that marrying Henry would please everyone she loves. She has already admitted that she’d like to provide a home for Susan, another motivating factor. A third would be that, in this timeline, Sir Thomas hasn’t suffered from scandal and therefore isn’t inclined to learn any lessons about humility. Even if Fanny wouldn’t figure out that he was trying to send a message by dumping her onto her Portsmouth family, she’d doubtless continue to experience him giving her the cold shoulder.

This means that Fanny marries a man with a different set of values than her, a massive chip on his shoulder, and no compunction to quit flirting with other women. Fanny knows (thanks to Mary) that Henry stayed in London specifically to socialize with Maria, her own cousin. Knowing Mary’s sense of humor, she might even tease Fanny about it on a semi-consistent basis. At best, Fanny will be treated with respect (Henry has already gone on about her virtuous qualities) and Susan will be there to keep her company. At worst, he’ll end up having an affair with Maria which will not be kept secret for long; either he will get sloppy or Maria’s resentment will out.

All this to say that I don’t see a scenario in which Henry and Fanny will be happy together. This is not supported in the text, either: Austen focuses on Henry—on his feelings of triumph and the pleasure that the challenge brings him. She says nothing about Fanny’s potential happiness with him. Fanny would appreciate Henry’s offer and how long he waited for her. Perhaps this gratitude would serve her well, just as it did when she lived in Mansfield. But happiness doesn’t spring from gratitude alone. Fanny will have let everyone around her convince her to go against what her inner guide has been saying. She would doubt herself and her strength of character would likely erode. She will be “a grateful little wife,” as Mary predicted, but she will no longer be Fanny, because her character growth will be stunted.

Furthermore, her relationship with Sir Thomas would stagnate: he won’t learn to appreciate or respect her because you cannot have respect for someone who will ultimately bend to your will. Why do you think the gentle bond that forms between the two characters in the second volume happens in tandem with Henry’s growing obsession with her? These men are brought together through their interests in Fanny and through their determination to make her do what they say. That Sir Thomas’s low point as a character corresponds with what appears to be the high point of Henry’s is a deliberate choice on Austen’s part. Both men remain ignorant of Fanny’s heart, and both men refuse to listen to her. Henry’s love and Sir Thomas’s sense of order set similar limitations on Fanny.

This may sound like a worst-case scenario. But I firmly believe that a Fanny who marries Henry Crawford is no longer the Fanny of Mansfield Park. At Portsmouth, she explores her newfound independence, but how long will that inclination last if she’s pressured to marry Henry? For that matter, why would the narrative have her leave Mansfield after her epiphany that Mansfield is the only home she knows? It would screw with her identity and possibly damage her psyche even more.

I hope this foray into hypotheticals and what-if analyses made some sense. I think it’s helpful to understand, narratively-speaking, why Henry and Fanny were not meant to be. Like I’ve mentioned, there is nothing wrong with getting swept up into an opposites-attract romance. But those center around personality traits, not the opposite ends of maturity levels and the emotional intelligence spectrum. Henry’s theoretical conquest of Fanny’s heart cannot and should not be mistaken for deep understanding and newfound enlightenment on his part, and her theoretical acceptance of his proposal, an autonomous choice on hers.