Austen's Unmarried Heroine

It is a staple, if not a stereotype, of not just Austen novels, but novels by and for women, that the heroine must end up married (or at least in a happy relationship) by the end of the story. Of course, the world was different 200 years ago, and it was expected that women would get married (still is for the most part I would say but I think generally people are more chill about it now and you won't be a disappointment or disgrace!). Also fans of the Little Women (2019) adaptation will know that publishers wouldn't want to publish a book back then where a heroine didn't end up married at the end.

Anyway, all this to say, that I understand why in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park the protagonist, Fanny Price, ends up married by the end of the novel. However, viewing the story from a more modern persepctive I feel like it's reasonable to say that Fanny could have (and I personally believe should have) ended up not married to Edmond by the end of the story. (Also I guess spoiler alert if you haven't read the book or seen the movie).

And they were... COUSINS?!?!

Firstly, let's just start off with Edmond and Fanny are first cousins, they know they're first cousins, something that is pretty chill and normal for 200 hundred years ago but nowadays is highly frowned upon (but probably not as illegal as you would have thought it was).

Passing Moments and The Rush

My next point, I think begins with the fact that I saw the movie adaptation (1999) before I read the book. Because in the movie adaptation (and possibly in movies/tv in general) it's earsier to show characters care for each other, with an extended, longing looks, prolonged eye contact, that one scene in Pride and Prejudice (2005) where they touch their BARE HANDS! These are just small, passing moments that can at first go by without a second thought by the viewer, until the end when, you in the audience, realise that they've loved each other the whole time.

In written media I feel like it is sometimes harder to show that someone cares, at least not as subtly. In Mansfield Park, as I was reading it, it felt likt there were very little moments with Fanny and Edmond that I could see a more than familial love. The relationship with Henry is obviously at the forefront for a majority of the story- I wonder if it was Henry who was the orginial love intrest Jane wanted Fanny to end up with or if she really wanted to blindside her readers (my vote is for the latter). But it seems that the relationship with Edmond comes up out of no where at the very end of the book!

Of course, Edmond and Fanny's marriage doesn't have to be born out of pure, twin flame, soulmate engery, love, but I feel like, for the most part, that would be a diviation from Austen's other heroine's stories (expect for maybe Marianne in Sense and Sensibility because she ends up marrying for "sense". Usually Austen's "good" characters end up with the most advantageous marriages, ones that are both finically secure (and often improve the heroine's current status/finical situation) and deeply loving a romantic. I feel, as though Fanny and Edmond were kind of rushed into each other at the end. I vividly remember when I was getting close to the end of the book, holding the little chunk I had left and thinking... "Fanny and Edmond haven't gotten together yet?!".

Perhaps, Austen thought that this quote (which I use all the time and that I will end off today with) was enough for the reader to understand that Fanny and Edmond were the "happily ever after" they both deserved.

“Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore every body, not greatly in fault themselves, to tolerate comfort, and to have done with all the rest" Mansfield Park 545