Farheen's Post

Henry Crawford is a medium to explain the function of men as dominating the choices of woman and a construction of the theme of morality. From the outset when introduced in Chapter IV, we see that women must let the pleasures and pains of men dominate their choices. For instance, Mary Crawford is displaced from her uncle’s home when he brings home his mistress. We are not told to expect any resistance but as a natural order of things, Mary Crawford applies to her brother, who although keeps a country house, refuses to settle in it in order to satisfy his appetite for pleasure and society. Eventually she has to apply to her step-sister which we can sense as an apprehensive step. Should she want to be removed from that society, she would have to apply to Henry again to change her situation. The idea of the male’s pain and pleasure taking precedence over a female’s and a female’s mobility subject to a male’s cooperation is quietly impressed on by the entrance of Henry Crawford into the novel.  

Mansfield Park continues Jane Austen’s spirit of channeling the ideas of morality. Here I want to bring about my ideas on the construction of Henry Crawford in terms of morality. Henry Crawford’s character can be seen as a construction of an antithesis to Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice as well as Fanny Price of Mansfield Park. Both are men of large fortune with large estates and considerable income but while Darcy is the social construction of an upright aristocrat, Crawford is a reflection of why wealth does not necessarily overlook the necessity of a sound moral character which Sir Thomas does in in Chapter XXXV by calling him a “model of constancy”. The truth is the reverse. Fanny is constructed as a simpleton, kind to the point of ingratiation and a persevering nature. Crawford, as an antithesis, is conniving and cruel apart from being of lax character: he plans on an exchange for Fanny’s affections through gratitude by gaining her brother’s commission in the navy (Chapter XXXI), he is inconsiderate and dismissive of the feelings of the Miss Betrams he flirts with including those of Fanny and he finally in Chapter XLVI reveals his true self when he is involved in an adulterous affair with Maria Rushworth and eventually elopes with her.