"William... her constant companion and friend, her advocate with her mother in every distress.."
The words used to describe the only sibling dear to Fanny are strangely and somewhat disturbingly similar to the character sketch I began to draw in my mind of her love interest Edmund. As if the relationship of the two siblings is mapped onto the initial relationship between Edmund and Fanny, the whole theme of care and affection for Fanny is repeated at the hands of Edmund once she arrives at Mansfield Park. Edmund continues with his act of brotherly affection much through the novel with one such instance being his defense of Fanny and projection of her as the only one who opposed the rehearsing of the play 'Lovers vows'. Now, as a typical girl obsessed with fairy tales I am quite pro- epic love story type situations, however I was awkwardly disturbed by the unavoidable similarities between Fanny's brother and love interest. This became an immediate source of irritation while analysing the progressing relationship between Fanny and Edmund and weirdly enough my mind trailed off to create my own version of the Oedipus complex (deliberate dumbed down analysis of Freud in my defense) where the sister is pining for someone eerily enough like her own brother. Had William been of a slight different nature with respect to his dealings with Fanny, I would have been more into the whole Edmund-Fanny love story at play.
Having vented out my thoughts regarding the creepy angle of the love story, I believe I must put in something serious in this post.
Although I felt that the course's name 'Domesticity and Dominance' is a dead giveaway that much of the theme followed will be centred around ideas of patriarchy and dominance within the structure of the household , I was intrigued and fascinated throughout this week by the idea of studying a Jane Austen novel through the concept of Slavery. For this reason I came to look at William too as an integral character in the recurring theme. Similar to how slaves come to associate themselves to one particular companion, who becomes central to their time at a plantation, Fanny too gets used to such a companion in the form of Edmund at Mansfield Park. However, once she goes back to Portsmouth it is primarily due to the presence of William that the whole theme of displacement and slavery begins to take effect. William is similar to that slave companion and through his presence Fanny begins to relate to her surroundings upon initial arrival at Portsmouth. Once he leaves, Fanny faces alienation with a heightened sense that a slave would typically feel at the loss of that companion. As Austen writes, 'William was gone and the home he had left her in Fanny could not conceal it from herself..'. Hence, even though William is practically non existent in the novel, to me he plays that crucial role in strengthening the theme of slavery, where it is his presence that makes Fanny a slave at Mansfield Park and Portsmouth alike.
Although I felt that the course's name 'Domesticity and Dominance' is a dead giveaway that much of the theme followed will be centred around ideas of patriarchy and dominance within the structure of the household , I was intrigued and fascinated throughout this week by the idea of studying a Jane Austen novel through the concept of Slavery. For this reason I came to look at William too as an integral character in the recurring theme. Similar to how slaves come to associate themselves to one particular companion, who becomes central to their time at a plantation, Fanny too gets used to such a companion in the form of Edmund at Mansfield Park. However, once she goes back to Portsmouth it is primarily due to the presence of William that the whole theme of displacement and slavery begins to take effect. William is similar to that slave companion and through his presence Fanny begins to relate to her surroundings upon initial arrival at Portsmouth. Once he leaves, Fanny faces alienation with a heightened sense that a slave would typically feel at the loss of that companion. As Austen writes, 'William was gone and the home he had left her in Fanny could not conceal it from herself..'. Hence, even though William is practically non existent in the novel, to me he plays that crucial role in strengthening the theme of slavery, where it is his presence that makes Fanny a slave at Mansfield Park and Portsmouth alike.
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