Religion, Education, and Society in Mansfield Park

Introduction: Mansfield Park Among Austen's Works

English literature is considered one of the most interesting and artistically rewarding experiences for any lover of letters. It reflects environments that are complex in their social and cultural elements, and it captures the perspectives of writers who were deeply influenced by the period in which they lived. In this sense, Jane Austen is regarded as one of the most complex literary figures, both for her dedication to her craft and for the way she conveyed her messages to readers. Among the most important novels of her literary output are Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility, all of which served as important sources of inspiration for later authors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Mansfield Park is yet another significant work by Jane Austen; however, it captured the attention of the public and critics not necessarily through its artistic style alone, but through its complicated plot. It is rather difficult to determine a single main area of interest in the novel. As one source notes, "the theme of Mansfield Park, on the other hand, cannot be so easily described. Is it about ordination? Is it an allegory on Regency England? Is it about slavery? Is it about the education of children? Is it about the difference between appearances and reality? Is it about the results of breaking with society's mores? Any or all of those themes can, and have been applied to Mansfield Park" (Austen.com, n.d.). The novel therefore represents a complex system of ideas and themes that speak to the society of its time. It is fair to say that it presents an image of a society with all its underlying aspects of social and intimate conduct.

Several important aspects shape the novel, largely because the society of the time was complex in its nature. The period was one of deep emotional sensitivity, particularly because the personal life was not a subject dealt with by many authors of the era. Precisely because emotions and personal dramas were considered a kind of taboo, novels tended to engage with these aspects extensively. This tendency is visible even in Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, which highlight the sensitive nature of the human being and its inner struggles for identity and self-acceptance. Critics have argued that in Mansfield Park Austen sought "to offer a critique of the ease with which unacceptable human feelings can be camouflaged in simplistic moral systems." In the moral universe of the novel, Fanny is "not altogether innocent…representing as she does, not open-minded Christian charity, but an inflexible moral system which has little room for generosity and which gives her every opportunity for self-deception" (Waldron, 1999).

Religion and Morality in the Novel

Religion is a significant element in the construction of the novel because it offers a perspective on the nature of the characters and the way they develop and interact with one another. Religion plays an important part throughout the novel from several angles. On the one hand, it highlights aspects of traditional religious belief; on the other, it indirectly addresses the issue of slavery as a corollary of religion and morality.

At one level, religion is the subject of discussion between characters in different contexts. In one passage, the importance of the clergy is addressed directly: "A clergyman cannot be high in state or fashion. He must never head mobs, nor set the ton in dress. But I cannot call that situation nothing which has the charge of all that is of the first importance to mankind, individually or collectively considered, temporally and eternally, which has the guardianship of religion and morals, and consequently of the manners which result from their influence. No one here can call the office nothing. If the man who holds it is so, it is by the neglect of his duty, by foregoing its just importance, and stepping out of his place to appear what he ought not to appear" (Austen, 1892, p. 88). This passage presents an idealistic view that positions the role of the Church and religion as a superior value to be respected at every level of society, with honor and justice owed to it as the guide for human action.

However, this was simply an ideal view rooted in the Church's original purpose of guidance. The actual situation of the time did not resemble this vision. Religion was no longer a source of immediate comfort and direction for many in higher society; it had become a mere attribute of everyday life rather than a spiritual guide. This is made plain in the reply that follows: "You assign greater consequence to the clergyman than one has been used to hear given, or than I can quite comprehend. One does not see much of this influence and importance in society, and how can it be acquired where they are so seldom seen themselves? How can two sermons a week, even supposing them worth hearing, supposing the preacher to have the sense to prefer Blair's to his own, do all that you speak of? Govern the conduct, and fashion the manners of a large congregation for the rest of the week? One scarcely sees a clergyman out of his pulpit" (Austen, 1892, p. 88).

These passages together illuminate the moral simplicity of the lives led at the time — not necessarily from a financial perspective, but from a moral one. The Church was no longer a beacon of hope governing personal behavior; the morality of higher society had drifted far from the morality imposed by the Church and the teachings of the Bible. The first view of religion is idealistic; the second is realistic. Austen created this dialogue precisely to emphasize and criticize the morality of the society by exposing its lack of genuine religious spirituality.

Conclusion

Sturrock, June. "Money, Morals, and Mansfield Park: The West Indies Revisited." Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 28, 2006.

Waldron, Mary. Jane Austen and the Fiction of Her Time (review). 1999. Retrieved 31 July 2008, from