Who is the heroine of “Mansfield Park” (1814) by Jane Austen?
Correct answer to the quiz question
Fanny Price
The heroine of Jane Austen’s novel “Mansfield Park” (1814) is called Fanny Price.
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The heroine of Jane Austen’s novel “Mansfield Park” (1814) is called Fanny Price. As a child, Fanny grows up in rather modest circumstances until she is taken to Mansfield Park by her wealthy aunt and her family. There she lives among relatives, but is treated as inferior by most of them. Only her cousin Edmund treats her with respect and warmth, which creates a special bond between them.
Fanny is a quiet, sensitive and very moral character. She observes her surroundings closely, but rarely speaks her mind openly – quite unlike many of Austen’s other main female characters. It is precisely this reticence and her inner strength that makes her stand out. When a charismatic young man named Henry Crawford falls in love with her in the course of the plot, Fanny remains steadfast and refuses to marry him, even though it could improve her social standing. She recognizes his fickle nature – something that other characters in the novel fail to see through.
Fanny Price thus embodies a different ideal of a heroine: not loud, not rebellious, but profound, morally firm and consistent in her convictions. With her, Jane Austen shows that true strength can also be quiet. Have you ever read one of Austen’s novels?
