Why this is one of my favorite scenes: I have a soft spot for Henry Crawford. I can't help it. This scene especially has always stood out as one of my favorites and one of the most memorable because I think Henry really shows himself here. He shows that he does understand Fanny and the life she leads at Mansfield, and he is observant and caring -- even if he doesn't always demonstrate this. Henry Crawford, like all of Jane's men, is far from perfect -- but he is learning and growing, and I find him more relatable and endearing than Edmund Bertram OR Fanny Price.
Edmund is my least favorite of Austen's heroes, though I do adore Mansfield Park. Henry Crawford, on the other hand, is by far my favorite of her rogues. I do not think the book should have ended differently than it did, but I can't get over the sense that Fanny is immeasurably above him. This is what I attempted to channel in my Mini Jane FanFic submission.
ReplyDeleteGreat reading by the way. It's a lost art that MP always reminds me to cultivate.