Table of Contents

• Introduction
• What is Mansfield Park about?
• Why does Fanny behave as she does?
• How much should we like the Crawfords?
• What is the significance of the trip to Sotherton?
• Why do the theatricals matter?
• Is Fanny right to resist Henry Crawford?
• How sympathetic a figure is Sir Thomas Bertram?
• Why is Mrs Norris so unpleasant?
• What effect does Portsmouth have on Fanny?
• How important are objects in Mansfield Park?
• How deluded is Fanny?
• How believable is the ending of Mansfield Park?
• What view of the world does Mansfield Park leave us with?

About the Author

John Sutherland, described by Claire Tomalin as 'the sharpest and wittiest of literary commentators', is Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus, UCL, and has for many years been a visiting professor at the Californian Institute of Technology. He is the author of many books and more editions than he cares to count. He writes and reviews widely in the UK and the US. His most recent books are: The Boy who Loved Books (2007), Magic Moments (2008), Curiosities of Literature (2008), The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction, 2nd Edition (2009), 50 Ideas in Literature You Really Need to Know (2010, with Stephen Fender). Hes currently working on Lives of the Novelists. Jolyon Connell is the founder and editorial director of The Week and Money Week. A former Washington Correspondent of The Sunday Times, and deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph, he has a first-class degree in English from the University of St Andrews and an honorary doctorate from the same university.