Chapter 4 discussionOne of the things that's so interesting to me about the Bertram sisters and Fanny is the active/passive dichotomy. On a superficial level, the sisters appear to be active and Fanny passive, but there are ways in which the sisters are passive too. The line that sticks out to me is
...before he had been at Mansfield a week, {Julia} was quite ready to be fallen in love with. Julia herself has no sense of being in love, or that she herself should be in love, only that Henry Crawford is agreeable and therefore he can fall in love with her. (Much like Maria is engaged to Mr. Rushworth because he is in love with her, and Lady Bertram is married to Sir Thomas because he fell in love with her.)
But it's not a case of these women have been socialized to see themselves as objects. Maria and Julia are the passive recipients of men's affections, but at the same time, the men themselves are the objects.
Miss Bertram's engagement made him in equity the property of Julia... (And poor Maria indeed. This is why love matches are important.)
Unrelated, but I love that Henry isn't handsome, and how we witness the transformation charm can make on a person's appearance. It's not "beauty's only skin deep", but rather an acknowledgement that personality is as much a factor in a person's physical attractiveness as clear skin / symmetrical features / nice teeth / other socially recognized physical characteristics.
Henry really is dastardly likeable. He's perceptive, wry, just the right amount of self-effacing. Mary is too. In a way, they're almost set up to be the protagonists of the story, being immediately likeable to the reader and with a clearly established pattern for their character arcs in their cynicism regarding marriage.
Can't quite articulate my thoughts on the in/out discussion between Tom, Edmund, and Mary, but I did like it. (Also, LMAO, Edmund is such a know-it-all.)
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Humans are social creatures in general, so I like how the Crawford's are built to be very good at socializing and social politics. They couldn't get away with saying what they said if they didn't act charming about it. I think it's not just personality, but the kind of personality that knows how to be charming in the right circumstances, that is very well adapted to their environment. I think he and Mary could have had those traits but displayed them in the wrong way, but they didn't.
The in/out discussion was fun; it also showed a kind of ambiguity for Fanny's role. The Bertrams' don't seem to know what is planned for her exactly, since she's not to be the lady their daughters are, but she is family and a lady. They haven't known all along beyond that she would be provided for in some way; they thought she would be with Mrs. Norris at first, and they thought it again when she was fifteen. Of course she is younger too. It's conceivable that what happens later is what was planned after Mrs. Norris wouldn't take her the second time: that after at least one daughter was taken care of, Fanny could be 'out'.