The peculiarity of the marriages in “Mansfield Park” by Jane Austen

Abstract

The article focuses on the novel “Mansfield Park”, which explores the category of «Englishness» through the prism of the concept of marriage. In the novel by Jane Austen marriages are presented through the opposition of Englishness/ Britishness, authenticity/simulation, and are also through the concepts of endogamy and exogamy. In the novel by Jane Austen only one marriage between Edmund Bertram and Fanny Price can be considered as the embodiment of genuine Englishness and, accordingly, endogamy. This becomes possible primarily due to the image of Fanny, whose pastoral essence, connected with the motive of authenticity, turns out to be very important for understanding “Englishness”.