What is the main theme of Mansfield Park?

Passivity. One of the major divides in Mansfield Park is between action and passivity. Characters are largely defined by their active or their passive natures, and this division extends over into other contra. read more

Scholars suggest that social mobility is the primary theme in all of Austen's novels; this idea seems especially apparent in Mansfield Park. The opening chapter, in which the three Ward sisters marry men of very different social categories (high, middle and low), fixes this construct as the novel's primary theme. read more

Mansfield Park is often the"least-liked" novel of Austen's oeuvre-- the novel's protagonist, Fanny Price, is an acquired taste; she is often priggish, timid, a bit drippy, and far less fun than Mary Crawford, Fanny's"rival" for the affections of Edward Bertram. read more