Men and national security in Mansfield Park
by Sarah Ailwood
Abstract
Throughout the Regency period, nationalist ideology increasingly informed conceptions of English masculine identity. Men were constructed as the guardians of the nation, both in relation to the conflict with France, and also as the preservers of English national character and values. The men of Mansfield Park – particularly Sir Thomas, Tom and Edmund Bertram – are unequal to this task as they are unable to recognise the threat to domestic and national security posed by the Crawfords, or to redeem the estate and the family when they come to the brink of moral ruin. These men therefore fall short of the early nineteenth century ideal of English masculinity. Throughout Mansfield Park Jane Austen presents Fanny Price as the moral guide of the family and estate, and questions the wisdom of placing political and moral authority in the hands of men.
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Biography
Sarah is a PhD candidate on the School of English Literatures, Philosophy and Languages. She holds a Bachelor Degree majoring in English and Politics, with honours in English from the University of Wollongong. Her thesis research is concerned with the representation, subversion, critique and satire of masculine identities in the early nineteenth century in Jane Austen's novels.
Sarah can be contacted at sla396@uow.edu.au
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