Formal and Moral Education in 'Mansfield Park' Sutirtho Roy College

Simone de Beauvoir’s belief that one “is not born” but becomes a woman holds most true in Jane Austen’s portrayal of her fictional heroines in 17th century England, such as Fanny Price in Mansfield Park – such ‘coming of age’, in a twist of the male-dominated ‘bildungsroman’, posits a conflict between manners and morals through the importance relegated to each. Through her take on the social novel, which Austen borrowed from Richardson and especially Fanny Burney, Austen seems to posit the importance of ‘good learning’ or formal education but deems a moral bent of mind that leads to ‘right thinking’ and ‘right ‘feeling’, even more important.

Austen’s admission of being the most “unlearned” and “uninformed” female who dared to be an author hardly does her justice, and instances from her own life and the words put in her characters’ mouths seem to hint at her belief in the necessity of education for girls. According to Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice, a truly accomplished woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, dancing and the modern language, while also possessing something “in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved”. Whereas men...