I feel like I need to explain a bit more about why these guys are my Model Austen Couple ™
When you look at it from a modern perspective, all of the romances in Austen's stories are fundamentally flawed: They rely on a social system that subjugates and exploits women and minorities for the benefit of wealthy landholders.
Mr Darcy can play the part of a generous and chivalrous gentleman because...
[Mormonhippie braces for fangirl hate]
...he's one of the very few people in that economy who can afford to.
Darcy's the elite, and everyone else is *rightfully* (as far as the narrative is concerned) obliged honor to his generosity and munificence.
[Now, I personally enjoy reading Austen's perspective on this social system as a kind of:
"Whaddup, girls? Today Imma show you how to make The Patriarchy your Bitch..."
But really, the truth is, half of what's so charming about these stories is that they take place in a world with different set of rules, customs and standards (One where it is perfectly A-Ok for a 16 year old girl to get with a 35 year old man without raising an eyebrows...)]
When you read Austen, you realize that: 1) social justice isn't a thing yet (but Social Propriety is), 2) it's just accepted that women don't get to chose what they want to do with their lives, and 3) it's perfectly A-OK for people to marry other people to whom they are already related.
I can't pretend that this is a world that I would want to live in, but I also can't pretend that it's a world that didn't exist.
Fanny Price and Edmond Bertram are cousins...and they are also soulmates. It's actually really unique in the Austen's literature that these two people would be very, very close emotionally whether they actually "fell in love" or not.
They were actually friends for a very long time before they became romantically attached and they get to interact outside of a the context context of a Regency Courtship setting of dance or dinner party.
And they get to do a lot of something other Austen couple's get to do only very rarely:
- TALK to each other
They're confidants; they can talk about anything without fear that the other person is gonna judge them. They don't always agree, and sometimes when they disagree, one or the other of them will be pretty upfront and all: "Well, that was a stupid thing to do..." But they still respect each other's autonomy.
Fanny and Edmond grew up together, they know the best and worst of each other, they encourage each other and defend each other.
All of this exists before they "fall in love"
[Now, is that not the way it should be? From a modern perspective at least? I think so!]
Because even tho she likes him as "more than just a friend"
She also likes him as "more than just a boyfriend"
This is an admirable thing to do, however it's not terribly exciting to read about...
Then Mr Henry Crawford shows up.
Now Henry Crawford isn't a bad guy; he's self-indulgent, entitled, and a flirt, but he's not a predator (though several people seem to read him that way). Just like her other villains, Austen establishes him as a selfish person who didn't know what was good for him.
Henry shows up and bees a flirt (because it's what he knows how to do). And the Bertram cousins, being the young naive, sexually repressed things that they are, become enamored with him.
(And Henry's like, "Well, of course they are! I'm awesome!")
It's established pretty early on that his flirtations are pretty much a game for him. And the only one who sees what he's up to is Fanny (even if she doesn't understand it entirely).
It isn't long before Mr Crawford gets bored with the Bertrams and turns his romantic sights toward Fanny, the only (female) person in the household who isn't fawning over him. And he goes at great lengths to win her over.
This is where interpretations of this character diverge:
It's pretty clear that the more she rejects his advances, the more invested he is in pursuing her. I like that we don't if maybe he did really grow to love her in the end, or if it was just his own competitive-playboy mentality (maybe he can't tell the difference). But ultimately, it doesn't matter unless she feels it too.
The last conversation they share together, is the first and only time they communicate in anything remotely like the way Fanny and Edmond do.
'After a moment's reflection, Mr. Crawford replied, "I know Mansfield, I know its way, I know its faults toward you. I know the danger of your being so far forgotten as to have your comforts give way to the imaginary convenience of any single being in the family."'
^^He's referring to her secondary status in the Bertram family in the most tactful way he can. He isn't even flouting himself as the knight in shining armor she's repeatedly demonstrated that she doesn't need. It's a rare moment of empathy and real understanding between these two polar opposite characters.
- Is he changing his ways? (No, He later has an affair with one of the Bertram cousins...who is married at the time.)
- Has he finally proven himself as a man worthy of Fanny's affections? (Also no)
What he's actually learned, is a very painful, very important lesson that Fanny's known implicitly all along:
