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I can’t leave Mansfield Park alone just now.

One of the things the recent PBS version did include (I prefer not to dwell upon how much vital material it left out) was to include the episode of Fanny’s amber cross and the chains she has for it.  The cross came from her brother.  Edmund offers her a chain for it, and Henry Crawford does too.  Which should she choose?  Fortunately in the book Henry’s chain is too large to go through the loop, so it has to be Edmund’s.  And so Fanny wears the cross to the ball (which was excised from this version).  The symbolism is hard to miss.  The brother who loves her offers a gift that reflects religious principle. Edmund, like a brother to her, offers the supporting chain.  She wears it round her neck and thus keeps both men close to her heart on a public occasion.  Henry’s chain doesn’t have to be refused; it simply doesn’t fit – perhaps because it is too bulky and showy – just as he isn’t a good fit for the family.  Elegant, isn’t it?  And it’s also based in Jane Austen’s own experience because her brother Charles sent her and her sister small crosses from the various ports he called at in the Mediterranean.

In Jane Austen’s version of the tale we have a Fanny who is sickly, and somewhat immobile - and this is part of her purpose.  While everyone else is rushing about she remains, still, moral, upholding values that others seek to subvert.  She resolutely holds out against the acting - not just because Sir Thomas would object but because she sees it is dangerous for people to ‘play’ at emotions on the pretence that it is ‘theatrical’.  Given the play-acting on and off the stage we cannot help but agree.  And she’s right as we discover.