Jane Austen discussion

Do you feel everyone got what they deserved at the end of the novel?
I found the ending very satisfying!!

I haven't read this one yet!! can't bring myself to do it. it's about Billie Piper and ruining the whole picture for me.

I know what you mean... Billie Piper was not suitable to play Fanny Price role. The 1999 movie with Frances O'Connor as Fanny is better but not as good as I have expected. They took too many liberties with the plot.
However the novel is far better than any screen adaptation. Don't give up!

For what concerns Soph question... yes, everyone got what they deserved even if the journey to reach this point and dintinguish between good and bad characters is long.
Mansfield Park is considered the most serious and mature Jane Austen's work, in which she touches the topic of the gap between social classes even more than in other novels. However in the end she does her best to restore the natural order of things.

Is the 1999 worth watching? I want to see it.

And I agree Irene! It is her most series one and is quite different from the others. Still very good and the ending is a little more like Austen's normal endings!

I think the 1999 version is quite good for what concerns the cast and the setting. However they changed some things in the plot.
The part I found most disturbing is about Sir Bertram: the movie made him a sort of slave-trader. I don't think Jane Austen had something similar in mind...

Well I think i will watch it :) and plot changes annoy me as well!! Well, stupid plot changes!

Let me know what you think!

I will do :)
Which is your favourite MP? :)

I've seen the 1999 and the 2007 screen adaptations and the first one is my favourite... I don't know if there's any other version.
I think the lenght and the complexity of this novel would deserve a series, just like BBC P&P.

There is one which isn't bad actually. A BBC series made in 1983 :) it was good and very true to the story!

I'll look for it then! :-D

I do recommend it :) even though you can tell it was made a little while ago, it is still worth it. Well I thought so :)

Soph wrote: "There is one which isn't bad actually. A BBC series made in 1983 :) it was good and very true to the story!"

Best one it sticks very close to the story but like Soph says it is old.

It is good though isn't it Nicole? It was so very close to the book, which is always good :)

I'm so glad you started this post. . . . can I just say, this is the only Austen book that I was hoping for a different ending!! Spoiler below for those that haven't read it yet . . . . . .

I read it quite awhile ago, so forgive me for forgetting names, but I was really hoping Fanny ended up with the other man. I really was. He seemed to be redeeming himself. It's a shame Austen took a turn with that one. I didn't get why Edmund decided at the very end for Fanny. I didn't think it was explained enough and it happened so quickly. Does anyone else feel this way?

Sabrina wrote: "I'm so glad you started this post. . . . can I just say, this is the only Austen book that I was hoping for a different ending!! Spoiler below for those that haven't read it yet . . . . . .

I rea..."

Henry Crawford did seem to be turning better, until the business with Maria. I think AUsten thought he was alreayd a tainted character froim his original conduct with Maria during the play. He did seem to be quite nice though towards the end, when he was visiting Fanny in Portsmouth etc.
I agree about Edmund, It was all very quick and sudden.
In her defence,
I think that this book wasn't as much about love as her others, and more about family relationships etc and based on different things to all her other novels, making it quite a differnt novel I feel.
ALso, it was sudden but she did account for this as she said something along the lines of that they were married after what the reader thinks to be an appropriate amount of time. So, that could be anything and sort of answers for that. I think its the films that are the problem with that, as they don't get toegterh until the very, very end this is what happens in the films so in the films it does seem very, very sudden!

The end left me desiring more. Urmm Austen left me hanging on this one. The transition between Edmund's love for Fanny was odd. I felt like he grabbed her because it did not work out with Mary and Fanny was always there for him. I LOVE that Mrs. Norris and Maria went far far away :D

Agree about Mrs Norris ;)
I know what you mean. It was almost too quick really. In regards to Fanny and Edmund I wasn't satisfied really, but with everything else I was. Maria and Mrs N and Yates and Julia etc etc :) how it all turned out was great, but I would have liked to see more from Edmund and Fanny :)

Indeed, more about Edmund and Fanny but maybe Austen wanted to fill in the blanks. Somewhere near the ending she said, she something about not using dates/time to show Edmund's fancy for Fanny.

Yes she cleverly puts in that quote about them getting together after what the reader thinks is the appropriate amount of time :) clever

Very clever, makes you think.

I agree... everyone seems to have the right ending but I wanted to feel more strongly that Edmund was in love with Fanny, and had been for some time... this is my least favourite JA novel and maybe that's what it's lacking...

I do agree. I would have liked to see more, but then that isn't what this particular novel was based around so... It's a hard call.
I think this is why I liked the 1999 film as there was a real connection between them right from the off, Miller played him brilliantly. And also I enjoyed reading Edmund Bertram's diary by Amanda Grange as she showed us a little more as well :)

I need to get some more AG diaries!

Yes!

I actually just caught the Mansfield Park film starring Jonny lee Miller today and do agree that he played the role very well. I had started this book awhile ago and left it behind on a trip so I am not sure how accurate the movie is to the book. I thought Sir Bertram's character in the film came across a little bit crueler than he appeared in the book but like I said I was only about 1/4 thru the book/

JLM was a great Bertram! They did portray him a little crueler in the film as all the slavery ideas where only ever hinted at and never explicitly stated. But, I throughly enjoyed the film all the same. Shame you left your book! Hope you can finish it soon :)

JLM is great at whatever Austen hero he wants to play. Lucky me I get to see him on television every week as he is playing Sherlock Holmes in a tv show called Elementary. I got this version of Mansfield Park for Christmas and have yet to watch again. I had checked out from the library and watched it 2 already!

He can do Knightley and Bertram!

...and he's not bad to look at ;)

Sarah Louise wrote: "...and he's not bad to look at ;)"

That is true. Very different though in Elementary because you see all the tatoos and a much rougher looking JLM....but that makes it all the nicer sometimes to look at him. :)

He isn't bad to look at at all ;) who is he better looking as, Knightley or Bertram?

I have to agree with you about JLM, the 2007 Emma will never be a favourite with me, though it was enjoyable, and I positively dislike the 1999 MP, but he played both his roles very well (as well as being nice to look at.)

It's hard to say who he looked better as because I actually prefer Knightley as a leading man so I'm biased. ;)

Hahaha ;) it is hard to decided - I prefer Knightley as a character as well!

I also prefer Knightley.

I think Maria was punished too severely. Jane acknowledges that the world is too hard on sinful women, because Henry Crawford, who is equally guilty, is not really punished.

I think Mary got what she deserved. She toyed with Edmund, instead of appreciating him.

I always wonder if Thomas eventually married Susan, Fanny's younger sister. She was more forward and much more likely to attract him.