Mary Crawford (Mansfield Park)

During the family visit to Sotherton Court, the young people enter the chapel and Mary, overhearing some family banter, learns of Edmund's intention to become a clergyman. Astonished and disappointed, she attempts to dissuade Edmund from his ministry. Her strategy ranges from gentle persuasion – 'You really are fit for something better. Come, do change your mind. It is not too late. Go into the law' – to cruel attempts to emasculate him: 'Men love to distinguish themselves, and in either of the other lines [army or law], distinction may be gained, but not in the church. A clergyman is nothing'.[4]

The Crawfords have often been portrayed by critics as those who threaten the ways and values of the countryside and, by extension, of England itself.[6] However, Byrne argues that the "Crawfords are merely the agents of change: the real corruption rests at the door of the flawed custodians of the house, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram and Mrs Norris".[7] Although Mary's trenchant views are expressed as a resistance to spiritual discipline, they are well constructed, witty and reflect sentiments found in other contemporary streams of philosophy and spirituality. Mary reveals an extensive knowledge of church practice when she suggests that a wise clergyman would do better to read aloud from Hugh Blair's books of sermons than to preach his own.[8][9]

Illicit misconduct and sexual temptation are suggested by Austen from the moment the young people reach a door, 'temptingly open on a flight of steps which led immediately to... all the sweets of pleasure-grounds, [and] as by one impulse, one wish for air and liberty, all walked out'.[10] Mary's tempting of Edmund is serpent-like, putting his resolve to an almost Biblical test.[11] Her aim is that his desire for her will overcome his desire for the ministry. Austen, unlike many of her contemporary writers, almost never quotes from the Bible;[12] yet biblical themes are not difficult to find. The 'wilderness' experience at Sotherton contains hints of the Garden of Eden in Genesis and the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites in Exodus. Her ongoing challenge to his vocation has echoes of the wilderness temptation of Jesus in the Gospels. Both Crawfords fulfil the subtle serpentine role as they offer moral shortcuts to a happy life.

Mary applauds the late Mr Rushworth's decision to abandon the twice daily prayers in the family chapel, eloquently describing such practice as an imposition for both family and servants. She derides the heads of households for their hypocrisy in making excuses to absent themselves from chapel. She pities the young ladies of the house, 'starched up into seeming piety, but with heads full of something very different—specially if the poor chaplain were not worth looking at'.[13] Edmund acknowledges from his own experience that long services can be boring but maintains that without self-discipline a private spirituality will be insufficient for moral development.

Austen often exposed clergy corruption through parody. Mary having declared that the occupation of a clergyman is neither prestigious nor profitable, now argues that the profession is unworthy, filled only by lazy and gluttonous men like her brother-in-law, Dr Grant. She arrives at the jaundiced conclusion that a 'clergyman has nothing to do, but be slovenly and selfish, read the newspaper, watch the weather and quarrel with his wife. His curate does all the work and the business of his own life is to dine'.[14] Mary's view of Regency clergy is widely confirmed by historians; Edmund's commitment to integrity and morality represents a minority vision.[15]

Mary also challenges the widespread practice of patronage; she attacks Edmund's expectation of a living for being based on privilege rather than on merit. Although Sir Thomas had sold the more desirable Mansfield living to pay off Tom's debts, he is still offering Edmund a guaranteed living at Thornton Lacey where he can lead the life of a country gentleman. Edmund's defence, backed up by Fanny, has logic but lacks a robust spirituality.[5]

Mary is also highly critical of the navy. She tells Edmund, "Of various admirals, I could tell you a great deal; of them and their flags, and the gradation of their pay, and their bickerings and jealousies. But, in general, I can assure you that they are all passed over, and all very ill used." At her uncle's home she met many admirals. "Of Rears, and Vices, I saw enough. Now, do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat." Edmund ignores the crude pun and its implied impropriety, replying: "It is a noble profession". There is no further discussion of what Mary may, or may not, have seen.[16] Austen, in creating this dialogue, is signalling that just as Edmund needs to look out for hidden meanings, so too should the reader.

Byrne, like many contemporary critics, interprets the pun as a reference to sodomy. Ross argues for an alternative interpretation, namely that "Mary’s naughty innuendo clearly concerns flagellation: utterly unfit for a lady’s conversation, but legal; widely popular, not only with old roués and young bucks, but even among such eminent figures as the future Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne". The practice is represented in the satirical cartoons of Gillray and Rowlandson, where birches and buttocks make frequent appearances.[17]

During the rehearsals for Elizabeth Inchbald's play, Lovers Vows, Mary watches her brother rehearse with Maria (already engaged to Mr Rushworth). Mary is amused rather than concerned. She quips, 'those indefatigable rehearsers, Agatha and Frederick, should excel at their parts, for they are so often embracing. If they are not perfect, I shall be surprised.'

When Mary herself gets involved in the play she is given the part of Amelia, the coquette. She asks, "What gentleman among you am I to have the pleasure of making love to?" She is cast opposite the pastor, Anhalt, who closely resembles Edmund in character and situation, a role that Edmund is finally manipulated into taking.[4] They rehearse in the East Room, monitored by Fanny who finds this doubly distressing. Thomas Edwards suggests that the inherent danger of Lovers' Vows for the young actors is that they cannot distinguish between acting and real life.[18] Much later Mary reflects on the rehearsal to Fanny, "He was to be describing and recommending matrimony to me.… If I had the power of recalling any one week of my existence, it should be that week, that acting week ... for I never knew such exquisite happiness in any other. His sturdy spirit to bend as it did! Oh! it was sweet beyond expression.[19] Byrne interprets this memory of Mary's as one of triumph, delighting in Edmund's sexual submission.[4] As such, the submission is an outworking of Mary's serpentine role, foreshadowed at Sotherton. The Biblical allusion to Jesus, challenged to fulfil his mission by bowing down before Satan, is reflected in Mary's fantasy that Edmund is surrendering his vocation by bowing down before her.

Mary recognises Edmund’s worth and is attracted by his steadiness and integrity, but cynically insists that there is no glamour in being 'honest and poor' – 'I have a much greater respect for those that are honest and rich'.[20] Mary will not lower herself to marry a clergyman, in particular a clergyman with a serious vocation: 'It was plain that he could have no serious views, no true attachment, by fixing himself in a situation which he must know she would never stoop to'.[21][4]

After promising Edmund the first two dances at the ball soon be given at Mansfield Park for Fanny's benefit, Mary tells Edmund it will be the last time she will dance with him, because the next time they meet he will be ordained, and "she never has danced with a clergyman... and she never will". Edmund drops his decision to propose. The following day, he leaves for Peterborough and his ordination. Mary is upset. She cannot cut herself off from Edmund. Fanny believes, and the narrator implies at the end of the novel, that Mary would have eventually altered her views and married Edmund if not for the scandal that ends up dividing them.

Mary is never unfriendly to Fanny or intentionally cruel to her, but initially pays her little attention. She is puzzled by Fanny's status, is she 'out' or 'not out'. She is also aware that the Bertram family do not treat her with much respect. Early on, Mary apologises for having thoughtlessly monopolised Fanny's horse.

When the other young people are away she is quickly bored and invites Fanny to come to the parsonage, hear her play on the harp, and take walks together. Mary begins to appreciate and respect Fanny, describing her as a sweet and upright person. Fanny, more cautious, spends time with Mary out of a sense of obligation, not really liking or trusting her. She resents Mary, fearful that she will take Edmund away from her.

During the preparations for the play, Lovers Vows, Fanny is put under pressure by Tom and Maria to participate. Mrs Norris verbally attacks Fanny for refusing. Mary, astonished and angry, acts to protect and support Fanny, aware that not even Edmund was intervening.

After Maria's marriage, Henry returns to Mansfield parsonage and tells Mary that he intends to amuse himself by making Fanny fall in love with him. Mary knows his manipulative ways and that he will abandon Fanny in the same way that he has previously abandoned Maria, Julia and many other women. After some token objections, she allows Henry to proceed, believing that "a little love" might be good for Fanny, but she qualifies her approval, asking that Henry not "plunge her deep" as she is "as good a creature as ever lived."

Byrne suggests that Inchbald's phrase, the mistress of 'whimsical insinuations' might fittingly be applied to Mary.[22] Mary, reflecting with Fanny on their time at Sotherton, teasingly commends her brother for his flirtatious behaviour, so making her complicit in his misconduct. Henry attempts to distance himself from his behaviour at that time.[23]

Mary's attitude to Fanny becomes more complex. While maintaining a supportive friendship, her motivation is ambivalent. She develops a deceitful collusion with Henry in his attempted conquest of Fanny that now takes priority. Mary's generous gift of a golden necklace to Fanny for her 'coming out' ball is gradually revealed as a chain to bind Fanny closer to Henry. Even so, Fanny continues to resist and Henry, to his surprise, falls in love, telling Mary that he will make Fanny marry him. Mary is astonished, believing it is only the challenge of Fanny's resistance that appeals to him (much like Edmund's resistance to forgo ordination for her does to her). She does however believe that Fanny would make Henry a better person. Mary is shocked when Fanny refuses Henry, but remains friends with her, encouraging her to reconsider. She begs Fanny, on behalf of the female sex, to bask in the conquest she has made over a man who has been desired and 'shot at' by so many women.[24]

Mary and Fanny go separate ways when Fanny is sent on a visit to her parental home in Portsmouth, and Mary goes to London to visit friends. Mary uses her letters to Fanny as a way of including messages from Henry. She continues to encourage Fanny to accept Henry's suit and discusses her own mixed feelings with regard to Edmund.