During Jane Austen’s career as a writer, Evangelicalism was going through a revival period. The principle of Evangelicalism was simple, to express their faith and to share their gospel actively and publicly. However, what exactly did their faith entail? Evangelicalism is a conservative theological movement, which was devoted to reviving the classical Protestant doctrines. Doctrines such as, salvation justified through faith alone, the Bible being regarded to as the ultimate word of god, and the fundamental obligation of all who follow the religion to preach the gospel to all people.
This revival would come to have a great effect on literature at the time; either you were against the ideals that Evangelicals shared, or you were for the ideas that they preached and wanted to include them in your literature. A popular theme that pro-Evangelists liked to include in their book was biblical symbolism. However, despite the impact Evangelicalism had on the people, there was still a fair share of people, more specifically, writers who satirized the whole movement; Austen being one of them, but apart from Austen’s famous comment, “I do not like the Evangelicals”, Austen’s dislike for the religion ran deeper than just a stray comment. Austen proceeded to then satirized the religious movement in the debut of her “darker” novel, Mansfield Park, where Austen has created the satirical character of Fanny Price.
A character who is unlike most of her past heroines, Fanny isn’t brimming with confidence like Elizabeth Bennet, but is the exact opposite, submissive. Furthermore, Fanny is often rewarded for her submissive behavior, which can be seen when she refuses to partake in the theatrics because she assumed that Sir Thomas would not have approved. Austen’s creation of Fanny Price was to satirize the whole Evangelicalism movement by providing her readers with a “heroine” so ingrained with “Evangelical” qualities, such as submissiveness and conservatism. By doing so, Austen is able to highlight the faults of Evangelicalism, whilst pointing out the absurdity of their values if they were to be put into practice.
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However, Austen doesn’t just use the character of Fanny to satirize the Evangelical movement, but she uses the whole cast of characters. Take a look at Edmund Bertram, had Mansfield Park been a novel that felt “sympathy with Evangelicalism” (Kelly 156), Edmund who is the novel’s main spokesman on religious beliefs, would actually express a solid position on Evangelicalism. In reality, Edmund carries himself the way a traditional Church of England clergyman would. Moreover, he makes it abundantly clear that he is not an overzealous convert to religion, something that Evangelists would disagree with, given their nature of indoctrination; Evangelists would often try to preach their faith to everyone who came across their path, so that they could try to convert as many people to their religion as possible. Edmund states that he entered the church because it was a rational decision, which would allow him to attain a sense of duty, as well as a source of income,
“The knowing that there was such a provision for me [i.e., a living], probably did bias me. Nor can I think it wrong that it should. There was no natural disinclination to overcome, and I see no reason why a man should make a worse clergyman for knowing that he will have a competence early in life.” (Austen 108)
The financial aspects of Edmund’s profession are important to Edmund, for Edmund does not want to engage in a profession that will not compensate him properly. Moreover, Edmund’s comments on the role of clergyman, can be viewed as Austen’s critique of the way Evangelists view clergymen because Edmund sees himself as a gentleman serving his society, not a chosen servant of God; which is something that Evangelists portrayed their clergymen as because it gave their clergymen a deeper sense of duty, which would eventually help their cause of indoctrinating as many people as they can. Edmund believes that the clergyman’s main role is shoulder “the guardship of religion and morals, and consequently of the manners which result from their influence…The manners I speak of, might… be called conduct, perhaps, the result of good principles.” (Austen 91-92). Here, we can see Austen satirizing some of the core beliefs of Evangelicals and chalking up all of their “divine” teachings to simple principles. Furthermore, Edmund’s lines here seem reminiscent of something Edmund Burke wrote in his piece, Reflections on the Revolution in France. In Reflections, Burke proclaims,
“Nothing is more certain, than that our manners, our civilization, and all good things which are connected to manners, and with civilization, have, in this European world of ours, depended for ages upon two principles; and were indeed the result of both combined; and I mean the spirit of a gentleman, and the spirit of religion. The nobility and the clergy, the one by profession, the other by patronage, kept learning in existence.” (Burke 154).
This quote further illustrates Austen’s satirical nature because Austen has taken a character that can be viewed as the perfect mold for an Evangelical gentleman and made their views reminiscent of a man that dislikes Evangelicalism. However, Austen’s disdain for the Evangelicals through Edmund is subtle because his views on religion can be overlooked if one does not read between the lines because Austen never expressly states which wing of Christianity does he follow; however, it is fair to assume that he follows the mainstream Church of England and not its Evangelist’s wing given the evidence showed above. Lastly, intentional or not, Austen names her character of Edmund Bertram, similarly to real life Edmund Burke, an author who does not like Evangelicalism as well, given his political views.
Another example of Austen’s satire through Mansfield Park, can be seen in the character of Fanny Price. Fanny Price is a character that seems to embody many of the Evangelists beliefs, from being submissive, to conforming to the patriarchy, Fanny Price is unlike all of Austen’s other heroines. However, despite this odd shift from her previous heroines, Austen still managed to sneak in a little satire in the character of Fanny.
“We do not look in great cities for our best morality. It is not there, that respectable people of any denomination can do most good; and it certainly is not there, that the influence of the clergy can be most felt. A fine preacher is followed and admired; but it is not in fine preaching only that a good clergyman will be useful in his parish and neighborhood, where the parish and neighborhood are of a size capable of knowing his private character, and observing his general conduct, which in London can rarely be the case. The clergy are lost there in crowds of their parishioners.” (Austen 92).
In this scene, Edmund is describing the differences between the old world, which operates in small communities, and the new world of “great cities”, which operates in much larger communities. To Edmund, clergymen in the old world are much more vital to their community because they offer so much more than “fine preaching”, but in the new world, it seems as if that is all the clergyman can offer their community, which is another jab at Evangelists. To Austen, Evangelists continually get lost in the crowd of their parishioners, offering nothing but words to their community because that is one of their core beliefs; to indoctrinate everyone they can meet.
Now, while Edmund manages to give a thoughtful example on the values of the old world that matter, Fanny manages to be the only character in Mansfield Park that actually adheres to these old values, in spite of the alluring appeal of the Crawfords. The procedure that Fanny uses to coax the Bertrams into understanding her viewpoint, whilst simultaneously accomplishing the salvation of Mansfield Park, reveals something about Austen’s character. What this tells us about Austen is that she differs from the Evangelicals in almost every way; from the value of charm, manners, and the formal social occasion. The issue that Fanny faces during the first half of the novel is that, her morals are agreeable, but she lacks the ability and opportunity to communicate it to others; which often lead Fanny to internalize these feelings and second guess her judgement at almost every juncture.
Being the “black sheep”, so to speak, Fanny was excluded from many of the social gatherings that the Bertrams held, but on the rare occasion she was prohibited to attend, she was unable to ride the wave of talking to others about subjects, which many have made her moral standing more appealing to others. In turn, Fanny is ignored, but the corrupt Crawfords, who demonstrate amazing social aptitude, are free to exercise their influence on the younger members of Fanny’s family, regardless of how morally incorrect they may be. An example of this can be seen during the family’s trip to Sotherton, where Fanny is consistently displaying correct moral judgement, but due to Fanny’s social ineptitude, no one wants to listen to her and abandoned her for the Crawfords; which can be seen when Edmund abandons her for Mary and her sisters ditch her for Henry, which leaves Fanny “left to her solitude.” (Austen 99).
Furthermore, the underlying factors of Fanny’s morality begins to influence Henry Crawford, the morally corrupt, but the influence of Fanny’s good morals is not enough to overcome the weakness of Henry’s character. However, Henry soon realizes that he cannot win over Fanny and thus sets his sights back to Maria, which lead to a devastating chain of events: a moral restructure of Mansfield Park. Edmund becomes disenchanted with Mary, Maria and Mrs. Norris are exiled from Mansfield, Thomas and Sir Thomas gain a better understanding of their duties, but most importantly, Fanny’s value becomes realized by all those in Mansfield.
By having her value realized, Fanny is finally able to make her ignored morals the new standard by which everyone in Mansfield is judged by. By doing so, Fanny is able to restore the old older and cast out the threat of change. Encompassing all of these beliefs, Mansfield Park, is a novel written in praise of charm, manners, and the formal social occasion, none of which the Evangelicals had much regard for. Thus, highlighting Austen’s satire once more because she was able to take a character, who may have been viewed as the perfect Evangelical heroine, and turn her into something that repels all of the Evangelicals core beliefs.
While Austen may have shared some of the opinions of famous Evangelical writers, such as Hannah More and Wilberforce, and occasionally coming under the influence of Evangelicals, the bottom line is simple; Austen’s religious and social beliefs portrayed in Mansfield Park, are in constant conflict with that of the Evangelicals. While Austen’s satire of the movement is subtle in most places, some can argue that the whole novel itself, is a direct criticism of the movement. Especially when we look at the application of the word “zeal” in relation to Mrs. Norris (331), and its references to Methodism and conversion seem to suggest that Evangelicalism was constantly in Austen’s mind whilst writing this novel. Also, it’s entirely possible that because Fanny Price remains so close to the ideal of passive womanhood encompassed in Evangelical writing, which Austen often read, she remains a character that is unappealing and morally ineffective.
In conclusion, Austen has been able to hide her critiques of the movement within characters that seem to have been more aligned with the Evangelist beliefs. From Fanny, who seemed to be the idol of passive womanhood, to Edmund, the clergyman who seemed to believe in the Evangelists zealous beliefs. Regardless, Austen’s satire of the movement runs deep throughout the book of Mansfield Park and often takes form in the way of demolishing characters who seemed to have Evangelic beliefs. Austen does so to prove a point, the point being that Evangelical movement is insipid and morally inept.
Austen believed that the Evangelicals put too much of their effort into useless things, such as their overzealous preaching and indoctrination, and did not focus on more important things; such as manners or charm, things that the common person can use. She believed that the Evangelicals became so engrossed in their own preaching that it made them lose sight of what they were preaching to begin with, which can be seen in Edmund’s comparison of the old and new world beliefs. To Austen, the movement had grown stale and was beginning to be cumbersome in religious, social, and literature circles, which prompted Austen to comment on the movement, in hopes of showing the Evangelicals what they really looked like.
