Jane Austen and Mimesis: Mansfield Park and Narcissistic Triangles -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 08:32:16 02/27/08 Wed
Author: Kiernan
Subject: Jane Austen and Mimesis: Mansfield Park and Narcissistic Triangles

Despite Dr. Jackson's assertions to the contrary :-), Jane Austen brilliantly reveals the triangular desire behind romantic love in all of her novels. Perhaps one of the greatest in this regard is "Mansfield Park" which dramatizes a series of love triangles between a family of four siblings (two daughters, two sons) and their cousin, as well as a brother and sister who move to the neighborhood. Most interesting is Austen's demonstration of the blurring of lines as well as the role of narcissism in mediated love with the relationship between Fanny Price and her cousin, Edmund Bertram.

Austen first demonstrates the blurring of lines involved in mediated relationships.When Edmund's father is first considering taking Fanny in, he worries that doing so will blur the distinctions between his family and hers: "He thought of his own four children - of his two sons - of cousins in love, etc." (Austen 7). His sister-in-law, Mrs. Norris, shoots this idea down: "You are thinking of your sons - but do not you know that of all things upon earth *that* is the least likely to happen; brought up, as they would be, always together like brothers and sisters? It is morally impossible. I never knew an instance of it. It is, in fact, the only sure way of providing against the connection" (Austen 7). She instead maintains that if Edmund or his brother were to meet there cousin years later, the chances of them spontaneously falling in love with her would greatly exceed the chances of them falling in love with someone which they have grown up with. Aunt Norris buys into the lie of direct desire; she assumes that proximity limits, rather than allows for, mutual interest.

Austen provides this perspective at the beginning and then proceeds to demonstrate its falsity. Within two chapters, Austen shows Edmund taking Fanny under his wing, and speaks of her admiration of and desire to emulate him. Soon, Fanny is in love with him,a clear instance of modeling. The lines separating Fanny and her model have become blurred. Austen leads us to an even greater question, however: is Fanny appropriating Edmund's love for himself? If she is imitating him in all things, her love for him must stem from imitating his own love for himself. By the end of the text, Austen increases this impression with the explanation which Edmund provides of his love for Fanny:

"Loving, guiding, protecting her, as he had been doing ever since her being ten years old, her mind in so great a degree formed by his care, and her comfort depending on his kindness, an object to him of so close and peculiar interest, dearer by all his own importance with her than any one else at Mansfield, what was there now to add?" (Austen 319)

Edmund's stated reason for loving Fanny is how much she is like himself and how much importance she gives to him. Thus, in loving Fanny, he loves himself even more. In this triangle, Edmund both mediates and becomes the object, thus demonstrating how a triangle can come out of two people when narcissism is involved and one of the two is both the model and the desired object.

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Replies:

Perhaps my problem is my model. -- j.jackson, 09:13:10 02/27/08 Wed
- Re: Perhaps my problem is my model. -- Erin Risch, 07:36:48 03/01/08 Sat