In this episode, we read Chapters 8 to 11 of Mansfield Park. We revisit the issue of how Jane Austen opposes Fanny and Mary, and look at the flirting techniques of Mary and Henry, Fanny’s expectations of Edmund, whether there is symbolism in the scene at the ha-ha, and Mary’s criticism of Dr Grant.
The characters we talk about are Maria and Julia, and then Ellen looks at the idea of improvement of estates – and what a ha-ha is. Harriet’s discussion of the popular culture versions is a bit shorter than usual, owing to the fact that two of the adaptations completely omit the Sotherton section.
Things we mention:
General and character discussion:
- John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
- Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.
- Daniel Jones, English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917)
- The Literary Life (2021) [podcast]
- Juliana Horatia Ewing, Mary’s Meadow (1885)
Historical discussion:
- Claude Lorraine (1600-1682)
- Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)
- Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716-1783)
- Humphry Repton (1752-1818)
- Pictures of ha-has
- The ha-ha at Chawton House. This ha-ha is a ditch, with a fence at the bottom. Standing further away, you wouldn’t see either the ditch or the fence.
Click to enlarge. Photograph taken by Harriet in 2019. - Croome Park, Upton-upon-Severn in south Worcestershire, England – grounds designed by Capability Brown:
Click to enlarge. Photograph © Alan Murray-Rust from Wikimedia) - Berrington Hall in Herefordshire, England, was Capability Brown’s final commission. A long, sweeping ha-ha separates the pleasure ground from the parkland beyond. This ha-ha appears to be quite wide, with a shallow slope.
Click to enlarge. Photograph © Philip Halling from Geograph - The bottom of a ha-ha with a retaining wall, at Beechworth Asylum, Victoria, Australia. From the photo, this ha-ha appears to be both wide and deep.
Click to enlarge. Photograph © Asfridhr from Wikimedia
- The ha-ha at Chawton House. This ha-ha is a ditch, with a fence at the bottom. Standing further away, you wouldn’t see either the ditch or the fence.
- Crossings and gates on ha-has
- This is our idea of how the ha-ha gate in Mansfield Park worked.
Click to enlarge. - The ha-ha and lawn at the south of Parham House, in West Sussex, England. If you look at the right, you can see a built up section over the ha-ha, with a gate giving access. This gate has a stone surround, rather than the spikes we envisage.
Click to enlarge. Photograph © Acabashi from Wikimedia - Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, England. This looks like a ha-ha around a wilderness-type area (although the descriptions on the photos say it is the formal gardens).
This access path appears to be across a raised area of the ha-ha, and if you ignore the falling-down fence, and imagine a steeper slope from the path into the ha-ha, and the gate as having spikes instead of (or as well as) a brickwork surround, it gives an idea of how we envisage the ha-ha gate at Sotherton.
Click to enlarge. Photograph © Enchufla Con Clave from Wikimedia
This seems to be another crossing of the ha-ha, as it is more like a bridge.
Click to enlarge. Photograph © Alan Murray-Rust from Wikimedia) - Back at Croome Park, this shows a different way of crossing a ha-ha, that we didn’t mention. The path goes down to the bottom of the ha-ha, and the gate is built into the retaining wall. The person who took the photo calls it a ‘cattle crush’, as it can be used to move livestock from one field to another
Click to enlarge. Photograph © Philip Halling from Geograph
Click to enlarge. Photograph © Philip Halling from Geograph
- This is our idea of how the ha-ha gate in Mansfield Park worked.
Popular culture discussion:
- Adaptations:
- BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
- Pictures of the not-a-ha-ha gate
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
- Pictures of the not-a-ha-ha gate
- Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
- ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
- BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
- Modernisations:
- YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)
- D.E. Stevenson, Celia’s House (1943)
Creative commons music used:
- Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.
- Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
- Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
- Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen.
- Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen.
That’s so true about how Edmund and Fanny criticize what Mary Crawford says about her uncle, and how her “greater criticism” of Dr. Grant just sails by.
Another thought about the uncle criticism versus the Dr. Grant criticism: The father in Coelebs in Search of a Wife sits around criticizing and analyzing his neighbours all the time with his guests. But Dr. Stanley’s conversation is not represented as being gossip because he is holding up his neighbours as an example, to make a moral point about female education or whatever he’s holding forth about. Likewise, Mary brings up Dr. Grant as part of a more general discussion of the faults of clergymen.