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Saturday, October 5, 2013

The Worst Austen Mother is...

...Lady Bertram. The Bertram girls didn't get any moral or sensible guidance. They got adoration from Aunt Norris; and assurance of their superiority - but they are frightened of their father's remoteness and their mother is always stretched on the sofa. She is just not there. She must be secretly downing laudanum. Probably hides it under Pug.
Even Sir Bertram has given up on his wife as a parent. Who gets the flak about the theatricals? Aunt Norris.
Mrs. Bennet is quite a good mother - she is avidly interested in her girls' affairs, for good or ill. But Lady Bertram neglects her girls. Can you imagine any heart-to-heart chats conducted with them; any trips to their rooms at night to kiss them goodnight and listen to their troubles...spoiled, with an exaggerated opinion of their own importance, they did not develop the skills needed to make sensible judgments and lacking that, and needing to get out of home and away from their father's grave, remote but very controlling presence, they make terrible decisions.
Fanny actually has more self-esteem then the Bertram girls, because she was always needed. Firstly by her mother, in helping her with the little ones, and later at Mansfield Park - Lady Bertram can do without her daughters, but not without her niece.
I'd like to see a sequel where the daughters get it together and find happiness. But Maria is a social outcast. Perhaps she could go to America or Italy where her past would not be known.


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