Mr Rushworth’s Guilt | Jane Austen MANSFIELD PARK novel analysis | Mr Rushworth character analysis

Should we pity or sympathise with Mr Rushworth in Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park? Does he share any guilt for the failure of his marriage to Maria Bertram / Mrs Maria Rushworth?

Analysis of MANSFIELD PARK by JANE AUSTEN

In this video, I analyse Jane Austen’s character Mr James Rushworth. In the closing stages of Mansfield Park, Mrs Maria Rushworth (née Maria Bertram) has an affair with Henry Crawford—clearly they are to blame for this. But does Mansfield Park’s narrative voice suggest that Mr Rushworth shares any blame or guilt for the marriage’s failure?

OUTLINE of the lecture
- The introduction of Mr Rushworth
- The Sotherton episode (Mr Rushworth’s jealousy begins)
- Mr Rushworth’s response to the Lovers’ Vows rehearsals (Mr Rushworth’s jealousy continues)
- What the return of Sir Thomas Bertram to Mansfield Park reveals about Mr Rushworth
- The description of the couple’s motivations for marriage
- I close by considering the narrative voice’s summary of Mr Rushworth in the novel’s final chapter

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[DrOctaviaCox]

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[kristinehansen]

Imagine if Lucy steele were to meet Mr. Rushworth. He would have been perfectly happy with her and she with him.

[SarahElisabethJoyal]

Let's not forget that Maria's disapprobation is so obvious that even Sir Thomas notices and offers to break off the engagement for her.

[rufescens]

"'If this man had not twelve thousand a year, he would be a very stupid fellow.'" I've always assumed that this was tongue-in-cheek, and not meant literally; that Edmund was talking about how Mr. Rushworth would be perceived if he weren't rich, or even what people would say if he weren't rich, but that Edmund himself was able to see past the money. Am I just blinded by my fondness for Edmund?

[margo]

Mary and Henry Crawford were a breath of fresh air, sophisticated, witty; the Mansfield Park residents, on the other hand, were stuck in the country and stuck in their ways, and so were taken by the Crawfords’ worldliness and even naughtiness to some extent. What’s important in the development of the novel is how the Bertram’s were influenced by it and Fanny Price was not. She risked everything for principle. She is an unlikely, but worthy Jane Austen heroine.

[sharondowling]

Thank you SO MUCH for explaining so clearly the relevance and deeper meaning presented by the play, Lover's Vows! Now I really understand Fanny's distress, and Sir Thomas's disgust, over the activities involved with performing the play! Much needed explanation for a modern reader!

[megangilbert]

Mr. Crawford lacks the key to open the gate at Sotherton, but Henry Crawford slips past it easily, so it seems to me that the gate itself symbolizes Maria Bertram's heart and represents her differing levels of attatchment for each man. It also seems to imply that it is Rushworth's own stupidity in forgetting to bring the key which is at fault for his not gaining entry into Miss Bertram's affections, while simultaneously showing Mr. Crawford up as being devious in his method of entry.
Also, although Rushworth certainly did not intend to insult Fanny, I'm pretty sure that he did when he expressed to her that Mr. Crawford's shortness made him unattractive, being that Fanny herself was short for her age. That is clearly insulting to Fanny, and a testiment to her humilty that she overlooks it.
I really enjoy your videos and channel, thanks so much and please keep making more!

[julecaesara]

I'm so glad someone asks the questions I had when reading the novel but I had no-one to talk to about them

[marycrawford]

There is a theme in Mansfield Park concerning the perils of being a beautiful young woman who has heard nothing but praise all her life (from Mrs Norris), and of being a very wealthy young man who has been praised all his life (by Mrs Rushworth.) To be fair to these two people, they are both young and have seen very little of the world and have never been tested. That said, Maria sometimes falls short even of good manners, as we see on the Sotherton outing when she abandons her future mother-in-law in order to go wandering about the estate with Henry Crawford, chaperoned by Mr Rushworth. When she later abandons Mr Rushworth as well to escape through the locked gate leaving her future husband behind, this is surely the moment when Mr Rushworth should have understood that Maria had made her choice, and it wasn't him. There was no scintilla of an excuse for Maria, as the ostensible reason for the three of them to be walking together in the first place was so that Crawford could discuss with Rushworth the 'improvements' to the estate that he would recommend.

Even though Mr Rushworth at this point is probably pushed to extreme jealousy and cannot control his emotions, the way he talks to Fanny about Crawford shows a mean spirit.

My interpretation of what happens after the wedding is, first that Mr Rushworth and Maria don't 'hit it off' in the bedroom (with apologies to Jane Austen), and second that when Maria finds herself out of Mansfield Park and in the London society she has always craved, it turns out to be a disappointment, and, furthermore, she is now in 'Rushworth territory' where the writ of Sir Thomas and Mrs Norris no longer applies. She doesn't know how to conduct herself, and perhaps no one is terribly impressed - there would have been plenty of other beauties in London. I am always intrigued by the detail of the servant who would not be silenced: it sounds to me as if she was betrayed by a servant, which, of course, could never have happened at Mansfield Park. Maria didn't even know how to keep the servants on her side.

I suspect rich men in that society could fairly easily shake off the humiliation of an unfaithful wife. The world was still his oyster after the divorce. Maria's fate is terrible in comparison. And we shouldn't forget that Sir Thomas would also have been deeply humiliated by his daughter's behaviour, he was an MP after all. That Fanny manages to save herself from this shipwreck is the profound message of the book.

[annelyle]

Thank you for the insights in to why "Lovers' Vows" was so scandalous a choice - I had no idea that the stage directions required the actors to behave in such an intimate manner, but I suppose most of Jane Austen's contemporaries would have been familiar with it. Pop culture references seldom age well 😁

[stephanicrandall]

"The indignities of stupidity can excite little pity."
One of my favorite lines of Jane Austen. I can't wait to hear what you have to say about this!

[archervine]

One other thing I would point out regarding the start of Maria and Rushworth’s relationship - he finds her beautiful and fancies himself in love… but does he ever really consider whether she likes him? Or does he just assume she will because he has been flattered all his life? I really can’t see the Rushworths’ marriage ending well, even without Henry Crawford.

I think it is also interesting that Sir Thomas gives Maria an opportunity to back out of marriage to Rushworth, but tries to insist on Fanny marrying Crawford to the point of guilting her into it.

[katehobbs]

The fact that Maria and Henry went around the gate is an analogy; instead of waiting in propriety in the garden, and staying within the bounds of the polite garden (or social rules), they ignore propriety and break out into the park (an improper relationship).

[pollyparrot]

I think we can assume that Edmund's thoughts about Mr Rushworth's income and his intelligence are ironic. Edmund is the least materialistic of the Bertrams, and he does have a sense of humour although a lot of readers seem to miss it.

Maria Bertram has a lot more than mere beauty to recommend her. She must have a good dowry (I don't remember if it was mentioned in the book), and the connection with Sir Thomas would be valuable to her husband. Mary Crawford observes that Sir Thomas would be able to help Mr Rushworth get a seat in Parliament (God forbid!).

I love Mansfield Park so much because it provides endless topics for reflection and conversation, from the relative effects of nurture and nature on the development of character to nepotism in the early 19th Century Royal Navy (a good thing, apparently). Thank you very much, Dr Cox, for this discussion.

[sydt]

I feel like the specter of Mrs. Norris is hovering over this doomed relationship. If I recall correctly, Mrs. Norris is the one who sets up the match between Maria and Mr. Rushworth and praises herself for it considerably. She is also a major enabler, allowing the young adults to conduct the play and not taking Maria or Julia to task for their extensive liberties. Her main concern after the return of Sir Thomas is to (1) fuss about the room and (2) nick some material from the construction of the stage and set for her own use later. While Mrs. Norris is an aunt and not the mother of the children, she could have (and I will sound very prudish here) done more to supervise the goings-on and try to steer her nieces away from such physicality. If she can make the time to bully Fanny, she could have made the time to act as a "wet blanket" to keep Maria and Mr. Crawford from acting inappropriately with one another.

Lady Bertram is not physically or mentally present for much of the goings-on, especially during the play. She should bear more responsibility for allowing this kind of activity to go on, but she prefers to doze off in a corner. I don't think she had any idea what the play - Lovers' Vows - was about, much less it's title. When she finally decides to check out the play, her own sister pooh-poohs her, telling her not to worry about it. And Lady Bertram is like, okay, and I assume goes back to napping in the corner. She really is a neglectful mother. Put down Pug for a few moments and see how your children are doing!

[di]

I find the Mansfield Park characters, absolutely fascinating!!! Please make one of these for the Crawford siblings and Tom. Jane Austen was a master observer of human behavior!!! You have no idea how much I enjoy these, wonderful work.

[somethingwolfish]

I do enjoy your videos so much! I especially like the ones that analyze the characters in Mansfield Park. Fanny Price is probably my favorite of Jane Austen's heroines. Personally, I do pity Mr. Rushworth just a bit because he IS so stupid. Too stupid for actual sympathy, and he absolutely bears some responsibility for the failure of his marriage, but Maria's affair, plus his public humiliation, wasn't really deserved. He made extremely poor choices, but that could easily have been Edmund. I might be wrong, but the wording at the beginning of Edmund's infatuation with Mary Crawford was pretty similar to the way Mr. Rushworth's infatuation with Maria was described. And the mental hoops Edmund jumped through to convince himself that Mary was this fine, virtuous woman, "the only woman he could think of as his wife", might be similar to (if more intelligent than) the ways that Mr. Rushworth ignored all the signs pointing to Maria's infatuation with Mr. Crawford.

[lateralhistory]

I think part of the reason Fanny emphasises Mr Rushworth's jealousy, is that she feels she can't be too critical of Maria. Laying such emphasis on his jealousy is her way of hinting Maria provoked that jealousy. If he was "very" jealous, essentially, that implies Maria's behaviour was "very" bad. Fanny is talking to Edmund here and is in any case not accustomed to speak critically of any of the Bertrams. It's also hard for her to call out Maria's behaviour to Edmund, because doing so draws attention to the fact that he was right there and he missed it. Too caught up in Mary Crawford to be properly protective of his sister's reputation.

I agree with everything you say about Rushworth's complicity in the whole mess, but I do think Fanny's choice of words is motivated mostly by the position she finds herself in. Mr Rushworth's jealousy is the safest way for her to broach the topic. He's an outsider, who Edmund - crucially - never actually liked. Unlike the Crawfords, who he thought so highly of, or Maria, who is of course his own sister. If she focuses her criticism on Rushworth, Fanny runs no risk of offending Edmund, or her Bertram relations

[annecook]

"Pretty" is used in that underhanded way in P and P too when Lady Catherine tells Lizzy, "Miss Bennet, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you will favour me with your company.” before grilling her on Darcy.

[nelled]

Charlotte Lucas sensibly married Mr Collins because she wanted an establishment. She learned to manage him, avoid his company as much as possible and take pleasure in organising and managing the home which he provided.