"All the world's a stage/ And all the men and women are merely players." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay - As You Like It II.vii.139 Much of the plot of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (Austen, 1814) describes the young gentlemen and ladies of the estate preparing a performance of the play Lovers' Vows (Inchbald, 1798). A work full of controversial topics, it presents ideas of love, illegitimacy, a woman fallen from grace, class differences and imprisonment. When Sir Thomas Bertram, the patriarch of Mansfield Park, returns home from the West Indies and finds his sons and their friends implementing such controversial ideas, he immediately puts a stop to their antics, seeing "all the inappropriateness of such a plan among such people". a party, and at that time" (Austen 204). Although throughout Mansfield Park the young characters' participation in plays is depicted as taboo, overly sexual, and improper, Jane Austen does not condemn the theater or Lover's Vows. Rather , Austen uses theater as a forum through which she expresses criticism of society. Similar to her young characters, Austen is able to address taboo topics under the guise of theater. Mansfield Park examines heavy themes of imprisonment, slavery, and villainy sexual conduct, but does so lightly through theatricality, preserving Austen's ownership. Fanny emerges as the most boring of the heroines: meek, quiet, correct and frightened. It is a surprising choice for Austen, who tends to favor more female protagonists aggressive and outspoken like Emma Woodhouse, Elizabeth Bennett and Marianne Dashwood What Fanny lacks in reader interest, however, it more than makes up for in the characters of Miss Crawford and Miss Bertrams. Mary Crawford is the anti-heroine; she is Fanny's equal in perception, intelligence, and physical beauty (once Fanny fully blossoms), but the opposite in behavior. The Mary-Fanny dichotomy is exemplified in Edmund's respect for the two of them. He finds them equally attractive even though their personalities branch in opposite directions. Where Fanny is shy and submissive, Mary is outspoken and manipulative. Mary is sexually overt and obsessed with money and position. Although Mary is the more interesting of the two characters, Fanny is presented as the central figure to aid Austen in the careful critique of society and the aforementioned controversial topics. It provides Fanny as the voice of decorum, modesty, and respectability in the face of constant impropriety; she is the only innocent one in carrying out her lover's vows. Austen exempts herself from the suggested incorrectness of the book by having such a sterile character as her protagonist. While Mansfield Park centers on Fanny, Lovers' Vows portrays a more realistic version of who is a heroine and who is an understudy. Fanny waits in the wings and serves the other actors, similar to her true position in life. The other characters are the stars who act with cheeky gusto. Fanny and Edmund are the only sincere main characters in Mansfield Park, and this is represented by their reluctance to perform. Maria Bertram, Julia Bertram, Henry Crawford, and Mary Crawford, however, all have hidden agendas involving marriage and wealth which are revealed towards the end of the novel. Since they are constantly performing in life, the transition to the stage is virtually seamless. The book parallels the plot of the play; Maria becomes a fallen woman and is shunned by her family and society (like her character Agatha) when she runs away withHenry Crawford. Edmund, true to his role as Anhalt in The Lover's Vows, falls in love with and eventually marries his pupil, Fanny. Furthermore, the class barrier that Anhalt fears will prevent him from marrying Amelia is in fact what keeps the actors there, Edmund and Mary, from marrying. Parallel to the plot aside, the comedy is used by the actors as an embarrassing form of sexual indulgence. The physical attraction of Maria Bertram and Mr. Crawford is gratified in front of everyone, including her boyfriend, disguised as a dress rehearsal. Mary Crawford and Edmund are equally gratified, even if their actions are less perverse. However, Fanny must witness their mutual attraction and finds herself trapped in their flirtation when they both ask for her help with the rehearsals. In putting The Lover's Vows into practice, the lines separating real life and the theater are obscured until they become virtually indistinguishable. Austen further emphasizes this point with the structure and style of Mansfield Park. The book often takes on the tone of a theater script. Austen infuses what appear to be intertitles into the dialogue, as when Crawford speaks while playing cards (note the parentheses), "You will think with me, I hope -(addressing Fanny in a softened voice). Have you ever seen the place?" (Austen 255). Furthermore, the characters engage in speeches that are essentially monologues. Crawford's stirring speech in chapter 34 is a recited oration, complete with stage directions. Earlier in that chapter he reads a speech by Shakespeare, and his words as he leaves the room are a farce of a Shakespearean monologue by Austen. Crawford imagines Romeo, saying: "Yes, dearest, sweetest Fanny. No - (seeing her draw back in annoyance) forgive me. Perhaps I have not yet the right - but by what other name can I call you? Do you think you are ever present to my imagination under some anything else? No, it is 'Fanny' that I think of all day and dream of all night. You have given this name such a reality of sweetness, that nothing else can now describe you." (Austen 348) Not exactly "a rose by any other name", but it suits Crawford's ego and grandiose ways (Romeo and Juliet II.ii.45). Shakespeare often removes his characters from society and places them in an isolated environment in order to create a focus on individual human relationships and allow chaos to ensue. For example, in Othello (Shakespeare, 1604) the plot shifts from Venice to the island of Corsica, and in The Tempest (Shakespeare, 1611) the characters are removed from society and washed ashore on an island. In both cases the drama takes place in these remote environments. Likewise, Austen's use of Sotherton provides an isolated environment in which wrongful behavior becomes excusable. The garden scene at Sotherton is full of sexual innuendo and bad behavior from all the young characters except Fanny. Mary describes a “serpentine path,” a phrase that alludes to the Garden of Eden and sexual temptation (Austen 120). Edmund and Mary disappear behind the trees promising Fanny "to return in a few minutes," but do not emerge for nearly an hour (Austen 120). Miss Bertram and Mr. Crawford spend the entire day flirting in front of Miss Bertram's boyfriend, Mr. Rushworth. Crawford, jokingly referring to Miss Bertram's engagement, proclaims in a theatrical reference, "You have a very smiling scene before you" (123). When the three come across the locked iron gate, Miss Bertram is so keen to get through to the other side that Mr. Rushworth reluctantly goes back to the house to get the key (a rather phallic reference). Once he is gone, Miss Bertram wriggles over the gate at Mr. Crawford's suggestion. The two escape into the woods, leaving Fanny again, 2002.