Mansfield Park Principles Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

"[B]ut the manner in which she spoke of the crime itself, giving it every reproach but the right, considering its ill consequences only as they were to be braved or overborne by a defiance of decency and impudence in wrong; and, last of all, and above all, recommending to us a compliance, a compromise, an acquiescence, in the continuance of the sin [...]." (47.30)

Edmund's style of speech here is reminiscent of a sermon, which is appropriate given his job as a clergyman. Edmund has a rhythm here, the kind found in speeches (or sermons) in which the speaker is building up to big statement. It's easy to picture him saying this from a pulpit rather than in a drawing room with only Fanny for an audience.

Quote #11

I only entreat everybody to believe that exactly at the time when it was quite natural that it should be so, and not a week earlier, Edmund did cease to care about Miss Crawford, and became as anxious to marry Fanny as Fanny herself could desire. (48.24)

It's really significant that the narrator deliberately withholds the timeframe in which Edmund fell for Fanny. Basically, the narrator is implying that Edmund and Fanny can do no wrong, and people can figure out the timeframe themselves in order to make it "right" and moral. Edmund and Fanny can literally do no wrong – the novel is built on the fact that these two are always right.