Fanny Price

Fanny Price
Billie Piper portraying Fanny Price in the 2007 ITV television adaptation of Mansfield Park
Maiden name	Fanny Price
Gender	Female
Height	small
Age	10 at the beginning of the novel, 18 at the end
Income	None
Education	By a governess
Rank	None
Primary residence	Mansfield Park after leaving her small home in Portsmouth
Family
Romantic interest(s)	Edmund Bertram
Parents	Mrs. Frances "Fanny" Price and Mr. Price
Sibling(s)	William, John, Richard, Susan, Mary (deceased), Sam, Tom, Charles, and young Betsey

Frances "Fanny" Price is the heroine in Jane Austen's 1814 novel Mansfield Park. Austen describes Fanny Price as "extremely timid and shy, shrinking from notice", and repeatedly reinforces that Fanny is shy, timid, and afraid of everyone and everything.

Fanny Price is the eldest daughter of an obscure and poor retired Marine lieutenant in Portsmouth, who is father to eight other children. Fanny's mother's sisters, the wealthy Lady Bertram and Mrs Norris, offer to take her in and bring her up at Sir Thomas Bertram's estate, Mansfield Park, in Northamptonshire. Upon her first arriving in Mansfield, she is intimidated by her new home and her cousins (Thomas, Edmund, Maria and Julia), and is very homesick. None of her cousins are very obliging to her except Edmund, the younger son, who befriends her and helps her adapt to her new life. Mrs Norris, who prefers her richer cousins, constantly emphasises her inferiority, while Fanny's female cousins make fun of her apparent ignorance. As she grows, she finds Edmund to be a considerate companion and confidant, and she also becomes romantically attracted to him. As a child, Fanny is described as being small, not a striking beauty, with an awkward but not vulgar air and a sweet voice.

As an adult, Fanny is pretty with a good figure and countenance but tires quickly from any exercise, including dancing. Fanny is a quiet and conscientious character, passive, shy, and timid, who is frequently walked over by her more vibrant and forceful relatives and reluctant to give her own opinions or assert herself. She is intelligent and insightful and lives by a strict moral code that has made some Austen reviewers consider her to be "priggish". Kingsley Amis described Fanny as "morally detestable". Other critics point out that she is a complex personality, perceptive yet given to wishful thinking, and that she shows courage and grows in self-esteem during the latter part of the story. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin argues that "it is in rejecting obedience in favour of the higher dictate of remaining true to her own conscience that Fanny rises to her moment of heroism."

When Fanny is 15, her uncle Norris, the local clergyman, dies, leaving the Mansfield living for Edmund, who is intended to be ordained soon; however, Edmund's elder brother, Tom, has been living too extravagantly, and the living has to be sold to repay his debts. A priest named Dr. Grant and his wife move into the parsonage. Fanny's Aunt Norris is compelled to take a small home in the village. Dr. Grant's wife has a half brother and sister, Henry Crawford and Mary Crawford, whom she cherishes but has been unable to see frequently, because they lived in London. However, they finally come and stay temporarily at the parsonage in order that Mary can get away from their London home. Her parents being dead, she lived with her uncle, an Admiral; when he moved his mistress into the house, it became improper for Mary to stay there. The Crawfords are elegant, and both captivate the attentions of the Bertram children. Both Maria and Julia Bertram are attracted to Henry Crawford, although Maria is engaged to Mr. Rushworth, a dull, unintelligent, but very rich man. Mary Crawford originally decides to try to captivate Tom Bertram, as he is the older brother and heir to the estates and baronetcy, but he proves to be more interested in his horse racing pursuits. She then becomes more interested in Edmund, who quickly becomes attached to her in turn, as he sees her as congenial and pleasant. Fanny is jealous of Mary Crawford and finds Henry Crawford's attentions to and flirtations with the engaged Maria Bertram to be inappropriate. Soon, Sir Thomas and Tom are taken from them, as they go to Antigua to settle some business there. This frees up the Bertram children to act outside of his stern presence; Lady Bertram is lazy and indolent, and does not exert herself to raise her children at all.