Fanny Price as Disabled Heroine in Mansfield Park

Abstract:This article reconsiders Jane Austen’s least-liked heroine, Fanny Price, as a character whose famous unlikableness is linked to her physical and mental fragility. Rereading Austen’s Mansfield Park through the lens of current work in disability studies, this article argues that Fanny has much to teach us about the intersectional nature of sexist, classist, and ableist oppression. Far from being unlikable, Austen’s characterization of Fanny is powerful in the ways in which it forces readers to confront a different type of heroine and thus challenges ableist stereotypes that tie ill health and disability with flaws of characters.