Mary, Mary, please. Fanny Price wimpish? I beg to come forward in Fanny's defence. But maybe you only refer to her manners. For sure, she was quite meek and shy in her ways, but who could blame a girl who was uprooted from her childhood home, at ten years of age, and transplanted into an environment totally alien and overwhelming. And from the start being "put in her place" by everyone in the household, except, maybe, by Edmund.

As Mrs. Norris told her, "wherever you are, you must be the lowest and last." Anyone of less mettle would naturally have broken under this constant brainwashing. For who, in the end, stood her ground in disapproving the plan to enact Lovers' Vows at Mansfield Park? Who stood fast in resisting the advances of Henry Crawford? This in spite of Sir Bertram's pressure?

In the end Fanny is the only character of virtue in the story. Everyone else was either unethical, weak, or stupid. Even Edmund, who was Fanny's champion all her life, seemed quite lacking and undeserving of Fanny, notwithstanding his good intentions.

And Mrs. Norris! Such an offensive character. Lady Catherine could not hold a candle to her.

You may call me Edmund...