This plan is undermined when Edmund's older brother Tom accumulates such large gambling debts that his father has to sell the living to a Dr Grant to settle his accounts.

Sir Thomas goes to Antigua to settle problems with his Caribbean estate; he takes Tom with him and leaves Edmund in charge of the English household.

Mary applauds the late Mr Rushworth's decision to abandon the twice daily prayers, eloquently describing such practice as an imposition for both family and servants.

[5] Edmund acknowledges from his own experience that long services can be boring but maintains that, without self-discipline, a private spirituality will be insufficient for moral development.

She then overhears some family banter about Maria's intended marriage to Mr Rushworth and learns for the first time of Edmund's intention to become a clergyman.

[6] Says Barbara Hayley, "Despite all temptations, Edmund never loses sight of his duty as a clergyman, taking an unusually dedicated and spiritual view of it.

"[2] Illicit misconduct and sexual temptation are suggested by Austen from the moment the young people reach a door of the house, 'temptingly open on a flight of steps which led immediately to... all the sweets of pleasure-grounds, [and] as by one impulse, one wish for air and liberty, all walked out'.

Juliet McMaster argues that Austen often used understatement, and that her characters disguise hidden powerful emotions behind apparently banal behaviour and dialogue.

[10] To press her point, Austen has set the scene in the wilderness where their serpentine walk provides echoes of Spencer's, The Faerie Queene, and the "sepentining" pathways of the Wandering Wood.

So too, Edmund (the would-be Church of England minister) is trapped with the seductive Mary within the moral maze of Sotherton's wilderness and becomes neglectful of pious Fanny.

The 'wilderness' experience contains hints of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites in Exodus and of the temptation of Jesus in the Gospels.

McMaster contrasts this with that of Austen's critic, D. H. Lawrence, who provides loving descriptions of "that exquisite and immortal moment of a man's entry into the woman of his desire".

Mary's thoughts return to Edmund's ordination and she challenges him about the corruption of the clergy, declaring the profession unworthy, filled only by lazy and gluttonous men like her brother-in-law, Dr Grant.

Mary's view of Regency clergy is widely confirmed by historians; Edmund's commitment to integrity and morality represents a minority vision.

[19] When Tom settles on a plan for putting on the play, Lovers' Vows at Mansfield Park, both Edmund and Fanny are opposed.

[23] During rehearsals, Fanny observes the sexual tension and attraction between Edmund and Mary as they play the parts of Anhalt and Amelia, the two lovers.

[24] Some time later, Mary describes to Fanny her fondest memory at Mansfield Park when she played the dominant role with Edmund in a position of sexual submission.

During a lively discussion in the parsonage shrubbery that also includes Fanny, Mary recognises Edmund's worth and is attracted by his steadiness and integrity, but she cynically insists that there is no glamour in being 'honest and poor' – 'I have a much greater respect for those that are honest and rich'.

Sir Thomas decides to send Fanny for a prolonged visit to her family's lowly home in Portsmouth, so that she can better appreciate the benefits of a marriage to Henry.

When Tom becomes dangerously ill, Mary callously reflects that Edmund will inherit the baronetcy and estate if his brother dies.

Edmund visits Mary in London and is affronted by her response to Henry and Maria's "folly"; rather than evincing moral disapproval, she feels that they have simply made imprudent decisions that have led to their being caught, and that Maria ought to continue living with Henry in order to persuade him to marry her and thus save their social standing.

Edmund is disgusted by Mary's lack of moral outrage and concern for social standing, finally seeing past her charms.

Edmund's reality and also his limitations are expressed when he reports to Fanny about his final distressing conversation with Mary and tries to sort out the truth from his personal bias.

Dr Grant later gains a long sought after position in Westminster, leaving the Mansfield parish available for Edmund and Fanny.

[30] Austen herself, in the final chapter (which is essentially an epilogue) asks the reader to determine the time-scale for Edmund's dawning recognition of his love for Fanny.