Adultery us not a typical lane Austen theme, butwhen it disturbs the relatively peaceful householdat Mansfield Park. it has quite unexpected results. The diffident and much put-upon heroine Fanny Price has to struggle to cope with the results,re-examining her own feelings while enduring thecheerful amorality, old-fashioned indifference andpriggish disapproval of those around her.
Marguerite Gautier was the most beautiful, brazen-- and expensive--courtesan in all of Paris. Despite being ill with consumption, she lived a glittering, moneyed life of nonstop parties and aristocratic balls and savored every day as if it were her last. Into her life came Armand l)uval. Young, handsome, recklessly headstrong, he was hopelessly in love with Marguerite, but not nearly rich enough. Yet Armand was Marguerite's first true love, and against her better judgment, she threw away her upper-class lifestyle for him. But as intense as their love for each other was, it challenged a reality that would not be denied。