Poll: how many people actually want Fanny to pick Henry?

Having never read the book and just going by the film, I never wanted Fanny to marry Crawford. I always felt her heart belonged to Edmund even though he stomped all over it to get to Ms. Crawford. Having said that, I did feel for Henry when she agreed to marry him and then changed her mind. That was pretty shady, lol.

I've watched the movie and read the book like a million times and although i'm happy with how it ended i would just once like to know what would have happened had she choosen Henry. I mean yeah he might have cheated on her and they might ahve been miserable but then again he might really have changed and become a better man. They might have had an amazing life together. I would just once like to know what would have been.

live and let live

To be frank, at some point of the movie I considered Henry the best option for Fanny. Well, exactly, near the scene were his gift for Fanny is delivered during her exile from Mansfield Park - I know, I'm a hopeless romantic. But, in my defense (hehe) Fanny feelings were also confused by Henry's charms, and by the fact that Edmund practically snubbeb her obvious adoration of him just after he met Mary Crawford. I didn't care much for him at that point! And those double messages, as when Fanny was leaving Mansfield Park and he looked so appalled by her departure, but then quickly ran to Miss Crawford's arms. It broke my heart for Fanny to see that.

I know, I know, at the end of the story Edmund sort of redeemed himself. But, again, I almost felt sorry for Henry, because I believe he actually tried to win Fanny's heart, even though he knew himself as a person of lower character. I think at the end, when he gave up his feelings and looked for mutual consolation on Maria's bed, that it was almost fair! I mean, Fanny actually rejected him several times in his intention of being a better man for her.

At the same time, Fanny declared openly crazy about Edmund, who was supposedly a man of such a good character, and yes, in some way he was. Nevertheless, I believe he was very cruel to Fanny in not making the best choice from the first moment. He knew her, since she was girl crying in his attic! Then, how come Henry notices what a graceful, charming woman Fanny has become, BEFORE Edmund? Was he blind? He was apparently pressured by social expectations, but I think what happened was that by Miss Crawford's beauty and avant-garde mentality lured him. Therefore, he preferred that prospect over the knowing warmness provided by his kinship with Fanny. In that way, he was as low as Henry could have been. But in the beginning , Henry was more open and sincere about it. Sometimes, I happen to prefer that over shady goodness!

Team Henry all the way in the films and in the book.

The author herself stated that Henry was sincere in his feelings toward Fanny. He was willing to help her entire family not just one sister.

Lets look at why Edmund ended up with Fanny. His family experienced a very bad social setback when Maria ran away from her husband (Just look at Pride and Prejudice for the contrast). What woman of good family would have had him after that scandal? Just one...Fanny.

The book is a sticky, thorny land mine about choices: Money or love, Family or Friends, Virtue or Social Success.

Fanny is virtuous but she fell short in looking out for her family.

Oh sure, he's much more attractive than the priggish, uptight Edward, but the face is that marrying Crawford would have been a disaster, it'd had made them both miserable!

Henry had a temporary crush on Fanny because she was pretty and made him feel like a better, more virtuous person, and like a fool she'd have tried to make him into a better, more virtuous person... which would have made him resent her for being a controlling bitch soon enough. He wasn't a good and virtuous person and even though he lived in a culture that was always telling him to be better and more virtuous, but he didn't actually want that. Fanny would not have realized that he didn't aspire to be virtuous until it was far too late, until she was stuck at home with a couple of kiddies and he wasn't bothering to give her housekeeping money, because he was spending all his time with his mistresses.

No, she was better off with Edward, they had been honest and understanding with each other for years, they weren't going to cheat on each other, and at least in the book, they had the fact that they were judgemental prigs in common.