Mansfield Park
Mr. Rushworth
Maria's wealthy fiancé
A rich, dull young man who is proud of his estate at Sotherton. He is easily flattered and not very clever.
Mr. Rushworth is the owner of the grand but old-fashioned Sotherton Court, and he talks about little else. He is a heavy young man with not much common sense, but twelve thousand a year is not to be overlooked.
He loves to speak of improvements, such as cutting down the avenue of oaks, and he is easily led by Mrs. Norris and by anyone who flatters his wealth. Beside him, Henry Crawford's wit and polish make his dullness look even greater.
“Two and forty speeches! Count Cassel has forty-two speeches! How am I ever to learn them all?”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Rushworth becomes engaged to Maria and shows the party around Sotherton. At the iron gate he goes back for the key and returns to find Maria gone with Henry Crawford.
He signs on to the play but frets about the forty-two speeches of Count Cassel, comforted only by the promise of a pink satin cloak. He marries Maria, and in the end he is a wronged husband.
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