Portsmouth is the village where the Price family lives with their nine children. This is also where Fanny returns to after she leaves Mansfield Park. It contrasts from the wealthy neighborhoods found in and around Mansfield Park, and it also contrasts between households, as readers compare the Price household to Lady Betrum's estate. Portsmouth inhabits the image of working-class families living in poverty and rural life on the coast. Due to the Napoleonic Wars, Portsmouth is used as a home to all of the Navy officers and soldiers, as they are there to protect the coast and to have access to the sea if they need to conduct any attacks on neighboring countries. Its contrast of noise, crowds, and poverty compares directly to Mansfield Park's serene scenery and more refined estate. In the novel, Austen describes the town of Portsmouth: "they passed the Drawbridge, and entered the town; and the light was only beginning to fall; as guided by William's powerful high voice, they rattled into a narrow street, leading from high street, and drawn up before the door of a small house now inhabited by Mr. Price" (378).

Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park, edited by June Sturrock, Broadview Press, 2003.