Margaret Kirkham (1983) in her essay "Feminist Irony and the Priceless Heroine of Mansfield Park" argued that Austen was a feminist writer who liked complexity and humour and enjoyed presenting puzzles for her readers. Many have missed the feminist irony of the character of Fanny. Austen was a feminist in the sense that she believed women were as equally endowed with reason and common sense as men, and that the ideal marriage should be between two people who love each other. Ironically, the love match portrayed between Fanny's parents is far from ideal.