Social Issues In Northanger Abbey, By Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a Bildungsroman, a coming of age story that focuses on the psychological development of the protagonist, Catherine Morland. This essay will analyse the language and narrative techniques of the extract, and discuss how this excerpt suggests vicissitudes in Catherine’s personal perspectives and relationships. In addition, it will discuss the ‘domestic gothic’ and abuse ubiquitous in ordinary situations. Furthermore, it will argue how Austen’s rhetorical techniques work to encourage reader interest as well as exercising perception when distinguishing between appearance and reality. Finally, it will conclude by briefly discussing the significance of the extract within the novel’s wider themes.

Jane Austen's intelligence and sophisticated diction made her a revolutionary author, and her mastery surpasses most modern authors. By challenging conventional stereotypes in her novels, she gives the open-minded reader a new perspective through the message she conveys. Her first novel, Northanger Abbey, focuses on reading. However, she parallels typical novel reading with the reading of people. Catherine Morland's coming of age hinges on her ability to become a better reader of both novels and people.

In Jane Austen’s, Northanger Abbey, John Thorpe and General Tilney are portrayed as unpleasant villains. Villains are defined as, “a wicked or evil person; a scoundrel” (The American Heritage Dictionary http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=VILLAIN). Austen description of both men as power-hungry, easily upset, and manipulative follows this definition. She introduces both characters in separate parts of the book, however simultaneously she delivers a stunning example of their identical villainous personalities. Through the portrayal of John Thorpe and General Tilney as villains, Austen comments on the male supremacy that permeates through her time.

Jane Austen is well known as a novelist for her satirical representation of female characters in late Georgian society. During this period, novel writing and reading was still a controversial topic, and as such was incorporated in her book Northanger Abbey (1817), which has at its core a young female protagonist obsessed with novels. We can clearly interpret Northanger Abbey as Austen’s satirical response to the social conventions decrying novel reading, as she uses an intrusive narrator and more subtle supplementary techniques to comment on and satirize the debate surrounding novels.

Austen, Jane, Claudia L. Johnson, Susan J. Wolfson. Pride and Prejudice, A Longman Cultural Edition. New York: Longman, 2003.

From my point of view, Jane Austen should be seen as a ‘feminist’ writer. As she wrote in one of her novel Persuasion, she considers that ‘Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything’ (Anne Elliot, in Jane Austen’s Persuasion). Such feminist ideas are expressed in many of her literary works. In her another novel Northanger Abbey, there are various issues discussed, which include not only marriage, social criticism and Gothic, but also feminism as well. The essay is to discuss Jane Austen and her feminist thoughts by analyzing Northanger Abbey.

Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey establishes the inner feeling of a woman based on her own personal experience which provides a vivid glance into her perspective. Correspondingly, it reinstates Gothic novels as an reflection marginalized by the experiences of women living in the upper class. For contemporary modern day, Northanger Abbey functions as a warning, depicting the danger of amorous and sexual exploitation from the opportunistic characters within a social environment. These dangers are a realistic theme even in today's society marking potential threat for women. Mostly importantly, it serves as a device that's depicts the social separation between the companionship of woman and the inhuman acknowledgement of women as objects, which fosters the necessarily development for both men and

Set in 1798 England, Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is the “coming of age” story of Catherine Morland, a naïve young girl who spends time away from home at the malleable age of seventeen. Catherine’s introduction into society begins when Mr. and Mrs. Allen, her neighbors in Fullerton, invite her to accompany them as they vacation in the English town of Bath. While in Bath, Catherine spends her time visiting newly-made friends, such as Isabella Thorpe, and attending balls and plays. Catherine soon after is introduced to Henry Tilney, a handsome yet mysterious clergyman whom she finds herself attracted to. Catherine also befriends Eleanor

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is frequently described as a novel about reading—reading novels and reading people—while Pride and Prejudice is said to be a story about love, about two people overcoming their own pride and prejudices to realize their feelings for each other. If Pride and Prejudice is indeed about how two stubborn youth have misjudged each other, then why is it that this novel is so infrequently viewed to be connected to Austen’s original novel about misjudgment and reading one’s fellows, Northanger Abbey? As one of Austen’s first novels, Northanger Abbey is often viewed as a “prototype” to her later novels, but it is most often compared to Persuasion (Brown 50). However, if read discerningly, one can see in Pride and

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is essentially the “coming of age” story of Catherine Morland, a sympathetic yet naïve young girl who spends some time away from home at the impressionable age of seventeen. As Catherine matures in the town of Bath and at Northanger Abbey, she learns to forgo immature childhood fantasies in favor of the solid realities of adult life, thus separating falsehood from truth. This theme is expressed in a couple of ways, most obviously when Catherine’s infatuation with Gothic novels causes her to nearly ruin her relationship with Henry Tilney: her imagination finally goes too far, and she wrongly suspects General Tilney of murdering his late wife. The theme is less apparent

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a novel that features vibrant character development but the biggest development is that which occurs in Catherine Morland. Catherine’s character nearly develops in all components of her being and she is able to evolve from the unorthodox “heroine” that she is initially described as. In the novel, Catherine starts out as an incredibly naïve and inexperienced girl who confuses all facets of the real world as the plot in a Gothic novel. Catherine develops as a character through her social interactions with those around her as it helps her gain experience with how to correctly perceive the world. With her newly gained experience of her surroundings, Catherine develops and is able to see the real world through a social lens rather than her own subjective lens or that of a Gothic lens.

During the time period of the 1800s in England, not only was the economic situation different but the social norms were differently. Jane Austen depicts this greatly in her novel pride and prejudice, not only was the social classes a big deal, but the marriage between families was a bigger deal. Throughout the novel many of the characters encounter this problem of, love in marriage or money in marriage, and many of the families and females within this time period choice money in marriage. The author Jane Austen feels that the idea of marring for money rather than love is preposterous and expresses this through the character Elizabeth

The only way young women could find economic security in early 19th century England was through marriage. Personal wealth was important for a man looking for a wife as well. It was clear in the novel that Catherine’s inherent wealth was an important factor in deciding if John Thorpe, one of Catherine’s love interests, wanted to marry her. Austen describes Catherine’s family as average, or middle class, as she describes Catherine’s father as, “a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor, and a very respectable man” (15). Although Catherine is described in this way, John assumes her wealth because of her connections with the Allen family.

Richardson explains how this confusion was relevant of the historical and cultural context of Austen’s era. Both the Gothic and the sentimental genres were regularly criticised for influencing readers to project fictional elements into real life. As Richardson explains, the Gothic was singled out for condemnation through its ‘thematics of female constraint and persecution and its fictive indulgence in forbidden lusts and passions, and the sentimental novel, with its ideal or ‘romantic’ picture of life and its over-valuation of erotic love as the key to female happiness (Richardson 2005:399). This projection is reflected in Northanger Abbey when Catherine is invited to Northanger Abbey: ‘Northanger Abbey! These were thrilling words, and wound up Catherine’s feelings to the highest point of ecstasy’ ( Austen pp.99-100). The use of ‘ecstasy’ reflects Catherine’s excessive personality and self-transcendence. Catherine’s gothic idealist vision of the abbey and her pursuit of pleasure, signifies her lack of self-directedness in which she dismisses her own control of life and puts herself in the position of the gothic heroine as portrayed in her reading of Radcliffe’s ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’. The prominent role of ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’ in Northanger Abbey is highly symbolic in representing Austen’s concerns of the excesses of sensibility and the gothic and how they can distort the reader’s interpretation of life. Barker-Benfield (p.111) highlights how ‘Radcliffe’s Mysteries typically hinted at its apparent dangers but continued to convey its tenets. And no one could prevent readers from identifying with figures the author intended as warnings against sensibility’s ‘excesses’.

Jane Austen impacted the world of literature in more ways than one. Museums located around the United Kingdom are dedicated to her works which many people still enjoy to this day. Audiences around the world continue to read the love stories she shared many years ago. She portrayed a sense of female strength and hefty feelings of true love in her writing. Austen’s wording and her particular writing style are recognizable among those who enjoy 18th century literature, her distinct approach to the realities of the time is one reason her fan base has grown over the years. Jane Austen pioneered romantic literature because she was among the first authors to write a happily ever after type story, and she used her work to portray this feeling