Upon arriving at Northanger Abbey, Catherine is crestfallen when she realizes that her imagined ideal of the house--a former dwelling place for nuns, with all its original features intact--does not match the reality of the renovated and modern mansion. Wealth and Respectability. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. In-depth explanations of Northanger Abbey's themes. For a young woman like Catherine, reading allows her to access the kind of dramatic conflict that her own life lacks, at least until she arrives at Northanger Abbey. Catherine's imagination is shaped by her experience reading the Gothic novels of Anne Radcliffe. Sensibility: Which is the Victor? The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. He has devoted his life to outdoing his wealthy peers in the size, scale, and expense of his estate. Even when she finds only banal objects (such as a quilt) in place of their imagined counterparts, Catherine refuses to relinquish her vision of Northanger's mysterious history until reality intrudes in the form of Henry's admonishment. General Tilney is the novel's most materialistic character. Northanger Abbey study guide contains a biography of Jane Austen, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. We feel sympathy for Catherine, who is terribly embarrassed in front of Henry. Northanger Abbey e-text contains the full text of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. From its very first sentence, Northanger Abbey draws attention to the fact that it is a novel, describing its protagonist Catherine Morland as an unlikely heroine. Northanger Abbey Themes. Northanger Abbey is concerned with young people and their feelings. We hear her raving about the novel in several scenes during her stay in Bath. Over the course of the story, Catherine is enamored and subsequently disenchanted by the Gothic novels of Anne Radcliffe. Northanger Abbey Themes Consumer Culture. Visit BN.com to buy new and used textbooks, and check out our award-winning NOOK tablets and eReaders. Teachers and parents! LitCharts Teacher Editions. In the scenes leading up to the confrontation with Henry, it is almost disturbing to read of Catherine's paranoid assumptions that everything the General does stems from a guilty conscience. On a more abstract level, Austen writes many asides to the reader where she directly calls our attention to the novel's fictional qualities: she wants us to know that we are reading a work of art whose features are in large part derived from inherited conventions from other books. For example, Austen lets us know from the very beginning of the novel that we are meant to compare Catherine with the heroines of earlier novels. GradeSaver, 15 August 2010 Web. Northanger Abbey essays are academic essays for citation. In another, Catherine imagines that the General is a wife-murderer and goes to investigate the late Mrs. Tilney's bedroom. So although she parodies the gothic genre, Austen also makes use of some of its techniques. At first, Catherine is willing and eager to absorb everything that she has read or heard about The Mysteries of Udolpho. Letters and novels abound in Austen's depiction of English social life. Tellingly, Catherine finds real delight in the view of the fields from the drawing room window, and this turns out to be her favorite room. Wang, Mai. Instead, most of the characters in Northanger Abbey are not aristocrats (with the exception of Eleanor Tilney after she marries a…, Like most of Jane Austen’s novels, Northanger Abbey is concerned with whether a young person will mature into a good judge of character. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. The Question and Answer section for Northanger Abbey is a great In many ways, Henry's retelling of the Gothic horror tale is doubled by Austen's account of Catherine's quest to discover the circumstances behind Mrs. Tilney's death.