A Villainous Narrator

Merriam Webster defines a villain as “a character in a story or play who opposes the hero” (11th edition, p 1395). If there is a character in Northanger Abbey that consistently opposes the hero, (or in this specific novel, the idea of a hero) it is the narrator of the novel. While this “villainous” narrator does not intend to injure anyone in the novel, she (or he, but for the purpose of this post, I will refer to the narrator as “she”) artfully mocks the excitement and eccentricities of all of the characters, especially Catherine, in their quest for heroic adventures, with the intent to parody the Gothic novel.

Beginning with her description of Catherine in the first chapter, the narrator parodies Catherine’s desire for heroism, claiming that “she fell miserably short of the true heroic height” due to her lack of proficiency in drawing (p 12). Catherine’s first separation from her family was also mocked as more common than heroic (p 14). The narrator describes Catherine’s first heroic adventure at a ball as a dismal failure, having no acquaintance, no one to ask her to dance, and no one to sit with at tea (p 16-18). At the opportune moment for a heroine to be noticed and admired at the ball, Catherine’s greatest feat was hearing that two gentlemen pronounced her pretty, for which she was very pleased (p 18). The narrator continually teases Catherine’s heroism with such descriptions as “feelings rather natural than heroic possessed her” (p 75), “her courage was not equal to a wish of exploring them after dinner” (p 150), and upon hoping to secure enduring light from her candle to examine the hidden manuscript, in her hurry “she hastily snuffed it” (p 134).

Isabella’s character and desires are also ridiculed by our mirthful narrator when she first pretends to avoid two gentlemen, then turns to follow them to capture their attention (p 35), and finally looks “back at them only three times,” even as she is engaged in a walk with another man, Catherine’s brother (p 38).

The narrator plays her villainous role well, including a satiric reverie about novel writing (p 29-30), which the foot-note explains is a device used in mock-gothic novels. This reverie is presented as Catherine and Isabella sit together, reading novels, and cleverly inquires “if the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard?” affirming the “progress of friendship between Catherine and Isabella” (p 29).

Ultimately, without the narrator, Northanger Abbey would be another romance novel, not a Gothic parody. While character dialogue conveys some instances of Gothic parody, the responsibility of the parody lies in the narrator's perspective and descriptions, which she gleefully produces.