Murky Villainous Evil Doing

1) Does Northanger Abbey have a villain? If so, which character is the villain? Why do you think that?

Northanger Abbey has many antagonistic forces within it; John and Isabella Thorpe and General Tilney are three such powers. In a story that doesn’t really have a hero, the villain would also be present on a murky almost plane of existence.

John Thorpe is an almost villain. He is selfish and egotistical. He cares only for his own goals and desires. He almost abducts her for a carriage ride, and refuses to let her off when she begs to leave. In modern day that would be considered kidnapping. Thorpe also gives wrong information to General Tilney in the belief that it will further his own interests to make her seem wealthier and better connected than she is. This information is what first pushes General Tilney towards Catherine as a future daughter-in-law. John then proceeds to give more wrong information after his marital hopes are dashed that Catherine is practically destitute that leads to General Tilney kicking him out.

General Tilney is another such almost villain. Catherine attempts to paint him as a Gothic Villain from one of her stories, an unrepentant murderer. While that turns out to be a false accusation he is guilty of being greedy and incredibly ill mannered. When he finds that she is penniless—which she is not—he turns her from his house under false pretenses. He makes her leave by hack post-chaise with no servant to accompany her and no time to write home. Not only is this abominably rude but it is also incredibly dangerous for her. A single young woman traveling by herself is considered dangerous even now a days.

Isabella Thorpe is probably the most obviously evil. She is manipulator, a user, and to some extent abusive to her friends. She befriends Catherine specifically to further her own interests with James Morland. She keeps the friendship going after she finds that Catherine is incredibly naïve and easily lead about. After she becomes engaged to James and finds out how little money will be coming their way she is openly disappointed and then proceeds to openly flirt with other men in front of Catherine. This is rude, but the way she brushes off Catherine’s worries about her behavior is borderline abusive. She makes Catherine out to be stupid and her father to be miserly.

In this gothic parody the existence of a heroine is perhaps the most mocked. The existence of a villain is only mentioned when General Tilney fails to live up to expectation. So in that case, does there even have to be a villain? All of the characters are mixed bags of good and bad. The point is Catherine learning that she is not a Gothic Heroine and so that there is no Gothic Villain and that reality lays far away from the books she has read. If this story parades as a Gothic Narrative what lies underneath is a domestic fiction which needs only the actions of everyday life to succeed. And in that, Northanger Abbey does flourish.