Northanger Abbey

This story, as a Gothic parody, does not seem to have what would one traditionally call an antagonist. Our narrator, Catherine, is the closest thing we have to a villain in the story - as she views herself as a sort of character in her own Gothic story - well off, naive, and looking for answers. It is interesting to have the narrator as the antagonist in this way - it keeps the readers guessing as to who she is working against, when in many ways, she is working against herself.

John Thorpe could be seen as the antagonist in the story as well - his nature completely foils that of Catherine's. Loud, boastful, and fond of debauchery, Thorpe is the opposite of Catherine in many ways. However, the two do not interact in the way one would expect a protagonist/antagonist dynamic to work, leading me to believe (since the parody of Gothic novels is so important in this book), that it was meant to be taken as such; a less traditional role for the villain would suit such a genre well.

As far as whether or not this kind of book will encourage others to read Gothic literature, I am not certain. I have never found it appealing in the slightest - I don't really care about reading stories about rich people and their lives purely for entertainment. It was hardly though provoking, and ultimately I ended up asking the same question some of my classmates asked: "Why does this matter?" I appreciate the fact that it is a blend of a few different genres, giving us a chance to discuss multiple at once, but it seems to be lacking in all - it doesn't truly embody Gothic literature, from what I understand... it merely speaks to it and uses some of its traits. It hardly characterizes Romanticism... i'm not attacking the book or its value, per se, but I would say that maybe it could have been replaced by something else in this class that would seem more fitting.

The Unheroic Heroine and the Uncharacteristic Villain

The Unheroic Heroine and Uncharacteristic Villain

Parodying the Gothic characteristics of a hero, Catherine in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is perceivably not a heroine. Naïve Catherine is young, innocent, and searching for an adventure that parallels the Ann Radcliffe novels that preoccupy her time. Continually, the antagonist of the novel, John Thorpe, is uncharacteristic of the common villainous ways of gothic literature.

Although General Tinley may be perceived as the villain, at least partially in Catherine’s mind, he is wrongly read by Catherine. Austen utilizes John Thorpe’s obnoxious, boasting, and suggestive actions juxtaposed against Catherine’s naïve, quiet, and rather demure behavior to indicate his evil way. The opening of the novel describes Catherine as average and unheroic, thus the first description of John Thorpe describes him as rather unattractive but not as a villain. “He was a stout young man of middling height, who, with a plain face and ungraceful form, seemed fearful of being too handsome unless he wore the dress of a groom, and too much like a gentleman unless he were easy where he ought to be civil, and impudent where he might be allowed to be easy,” (Austen).

Several instances throughout the novel illuminate Thorpe’s menacing and manipulative ways. Primarily, John calls his two sisters ugly, before having Isabella tell Catherine that he is quite pleased with her and would like to dance with her at the ball. Despite the compliment of wanting to dance with her, John abandons Catherine to gamble and play cards with his friends. When he does resurface, after Catherine turned her crush Henry Tinley down, John dances with Catherine but speaks of animals, a topic that does not intrigue his date.

Attempting to win her hand in marriage, John Thorpe decides the day trip Catherine had planned with the Tinleys would no longer be acceptable. After lying to Catherine about seeing the siblings in order to manipulate her from going with Henry and his sister, a rather villainous action, Thorpe refuses to let Catherine out of the carriage despite her direct wishes to leave. Even her begging, “But Mr. Thorpe only laughed, smacked his whip, encouraged his horse, made odd noises, and drove on; and Catherine, angry and vexed as she was, having no power of getting away, was obliged to give up the point and submit,” (Austen). This scene is another demonstration of the villainous Thorpe, who despite Catherine’s begging, continued to drive the carriage and even sped up, abducting her.

Although he may not look or act as obviously as other Gothic villains, John is Austen’s uncharacteristic villain as much as Catherine is the unheroic heroine. Adding lying, manipulation, and abduction to the list of wrongdoings that make Thorpe the villain of Northanger Abbey.

As someone who has read and loved many of Jane Austen’s novels and has become familiar with her coming of age storylines, I have come to the conclusion that Austen’s brother made a mistake in renaming Austen’s first novel to a Gothic sounding Northanger Abbey from a more appropriate title of “Catherine.” I feel this novel is much more the story of young Catherine, a girl who loves the trendy Gothic novels of her day and is inexperienced socially, whose first time experience out in the world leads to her growth into a young woman and a happy marriage. Besides the Gothic obsession and distinct character traits, this story is doubtlessly Austen’s go-to storyline. This novel is different from her others as Austen does unquestionably have elements of Gothic parody in the second half of the novel. Austen’s biting hand serves as a wonderfully sarcastic critique of the Gothic fiction in this important but small section of the novel. I believe Northanger Abbey would generally discourage its audience to read Gothic novels as the novel sends such a clear message that the trending genre of the time was utterly ridiculous and overdone. 

Catherine, our 17-year-old heroine, is just that—17. She is still growing up and learning to become the serious, rational, depressing adult society expects her to be. So her imagination has yet to be squashed and her silliness unfortunately gets the best of her at times. Her love of Gothic novels and lack of her own adventure leads her flights of fancy of a mystery she will stumble upon and to the ridiculous and offensive idea that General Tilney murdered his own wife. We as readers cringe at her faulty reasoning—he paces too often, he goes on early morning walks, etc.—and her rude, impulsive attempts to snoop around the abbey. This active imagination and failure to reign herself in leads Catherine into situations of great embarrassment. Though she has great integrity and is very caring, Catherine’s character is painted as silly and naïve for letting her imagination get the best of her. We cringe at her more innocent follies of staying up late to search the cabinet and only finding laundry receipts, but we also feel bad for her at how much her foolishness hurts her when she sneaking around the late Mrs. Tilney’s rooms and caught by Henry Tilney who gives her quite the tongue-lashing. But the audience will be put off from the Gothic due to the clear message that Catherine’s obsession is not a good quality to have. Austen’s heroine is quite the dismal disappoint in comparison to other Gothic literature, but even more realistic had a real girl be placed in such a story.

The heroine is not the only element that falls flat in comparison to the Gothic fiction. Austen pokes fun at the villainous features of Gothic novels in her lack of one. Catherine begins to paint General Tilney as the villain of the story when he is only in fact described as a strict and sometimes meanly so man who values making money and spending it as well. He is not the most good and pure person, but he is by no means a heinous villain depicted in the Gothic. Austen does this purposefully to again point out the ridiculous of the genre and readers see General Tilney is no antagonist, but a mere obstacle.

In this small section, Austen spoofs the elements of Gothic novels; ominous and sublime setting of an old building, suspense, finding “clues,” strange noises, an evil man and emotions running high. Altogether she creates a harsh critique of the elements for being ludicrous and quite overwritten and over-read, which puts the reader off from reading such a silly sounding genre. But the absurdity of the genre is not its only problem. Throughout the novel Austen slips in not-so-subtle hints that the Gothic is widely overdone through characters like Henry Tilney and wry descriptions of all the possibilities Catherine could discover. Austen references many Gothic novels and the cliché events like The Monk, The Mysteries of Udolpho, a mistreated and tortured woman, evil villain and a courageous heroine that uncovers the mystery. As a Gothic parody, the reader learns that this genre is so exhausted that people are making fun of the whole thing. Readers would be unenthusiastic to pick up a novel that has been gathered to be ridiculous and exhausted of any novelty.

Readers will also be discouraged from picking up a sample of the genre due to Northanger Abbey’s brevity on the subject. Like I mentioned before, Northanger Abbey is more of a coming of age tale with a small Gothic parody element. This is not the best example of a true Gothic novel and unknowing readers may be bored of the relatively uneventful beginning and rather short Gothic section and thus be left unsure if they would want to try the genre again. This novel does not entice the majority of readers to pursue the Gothic literature, but rather to avoid and criticize it for the absurdity, Catherine’s foolishness, lack of a true villain and the overused Gothic elements.

Villainess of Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey, being a Gothic parody, does not contain any true heroes or villains in the traditional sense (i.e. Kirk vs. Khan, Thor vs. Loki).  If you were, however, to pick a villain--the Google definition of which is “the person or thing responsible for specified trouble, harm, or damage”--, it would likely be Isabella, with Catherine being the hero pitted against her. While her disdain for Catherine may not be clearly apparent to Catherine herself, it is clearly apparent to the reader.

Isabella begins by befriending Catherine. She says and does most everything that Catherine wants to see and hear and makes it a point to show off her superior graces and charms. Catherine is quickly taken in by this, allowing Isabella to become closer to her and see her flaws and quirks more clearly and to take advantage of her innocence. “Make yourself easy, there is no danger of that, for I heard Tilney hallooing to a man who was just passing by on horseback, that they were going as far as Wick Rocks” (69). Here, Isabella takes clear advantage of Catherine’s innocence and naivete by intentionally lying to her about Mr. Tilney, telling her that he isn’t coming to pick her up for a walk at all, he’s instead taking a carriage ride elsewhere without her. Because of this lie, Catherine gives up waiting for Mr. Tilney and his sister and goes with Isabella and Mr. Thorpe. This lie causes Catherine serious emotional pain and guilt, especially once she sees Mr. Tilney and Miss Tilney on their way to Mrs. Allen’s to pick her up. She tries to rectify the problem to no avail when Mr. Thorpe refuses to stop the carriage and spurs the horses on faster, only making her feel worse. To add to her guilt, Catherine was not even able to see the castle that the Thorpe’s told her she would be seeing.

This lie, among many others and other fraudulent claims and sympathies from Isabella, make her Catherine’s villain. Like the Google definition, Isabella is “the person or thing responsible for [the] specified trouble, harm, [and] damage” against Catherine. She continually does whatever she can to make Catherine feel generally terrible or more unsure of herself than she already is, and she does so without scruple.

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. 

Northanger Abbey Blog

In Austen’s Northanger Abbey, the concept of antagonist vs. protagonist is consistently subjective as Catherine, our less-than-heroine, navigates the blindingly dull world she’s stuck with, as opposed to her beloved gothic novels. While there are certainly less than enjoyable personalities surrounding Catherine (the thorpes, namely), there is no clear cut villain. By personal standards I would consider a villain to be a character who explicitly wishes harm for the named protagonist. However, as no one is trying to harm Catherine, but simply use her for selfish reasons (which they don’t view as harmful or inherently negative), there can be no clear-cut villain. Even John Thorpe, who is, in my opinion, the most abrasive man in the book, is not premeditative in his obnoxiousness. His character is written to be obtrusive and annoying, even irritating, but he does not plan out how to make Catherine unhappy (he just does that naturally). John Thorpe is being selfish, true, but I argue that without premeditated intention to cause some form of harm to who is named the protagonist, he cannot be considered a villain.

I feel that the most challenging aspect of Northanger Abbey is the concept of etiquette; in modern American culture, there is very little in the means of social rules defining who we associate with, and how we go about it. In Northanger Abbey Catherine has layers of rules and expectations to work through before she can consider her feelings, or even be social. This is especially relevant as Catherine struggles against John Thorpe and his sisters, who press her to lie and break her engagement with Miss Tilney. This idea of social etiquette is very unlike what is currently abided by today, both by gender standards as well as class standards. Without knowing the boundaries Catherine must work within, the reader would find themselves frustrated with her actions, possibly finding her considerably less likeable or active in the novel. I find very little can be done to remedy this discrepancy aside from a little research on the reader’s part.

Gothic fiction seems to be the pop music of the literature world in Austen’s time, as it is proposed in Northanger Abbey. With Catherine’s foolishness and the overwhelming normality of the world, the tone of the novel suggests that the extreme fantasy of Gothic fiction is entirely unrealistic and full of useless notions. Many characters in the story disapprove of Catherine’s ideas, tendency to jump to conclusions, and obsession with the genre.

Northanger Abbey Prompt 3

As far as I'm concerned, Northanger Abbey serves only to discourage others from reading more Gothic literature. Perhaps it's my predisposition to not enjoying reading Jane Austen, but Northanger Abbey and other Austen works don't appeal to me much at all due to the fact that they cover events that I loathe - trivial, near meaningless relations of the bourgeoisie.