The plot, in short, can be summaries by heroin, Catherine Morland’s own words: “People who read too many stories imagine all sorts of horrid things about ghost and murders.” Grew up in a moderate middle class family, Catherine was fond of reading Gothic novels and often imagine the scenes happening to herself. She encountered Henry Tilney and his family in a trip to Bath with Mr. and Mrs. Allen. Henry’s manner attracted her and they soon fell in love. Catherine later went to Tilneys’ house, Northanger Abbey with Henry and was charmed by the mysterious abbey because of Henry’s inadvertent story about the myths of the castle. Her curiosity grew as she read The Mysterious Udolpho. She decided to explore Henry’s mother’s bedchamber without consent of Tilney family members due to suspicious death of the mother. The imagination turned out to be false as Henry revealed the truth in anguish. After Catherine left Abbey in despair and regret, Henry visited her house and they decided to marry.
The targets of this novel were two: gothic novels and regimes of merriment created by “parental tyranny”.
Gothic novels, emerged in late-eighteenth century, was characterized, in Henry’s words “Dungeons and sliding panels. Skeletons, strange unearthly cries in the night that pierce your very soul”. Gothic novel grew out of fear and turmoil of French revolution and culminated in the beginning of nineteenth century. Jane Austen, on the other hand, wrote Northanger Abbey published in the dawn of eighteenth century. The novel itself resembles the Gothic novels in many ways: setting, atmosphere, and plot, it is, however, not hard to find that Austen was at all time mocking the gothic novels by distorting the scenes: for example, in the thunder storming night, Catherine discovered the antique scripture in horror, but the next morning she found out the scripture was just laundry list. Austen pointed out “it is very wrong of them ［who was obsessed with gothic novels］ to do so, and it can get you into serious trouble”. The reason may be simple: for heroin herself, unwonted imagination that was created after she read the novels led her to misunderstanding of Henry’s father; for the general public, Gothic novels radicalized real world by creating myths.It is, however, understandable that after turmoil of the Revolution, the uncertainty of the nature represented by romanticism and conservative view was furthermore enhenced and even grew distorted over time. Jane Austen and, similarly, Charlotte Brontë in her Jane Eyre, both
On the other hand, as another theme of the novel, Austen tried to destroy the regime of the old convention, symbolized by the castle and “parental tyranny”. Money, as one of the most important element of the novel, appeared directly and indirectly numerous times. The social status appeared to be an crucial identity of men and women; during the ball, fortune was associated with, perhaps the most important part, of one’s name; in terms of marriage, fortune and rights of heritage was also indispensable. To destroy these conventions that restricted true love, Austen chose a female character, who though sometimes facetious, was kind and venturesome. Henry, was another individual that would accompany Catherine in her adventure. The feminism and individualism perspective in this novel also foreshadowed the advancement of Lord Byron in his personal feat and reflected the feminist wave of the time.
From many perspective, Northanger Abbey and the later novel Jane Eyre bore great resemblance.
This novel is particular useful in thinking about the popular trend of the time. How should we justify the existence of Gothic novels in the context of reformation and Austen’s warn against them? How can the medieval architecture which always associates with religious repress revive in the context of revolution? What was the real social life like in British or European continent during the Revolution, did people really enjoyed great prosperity? What role did female play in the real world if the female was playing an increasingly important role in the literature? How to understand the Austen’s abjection to the gothic novels to her critics about money? …...
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