Northanger Abbey Part I

Northanger Abbey written by Jane Austen has been much more enjoyable than Romance of the Forest and Castle of Otranto combined!  Jane Austen's novel is a parody of Gothic literature, which is a type of literature that was a trend during the 18th century and early part of the 19th century.  Catherine is the "heroine" of the novel even though, "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine" (Austen 8).  Catherine from the start is your unconventional heroine who naive and innocence is readily apparent.  When she heads to Bath with Mr. and Mrs. Allen and meets Isabella, she does not pick up on Isabella's character and difference between her talk and actions.  Isabella represents the aristocrat, focused on money, prestige, and insistence of sustaining their elevated status.  Her brother John, and even Catherine's brother James, represent the upper class in which Catherine finds herself unable to understand.  However, Henry and Eleanor represent the wealthy, but "real" people not focused on material and superficial things, which attracts Catherine because that is representative of her true character.

The elements of Gothic literature are apparent in Northanger Abbey, but are greatly parodied.  For instance, once Isabella heads with Henry and Eleanor to Northanger Abbey with General Tilney, the setting for a Gothic novel is in place.  Catherine's imagination runs wild as she imagines what "hidden terrors" lie within the abbey and one evening finds what she thinks to be an old manuscript of a dead person like in Romance of the Forest, but it end up just being laundry lists and bills.  Northanger Abbey seems to be directing most of its sarcasm and parody at Romance of the Forest.  The missing mother is again found in this novel.  Catherine's imagination runs wild as she thinks that Miss Tilney has been murdered at Northanger Abbey by the General, which may be the major reason for her not being able to enter her room.  One thing is apparent though, Catherine is slowly losing her innocence and is beginning to understand those around her and read into others, specially Isabella who is unhappy with James's meager inheritance and thus decides to flirt with General Tilney (the oldest brother).  I'm curious to see how the novel will end and what other elements of Gothic literature will be parodied by Jane Austen.