What did you think about the ending of Northanger Abbey? Please discuss anything that interested you…but here are some prompts you might want to consider:
- The one character about whom Catherine is inclined to think the worst is General Tilney. Why is this? She is humiliated when Henry realizes how her imagination has run away with her, but how mistaken is she really regarding his general character? Is there a way in which the General really is a Gothic villain despite not murdering his wife?
- Discuss Henry Tilney as a character. Is he witty and delightful (as many Austen critics argue) or condescending and even misogynistic (as others claim)? What do you think Henry sees in Catherine, why does he value her? Do you believe he really loves her? (Austen uses some interesting language about their relationship in the last few pages of the novel.)
- What about Eleanor Tilney? At least one critic has argued that she is the “true Gothic heroine” of the novel. How do you think this claim might be justified? Do you agree with it?
Or, you might want to respond to this passage (slightly shortened and reworded) from an analysis of the novel by Iva Jankovic:
We can see the changes that Catherine undergoes in the novel in two ways: 1) as an awakening and transition from the romantic world into reality, and 2) as a molding of a social outsider into the “standards” of society.
The first transition could be said to teach Catherine that reality is not nearly so dramatic and romantic as it’s presented in Gothic novels. She gains common sense and learns to think rationally (and possibly even cynically?) about the world around her.
The second transition, though, is one Catherine is forced into. From being a tomboy in her childhood, she is taken to Bath, where she must learn what it means to be an 18th century woman: to dress appropriately, to have good manners, to talk about clothes and hair and boys. She learns she must conform to other’s expectations if she is to get anywhere in life
So, the question is: Does Catherine start out as a zombie? Or does she become one?
I just finished reading the novel, and the ending caught me by surprise. It just happened so quickly. Not in a bad way, per se, but it was rather interesting, seeing how I thought it would be a more dramatic feud between the Thorpes and Tilneys. Instead, it was more that the General was just a very greedy character who was tainted by the Thorpe’s surrounding his perception of Catherine. This leads to the question of how General Tilney is the villain. It’s not how Catherine initially thought of him to murder Mrs. Tilney, no rather, Tilney getting upset that Catherine wasn’t rich and a heiress, and Henry and Eleanor both becoming fond of her, he couldn’t risk having a commoner like Catherine into his family. So, while he isn’t as traditional as murder or kidnapping, he still is technically a gothic villain in my eyes because, similar to Montoni, he wanted Catherine to marry into his line so he could obtain her wealth by any means necessary.
To jump right into the last question as well, I had the same exact thoughts surrounding who is considered the gothic heroine, Catherine or Eleanor? Eleanor has the trope of a rich, wealthy father and a dead mother, but we see Catherine get kidnapped and then sent on her own out of the house because suddenly her wealth is no longer obtainable. It’s interesting, at first I thought of Eleanor being the traditional gothic heroine, and Catherine was suddenly her Annette, she was the one finding out the information, but even then that didn’t play out correctly. Catherine was the one who also explored the house, and relied on information from Eleanor as well, even at the ending where Catherine was told to leave, you see Eleanor freak out of being in the estate by herself.
The thing I liked most about Henry throughout the novel is that he and Catherine sort of act as checks for each other. Throughout the novel, they balance each other out in multiple ways. We see their initial few interactions, especially the conversation about journals, where the two are allowed to playfully dig at each other with no hard feelings attached. But, later in the novel, we also see them expressing real conflict with each other and they grow to be better because of it. I think when Henry confesses to Catherine that his mother’s death was actually very traumatizing and painful feels like a huge moment of growth for Catherine, but she doesn’t hate him after. I think he brings her back down to Earth in a way no one else does, and vice versa for Catherine towards Henry. That’s why I think he really does value and love Catherine. He could go off and marry a woman who is extravagantly wealthy, but he is happy with Catherine, so he marries her. They match not only on an emotional level, but an intellectual level as well. So although I can also see the condescending argument making sense, for me his wit and kindness stuck out more than his bad moments.
As I was nearing the end of the novel, I, funnily enough, thought to myself that perhaps Eleanor fit more of the mold people have when determining what a “true Gothic heroine” is. She is a lonely, reasonably wealthy, girl who has no mother and a controlling father. According to those terms, that is how the claim of her being the “true Gothic heroine” can be justified. Yet, she is still a relatively static character, as she is kind-hearted from the time we meet her until the end of the book. On the other hand, Catherine goes on a journey of discovery, growing out of the sheltered life she once lived. The reader sees Catherine grow and face the hard truth that books are not always reflective of reality. She realizes that society and the people in it are not always as they seem, for example, Isabella Thorpe’s deceptive nature that she disguised as pure friendship. Therefore, I disagree with the critic’s argument about Eleanor being the “true Gothic heroine,” because while yes she does check off most of the boxes, a big part of being a Gothic heroine is going through some sort of change throughout the narrative, a change that Catherine goes through, as she learns how to navigate her reality maturely.
What I found to be absolutely hilarious, from what I could understand, is that Catherine is a total nerd when it comes to her books. It’s so funny how she takes the tropes from her Gothic novels so seriously. She thinks every in an abbey must be drenched in mystery with secret rooms and evil secrets. Her search through the papers in the beginning of chapter 22 only to find boring and normal text is her imagination running wild.
A better example of her imagination running rampant is in regards to Miss Tilney and how she’s either still alive or the General has killed her. Catherine’s love of the Gothic is so strong she can’t see the truth in front of her. She’s letting her imagination run wild and turning everyday things into drama.
This combination of innocence and creativity makes Catherine both relatable and funny. I find it humorous how her love of Gothic stories blinds her to reason. Jane Austen’s satire of the genre is what makes the book so charming. I never thought I’d be laughing at a Female Gothic!
As suggested, General Tilney is the depicted Gothic villain in this novel. While he does not end up being the opposition conjured up in Catherine’s imagination, he is not fully disabused of this silly conjecture. The satire of this novel is that the General is not a murderous count, but rather a man being manipulated by avarice. He only was so hospitable towards her out of the assumption he was led to believe by John Thorpe that Catherine and her family held a generous amount of money. His plans were to wed her to Henry and to procure the Morland family’s portion of the inheritance. This is such a comical turn of events, as it was not death or the dark and creepy castle that were the issue, but instead it was a get-rich scheme. I would not say he is the generic Gothic villain, but in the Female Gothic where they are delineations to the fears of women, it could be said he is the villain here as he wanted to prevent his son from marrying someone less wealthy than assumed, which would have deeply injured her.
As for the question of whether Catherine begins as a zombie or becomes one, I would first question what a zombie even is when asking this. A zombie is undead, so I assume Jankovic means she is apathetic, or she is not conscious of the world. The latter I find a better definition, as Catherine grows throughout the novel into a woman who isn’t necessarily the socially acceptable woman but does not portray herself as promiscuous or troubling. Throughout the novel it is clearly stated many times how clueless she is in different situations. She is oblivious to sarcasm, especially Henry’s, and cannot understand what others would perceive tacitly. That aside, she is not so conscious of the world. She lives a fantasy, her head always in the Gothic genre and mixing that world with reality. She starts off as a tomboy but eventually is forced into “growing” into her femininity when she sets off with the Allens. In short, we all start off as zombies and grow into ourselves. Catherine, we must all remember, is only 17 in the majority of the book. At 17, consciousness of the real world is still difficult, especially when she leaves the safety of her home and visits Bath.
Northanger Abbey was not my favorite. I felt as if very little happened and nothing was to be learned from the text. The ending seemed a bit rushed and I was a bit confused about the marriage between Catherine and Henry. It felt a bit rushed and the two characters had little chemistry and interactions throughout the text. Catherine has more interactions with just about every other character in the novel.
Catherine is inclined to think the worst of General Tilney because she is paranoid by the gothic tropes present in the Mysteries of Udulpho. She feels as if General Tilney matches the stereotypes of an evil and forboding man. The architecture of the house in Northanger Abbey and thed\ descriptions given to her by Henry allow for her imagination to run amuck. She begins to unconsciously compare fiction with real life.
While in the end it is apparent that General Tilney did not kill his wife, his insolance to Catherine can allow us to still view him as a Gothic Villain. Throughout the novel, Catherine and the General have pleasant conversations and Catherine believes him to be a good man. In reality, he is only kind to her because he has been mislead by John Thorpe and believes that Catherine will inherit Mr. Allen’s fortune. When he finds out this is not the case, he rushes her out of the Abbey in a very disrespectful manner. He only cared for Catherine and allowed her to visit the Abbey because he wanted his children to become close with her to share the wealth. Though he did not murder his wife, he is still an untrustworthy older male character who plays a paternal role.