The Life of the Author
Jane Austen was born in Stevenson, Hampshire December 16, 1775, one of eight other siblings. Although close with her sister Cassandra, her most important familial tie was her older brother Henry, who acted as her book agent later in life. Henry introduced Jane to the socialite world which is on display in many of her novels.
As a child, Jane was educated at Oxford until she was sent away because of an outbreak of typhus. She and Cassandra were later sent to the Abbey School, but once financial troubles befell the family, they were educated at home by their father with his extensive library. During their formal education, they learned French and proper social etiquette. Cassandra and her sister were very close, and from reading Austen’s works it is quite obvious that her older sister was a big inspiration as a female role model in her novels. Austen looked up to Cassandra, seeing her elder sister as an ambitious woman, someone Austen wanted to be like as she grew up. It is famously said that if Cassandra were beheaded, Austen herself would wish herself the same fate.
Following the death of her father, Jane moved in with her brother Edward along with her mother and sister Cassandra. From a very young age, Austen was always obsessed with novels and novel writing. She began her literary journey by writing sketches and comedies for her family, which then transformed into novellas and eventually full-length novels. Her first work to be published was Sense and Sensibility, though Austen had initially titled it Elinor and Marianne after the two main characters the novel is focused around. The publishing process for Northanger Abbey was much longer. The copyright for Austen’s novel was initially sold by her older brother Henry, then bought back by Austen in 1816, and the novel was published two years later. Her witty novels explored high society via themes such as money, class, gender, and morality.
Although she never married, she had two great love affairs. Her first, true love was Tom Lefroy; however, he eventually left Jane for an heiress with a far greater fortune than hers. Her second engagement was to Harris Bigg-Wither; however, this was a much less passionate affair as Jane called off the engagement one day after accepting it.
Jane Austen died in 1817 at the age of 41. Most of her success was found after her death. She was not fully appreciated as a writer during her lifetime. Her family, especially Henry and Cassandra, were very supportive and vocal about Austen’s writing career, though even on Austen’s gravestone she did not have any allusions to her life as a writer. This lack of recognition during an author’s life, however, was extremely common for the time, especially in terms of female authors. It is a solace to know that now Austen gets the credit she deserves for writing romantic, comedic, and dramatic stories on English society, literature, and family.
Critical Discourse Surrounding the Work
Barron, Stephanie. “Suspicious Characters, Red Herrings, and Unreliable Detectives: Elements of Mystery in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, no. 32, June 2010, pp. 60–67.
Barron’s article argues that Jane Austen novels are like detective novels, and that they always have a crime involved. The article lists examples of the types of crimes found in multiple other Austen novels. The specific crime for Northanger Abbey that Barron claims is the ejecting of Catherine by General Tilney from his home with no concern for her safety or explanation. Barron frequently quotes poet W.H. Auden. Barron explains Auden’s vision of the classic detective novel and how it appears in Northanger Abbey. The essentials of a detective novel, according to Auden, are like terms that readers and fans of Austen’s work may recognize. In the second half of the article, Barron describes the detective-type roles that each character in Northanger Abbey fulfills.
Baudot, Laura. “‘Nothing Really in It’: Gothic Interiors and the Externals of the Courtship Plot in Northanger Abbey.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction, vol. 24, no. 2, 2011, pp. 325–52, doi:10.1353/ecf.2011.0055.
Laura Baudot focuses on form in terms of Northanger Abbey and how the novel is written. The article begins with the general, honing in on New Formalism and how that form operates in all eighteenth-century novels. The form is an important thing to understand, Baudot argues, especially insofar as Austen’s novel is concerned. According to Baudot, not only is Northanger Abbey a novel “on novel writing,” but also a novel about Austen’s own works. While on the one hand Catherine Morland is wrapped up in the sublime of the Gothic novel, there is also the oblivious side of her that ignores realism. And while the reader can see this trait in Morland, they themselves are still wrapped up in a book. The New Formalist genre also requires “a full understanding of the form of eighteenth-century novels requires combining the methods of formalism and book history.” With that, Baudot then explains the specifics of how courtship is presented in the novel.
For her, form exists in Austen’s novel insofar as what is the material. The material, in Baudot’s eyes, is “men and books.” Baudot focuses on the bills being washed scene, and hints that their “self-reflective” nature not only reveals a good deal about courtship in the eighteenth century but also stands to represent Austen’s struggle to satirize the Gothic while also writing a novel that people can enjoy. This predisposition Catherine has to the Gothic ideal is seen when she finds the hidden bills, creating a narrative where there is none to be created. The best way to summarize Baudot’s argument here is with her own words: “Austen’s washing bills invite a critical rereading of the novel that exposes the surfaces that are repressed by courtship novels— the body of the charming suitor and the engrossing novel.”
The way these two operate within the novel to draw out “Gothic Depth” and also superficiality at the same time are what make Northanger Abbey a novel in its own right, and not just a satire. Besides, if people truly enjoy Catherine Morland, how successful was Austen at creating a Gothic satire? Perhaps she instead wrote a novel that makes one want to delve into the Gothic.
Bennett, Ashly. “Shame and Sensibility: Jane Austen’s Humiliated Heroines.” Studies in Romanticism, vol. 54, no. 3, The Graduate School, Boston University, Oct. 2015, pp. 377–400, doi:10.1353/srm.2015.0013.
Ashly Bennett’s “Shame and Sensibility” explores how these two characteristics often work in tandem with each other in Austen’s novels. For example, one big moment where this is prevalent is the “defense of the novel” scene in chapter 5 of Northanger Abbey” in which Catherine defends novel-reading. This is an important part because while Morland is a stuck-in-the-clouds, naïve heroine, her awareness of the Gothic and defense of it creates a sensibility in her character as well. Much like Baudot’s argument above, Bennett now argues that Shame and Sensibility are what give Austen’s characters the boost they need to be lovable, to create a dynamic character. It is a pretty standard one-two formula that ends up working to Austen’s advantage with the character of Catherine.
Catherine’s defense of the Gothic is juxtaposed by the surrounding ladies that like “normal” novels, the type of romance and realism that Austen herself was selling at the time. So while Austen’s Catherine fights for the superiority of the Gothic, she also shames Austen at the same time. However, since Austen begins the novel by painting Catherine in a humorous, not serious light, this also wins the reader over in Austen’s favor in that it is a scene where Austen argues that novels grounded in the regular are quite good, they are what the masses enjoy, and Catherine’s aversion to them is precisely what makes them the sensible choice.
Broders, Simon. “The Fast and the Curious: The Role of Curiosity in the Gothic Heroine’s ‘Grand Tour of the Mind.’” English Studies, vol. 98, no. 8, 2017, pp. 917-930.
Simon Broders first explains that curiosity, especially of the personal, non-academic sort, was looked down upon as a “female transgression.” However, Broders asserts that this curiosity is essential for the Gothic heroine’s “Grand Tour of the Mind,” their domestic, female equivalent to the upper-class male’s Grand Tour of Europe. In addition, the reader’s curiosity must constantly be encouraged yet never satisfied to incentivize a rapid reading. As for Northanger Abbey, curiosity is even more critical, as the setting hardly changes for Catherine, (unlike Emily St. Aubert in The Mysteries of Udolpho.) Catherine’s curiosity while in Northanger Abbey drives the plot forward; without her investigating the Abbey and formulating assumptions of her own, it would be a rather monotonous storyline. Lastly, Broders contends that Catherine’s curiosity shifts into a different form, curiositas; she forgoes her Gothic make-believe for the ability to see things as they are.
Burdan, Judith. “Northanger Abbey.” Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series, Mar. 1995, pp. 1–3.
Burdan describes Northanger Abbey as a novel of education. In her analysis of the book, she lists Northanger and Bath as the sort of classrooms for Catherine where she is put through a series of tests. Burdan lists her main test to be maneuvering through high-class society with nothing but her naïve self and Henry to guide her. The Abbey has a second purpose for Burdan. Continuing her analysis, she states that Northanger acts as a place for Catherine’s imagination. There are steps that Burdan lists that allow Catherine to grow in “school.” To summarize, Burdan starts with Catherine’s missteps. Catherine’s missteps cause painful self-reproach, which then generates self-examination, and this finally leads to self-forgiveness and growth in Catherine. According to Burden, Austen combines scenes of action with scenes of reflection, and these allow the reader to watch the ongoing progress. For Burdan, the novel is more conservative.
Cordon, Joanne. “Speaking up for Catherine Morland: Cixous and the Feminist Heroine.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies, vol. 32, no. 3, 2011, p. 41+.
This article analyzes the often-contested and contemplated feminism of author Jane Austen. It explores the feminism in Northanger Abbey and complicates what characteristics a truly feminist literary heroine embodies. To start, Cordon introduces notions of masculinized writing, as they are presented by feminist writer Helene Cixous. She explains how the canonical nature of masculine perspectives in literature and the dominance of male authors failed to accurately portray the female human experience, and serves to further oppress women socially through the lack of actual representation. Despite the criticism that Austen receives regarding her feminism and the potential inadequacy of it, Cordon expresses that she acts in perfect opposition to the misogyny of her time through her choice to write within the novel genre—a largely feminine reading medium at the time—and her ability to craft a character that fails to align with masculinized perceptions of heroines. Cordon asserts that it is Catherine’s carefree nature and her inclination to be unapologetically herself that renders her a true feminist heroine, unlike the archetype of an orphaned, divinely feminine character which is typical among male-dominated Gothic writing.
Duquette, Natasha. “‘Motionless Wonder’: Contemplating Gothic Sublimity in Northanger Abbey.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal Online, vol. 30, no. 2, Spring 2010, p. 7.
In this critical article, Natasha Duquette aims to define and typify the nature of the sublime, as a standard characteristic of Gothic literature. She examines Northanger Abbey to gain a better understanding of how Austen’s work diverges from the general Gothic and helps to redefine the genre into the Female Gothic.
Duquette explains the origins of the sublime as an attribute of Gothic literature, defined by Edmund Burke as divine images of nature which literary characters find to be terrifyingly awe-inspiring. She then explains how, provided the satirical nature of Northanger Abbey, Austen’s approach to the sublime is additionally divergent from the standard Gothic implementation.
Rather than posing as something that incites feelings of human insignificance, the sublime in Northanger Abbey is something more sentimental. Duquette explains the notion of the “contemplative sublime,” as a contrast to the Burkean sublime; she asserts that this aesthetic evokes a “reverential wonder” in characters, rather than fearful awe. Further, it is explained that Austen looked to Anne Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest as her muse, and it is demonstrated through similarities between the works’ protagonists and their experiences and thoughts in nature. Overall, Duquette expresses how Austen’s take on the sublime serves to augment the satirically-Gothic style of Northanger Abbey.
Eddleman, Stephanie M. “Henry Tilney: Austen’s Feminized Hero?” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, no. 32, June 2010, pp. 68–77.
Stephanie Eddleman focuses on Henry Tilney, and she names him the “feminized hero” of the novel. Eddleman starts by noting that Austen, of course, noticed the feminized hero characteristic in Gothic novels. General Tilney plays the villain in the novel, and Henry is the “clever acknowledgment of the feminized hero” (32). According to Eddleman, Henry is the hero who demonstrates that the heroine can achieve an equal relationship through marriage to a strong man, but Eddleman emphasizes that this is only the case if his strength is also coupled with integrity.
Eddleman notes Michael McKeon’s observation that older novel forms make a connection between aristocracy and virtue with their characters while new forms challenge this traditional connection, making virtue and honor something the character displays in their personality versus through their status. The example given is General Tilney. The argument goes into reasons why Henry Tilney is a prime example and perfectly suited to be the Feminized Hero and why this title is more empowering than the traditional gothic hero and heroine combination.
Folsom, Marcia McClintock, and John Wiltshire. “The Implicit Dramas of Northanger Abbey.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, no. 41, Jan. 2019, pp. 24–37.
This article concentrates on the conversations Catherine and Henry have, and the effects they have on their lives and relationship. The article starts by comparing the dynamics of the conversations between two characters from another Jane Austen novel, Anne Elliot and Captain Harville, to Catherine and Tilney. The two are similar in “where they adjust their speeches in response to each other’s words” (41). In their very first conversation, Henry and Catherine exemplify this. The effects of the first conversation are strong for Henry. Folsom states that the effects on Henry are his quick discoveries of new insights and his learning to change the approach he takes with Catherine. While there are changes in Henry, the article notes that later on in the novel there are major changes in Catherine as well.
Fuller, Miriam Rheingold. “’ Let me go, Mr. Thorpe; Isabella, do not hold me!’: Northanger Abbey and the Domestic Gothic.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 32, 2010, pp. 90-104.
Miriam Rheingold Fuller highlights Austen’s parodic genius throughout Northanger Abbey in which she dupes not only the characters but also the reader in a style called “meta-parody.” For example, Austen has tricked the reader into believing that Mrs. Allen is the thoughtless, detached mother figure when, in reality, Mrs. Morland is upon Catherine’s departure and return. Fuller goes on to discuss how Catherine unconsciously is placed in the position of many of the Gothic heroines she adores, yet she is set apart from them because of the independence she possesses and lack of melodrama. Fuller asserts that Eleanor is the actual Gothic heroine of Northanger Abbey. She even goes on to say that Catherine is, in a way, Eleanor’s foil. In summary, this book is a parody of a Gothic novel while a Gothic novel story occurs as a subplot; Austen persistently misleads the reader away from the true phenomena of the novel.
Gilchrist, Sabrina M. “Deception with a Graceful Bow: Northanger Abbey’s General Tilney and Dance Semiotics.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 39, 2017, p. 213+.
In this article, Sabrina Gilchrist analyzes the role that dancing plays in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. More specifically, she explains how the symbolism of dance throughout literature serves to provide insight on classist issues, racial and gendered norms, and she weighs Catherine Morland’s character development against her changing perceptions of dance, as well as her perception of General Tilley’s dancing, to draw a parallel timeline between the two.
Gilchrist explains how the novel begins with Catherine having minimal, if any, knowledge on the norms of ballroom etiquette and the nuances of dancing, and being enthralled by people’s ability to move so eloquently and organized. She makes a point of noting that Catherine compliments General Tilney’s dancing within the work, but Austen never even includes a scene in the novel that depicts his dancing. This, according to Gilchrist, aligns with the misogyny inherent to the conventions of ballroom dancing.
Additionally, the gendered power structures of social spheres during the time are made apparent in the early interaction between Catherine and General Tilney, when he is escorting her out of his home. Although they were not dancing, the entire event is written by Austen in such a procedural way, emphasizing bodily fluidity and physical interaction between partners, that it mimics a dance. This moment mimics the imbalance of power inherent to ballroom dances, which are initiated by men.
As Catherine comes to realize that General Tilney is not as glamorous nor moral as she once perceived, the notions of proper manners and politeness embodied by adherence to dance norms are curtailed and it is revealed that propriety is not at all akin to morality. This realization speaks to Austen’s urging against gendered norms, as the alignment to them, although it does render women more socially apt and appealing, does not equate to being a good person.
Lau, Beth. “Sexual Selection and Female Choice in Austen’s Northanger Abbey.” Studies in the Novel, vol. 50, no. 4, 2018, p. 465+.
Similar to some other feminist critiques on Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Beth Lau addresses the reality that Austen’s feminism and devotion to opposing the oppression of women is largely an area of contention amongst feminists and other critics. She notes, however, that despite this contestation, Austen’s employment of a heroine like Catherine serves to exactly confront the misogynistic expectations of women at large and heroine character archetypes within Gothic literature. Specifically, Lau draws upon the theories of Charles Darwin, regarding sexual partners, that men compete with other men for ideal female partners, and women maintain their sense of sexual and reproductive agency by upholding values that they seek in their sexual partners.
She explains that this argument of Darwin’s was scoffed at, ignored by other male scientists, and cast aside for the belief that women do not have a say in the selection of their sexual partners, and rather, are “passive recipients” of male affection. This, according to Lau, is confronted by the social ‘prowess’ of Catherine Morland, as her ability to select a man that she deems ideal, over other contenders like Mr. Thorpe, puts her in alignment with Darwin’s concepts and thus, renders her an ideal feminist heroine character. While that is not to say that Catherine is not flighty or ignorant, it acknowledges her ability to successfully navigate social spheres without concern for (or, potentially, knowledge of) the misogynistic structures that seek to undermine her social and sexual agency.
Moore, Catherine E. “Northanger Abbey.” Masterplots, Fourth Edition, Nov. 2010, pp. 1–4.
Moore starts with two sides of Northanger Abbey. On one hand, the novel is a parody that still retains traditional aspects of the Gothic in it. On the other hand, the novel gets deeper and is a comic study of Catherine’s imagination and what is real. Moore points out that Austen will frequently compare the actual plot and the Gothic world Catherine fantasizes about. Moore takes note of the prime examples when Catherine compares her ordinary life to a Gothic novel. Because the novel is one way, Catherine’s view of her world will be another, especially when she visits the Abbey at the height of her “Gothic journey” where most of her fantasizing takes place. Moore discusses Catherine’s ability to eventually come out of her daydreams, and argues that Catherine’s realizations help her to develop more as a character and heroine.
Morrison, Paul. “Enclosed in Openness: Northanger Abbey and the Domestic Carceral.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 33, no. 1, Apr. 1991, pp. 1–23.
Morrison hits on a theme in this essay that I believe every female wants to hear regarding Northanger Abbey– the female conscious. Morrison talks about Catherine concerning Henry, and how he operates with her. There is an underlying thread that runs between Catherine and Emily St. Aubert that Morrison touches on which is that these women are free insofar as they have no parents really [Catherine more so metaphorically as she is just physically away from them], and both are free in the sense that neither is tied down under the bonds of marriage. From the outside, it looks as though these women are autonomous in their own right.
However, as Morrison points out, even when these women possess a sense of independence, it is still overshadowed by a male character believing their judgment to be based elsewhere. Catherine must be sensible because she reads, and Emily St. Aubert must be sensible because while she does not have the typical training of a lady, she still gets her knowledge from nature and reading. They are both invested in something higher, and that is the only way their value is perceived. Morrison says, “[b]oth, however, simply deviate from a norm; both are placed, put in their place, in relation to male standards of propriety and proper representation.”
And while Catherine presents herself as the independent woman as seen in the female Gothic, Morrison challenges that still her worth is too tied to Henry, and that may even be intentional on Austen’s part, another way of mocking the Gothic for not giving true autonomy to the female. Henry is presented as the true voice of reason throughout the novel, and perhaps Austen did so with intent as part of her satire, making the audience question Catherine even more.
Neill, Edward. “The Secret of ‘Northanger Abbey.’” Essays in Criticism, vol. 47, no. 1, 1997, 13-32.
In this essay, Edward Neill insists that Northanger Abbey is ironic, but not in the way which Austen had hoped to achieve. He critiques Henry Tilney by stating he seems rather conservative and Tory-like in his views while persistently talking down to Catherine in a sexist fashion, as well. The irony of the situation is that Catherine, the seemingly romantic and overindulgent-in-fantasy character, is more enlightened than Henry Tilney himself. When Catherine suspects General Tilney of murdering his late wife, Henry discounts this by stating that they are English and, thus, held to a certain standard.
Catherine, although wrong in execution, is correct about something sinister occurring in Northanger Abbey; General Tilney only entertains her as a guest in hopes of gaining an imagined fortune. Furthermore, the English historically are not the enlightened peoples which Henry imagines them to be. The real horror was not the Gothic story placed into Catherine’s naïve head by Henry Tilney; it is the General’s arrogance, temper, and rejection of Catherine paired with Henry’s distinctly English superiority complex.
Niebuhr, Tiffany. “The Ethos of Humor: a Study of the Narrator in Northanger Abbey.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 34, 2012, p. 150+.
Within this article, Tiffany Niebuhr takes an interesting approach to analyzing Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey; rather than assuming a particular literary-critical lens, sheinstead analyzes, as a whole, how Austen can make compelling her work through an ethical appeal to readers based in humorous narration. Niebuhr explains in the opening of her article that there is a need to not just provide interesting content for readers to consume, but to involve them in the writing; she notes that Austen does this through her narration of Catherine’s development as a heroine. The humor ingrained in her narration is what helps the text succeed in satirizing the Gothic genre, which tends to be loftier and written with a more canonical, dry, and masculine decorum. Additionally, by challenging the conventions of a masculinized literary genre, Austen’s humorous narrative serves to augment the novel’s feminism. In one sense, it does so by helping to characterize Catherine as an unsuspected feminist heroine; in another, the sheer inclusion of humor in a male-dominant genre that tends to shy away from it is also innately feminist. Overall, Niebuhr expresses that the move away from tradition and the inclusion of lightheartedness in a genre that is intended to be anything but allows Austen to break male-implemented norms, making Northanger Abbey all the more a feminist work.
Sadaka, George. “A Gothic Unconscious: Salisbury Cathedral as Metaphor and Symptom in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.” English Studies, vol. 100, no. 4, May 2019, pp. 407–21, doi:10.1080/0013838X.2018.1558704.
In this essay, George Sadaka focuses on the Salisbury Cathedral in the novel, and how it is a metaphor symbolic of the favored status of realism and an “invisible” symbol for the secret Gothic desire that Austen herself likely doesn’t realize she is playing into. One of the biggest points that Sadaka makes is how Salisbury is “a symptom or a Gothic unconscious that embeds a form of resistance to male histories and the victimization of women.” This may seem like a large stretch, but this trope is probably the one facet of the female Gothic that Austen seems to embrace in Northanger Abbey. Most of the novel is committed to pulling out realism, yet there is also an undercurrent of the ideology that exists outside the male psyche.
Although a hard pill to swallow in Austen’s time, Catherine manages to make this work by pitting herself as the main character. Since Salisbury operates as Gothic architecture yet is not idealized by Catherine as Northanger Abbey is, Sadaka argues that this invisibility makes it an important Gothic role, a haunting piece of the Gothic left behind that Austen wants to ignore but cannot. It stands for that little part of Austen that enjoys the Gothic novel, the part that has read Anne Radcliffe and while satirizing it, still gets lost in it. Sadaka argues that this invisible relic of the Salisbury Cathedral stands for the part of the Gothic that still exists and lives un-satirized in the novel, the part that represents a woman’s autonomy that is the shared beauty between realism and romanticism in the female Gothic.
Wyett, Jodi L. “Female Quixotism Refashioned: ‘Northanger Abbey’, the Engaged Reader, and the Woman Writer.” The Eighteenth Century, vol. 56, no. 2, 2015, pp. 261–276.
In this article, Jodi L. Wyett analyzes the way Quixotism is displayed in many literary works, particularly Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Wyett writes about the stereotypes of women in literature. She writes of examples that explain how Northanger Abbey has broken down the gender boundaries between good and bad reading by a female Quixotic. Wyett believes it is this type of writing that gives Female Gothic writers their intellectual authority. It is incredibly ironic for a female to write about other females being impractical and foolish for reading. Instead of reforming her heroine to be anti-Quixotic, in a way, her protagonist validates the intellectual ability of women and approves of reading and writing as a pastime for women of the eighteenth century.
Zlotnick, Susan. “From Involuntary Object to Voluntary Spy: Female Agency, Novels, and theMarketplace in Northanger Abbey.” Studies in the Novel, vol. 41, no. 3, 2009, pp. 277-292.
Zlotnick contends that heroines of Gothic novels, including Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey, fall prey to both the strengths and weaknesses of a market economy. The two main activities which Catherine participates in, according to Zlotnick, are shopping in Bath and reading novels. The washing bills which Catherine later finds in the Abbey are hardly just a moment of comedic relief––they represent the aforementioned economic aspect of the novel as well as following novelistic tropes. Zlotnick explains the relationships between the market economy and novels as it concerns Catherine Morland, Isabelle Thorpe, and Eleanor Tilney. She upholds that the more oblivious the young, female characters are to the economy and the more fixated they are on Gothic heroines, the more agency and success they have within Northanger Abbey.
However, Austen herself never fails to forget the realities of the market economy, writing about it constantly within her narration (and even within her defense of the novel.) Bath itself is written as a sort of marketplace. Zlotnick compares how the unwed women were displayed adjacent to items in a shop window to be admired and, maybe, purchased. Isabella Thorpe is aware of this dynamic, and her wish to control it ultimately leads to it rejecting her; it was a violation of “novel” values. Overall, Northanger Abbey displays that the market economy is inseparable from the lives of young ladies, regardless of the romantic Gothic novel ideas that may be their primary influence.