Northanger Abbey

NORTHANGER Abbey is a novel, written by Jane Austen. The story is set in early 19th Century England. The novel revolves around Catherine Morland, a young girl of seventeen years. Her father, Mr. Morland is a parish priest and her mother, Mrs. Morland always remains busy with her nine children. At the beginning of the novel, the narrator tells that as a child Catherine was tomboyish. Though she liked to play piano and draw, she never tried to attain the level of perfection in any of these. She was more interested in playing cricket and baseball, riding horses, and roaming around the village. 

As a child she was not that beautiful, but as she grows up, she becomes more attractive. Her only escapade from her chaotic home is reading gothic romances, a genre that was very popular among 19th century female readers. As she remains engrossed in reading these novels, she is still naïve regarding the ways of the world, and her ideas of people and their lives are shaped by the unrealistic stories depicted in these books. One day, her parents' friends, Mr. and Mrs. Allen come to Fullerton and invite her to accompany them to Bath, one of the most fashionable cities and a popular spa destination in Georgian England. Catherine becomes thrilled with the idea of leaving her familiar surrounding for an exciting adventure. 

Catherine goes to Bath with the Allens. She is awed by the grandeur and exotic aura of Bath. She spends her days in shopping, sight-seeing, visiting spa and society balls. During her visits to the balls, she meets two families – the Tilneys and the Thorpes. Henry Tilney is a young clergyman, and he is visiting Bath with his sister Eleanor and father General Tilney. His magnetic personality soon impresses Catherine. She also appreciates Eleanor, who is a gentle and discreet young woman. Mrs. Allen's old friend, Mrs. Thorpe, is a widow, and has three daughters and one son. Catherine soon befriends Isabella, Mrs. Thorpe's eldest daughter, as both of them are voracious readers of gothic fiction, and interested in gossiping about fashionable young men. 

Suddenly, Catherine's brother James arrives in Bath along with his friend and Isabella's brother, John Thorpe. Catherine learns that James is in love with Isabella. Four of them become good friends. However, the Thorpes have secret motive in their pursuit of the Morland siblings. They are fortune-hunters, and as they are poorer than the Morlands, they decide to convince Catherine to marry John. This will secure both Isabella and John's future. In one occasion, Catherine confesses to Isabella that she admires Henry. Since then, Isabella and John try to misguide Catherine to disrupt her intimacy with Henry and Eleanor. Being unaware about their intrigues, Catherine starts suspecting that Henry and Eleanor are ignoring her which results in some misunderstandings between them. However, they continue to be good friends.

Isabella and James' marriage is postponed for two years as Mr. Morland can give his son a parish-living of 400 pounds a year after two years. Henry Tilney's elder brother, Captain Frederick Tilney comes to Bath. As he is more handsome, and is the sole heir of General Tilney's wealth, Isabella flirts with him in the absence of James. Henry warns Catherine that his brother has no intention of marrying. However, Isabella continues to woo Frederick, and breaks her engagement with James. This incident makes Catherine understand the true nature of the Thorpe siblings. Later, Frederick leaves Isabella after courting her for a few weeks, and she has to suffer from social scandal. 

After some days, the Tilney's decide to leave Bath, and Henry's father invites Catherine to their family estate, Northanger Abbey. She imagines that this abbey will be like the manor houses of gothic novels, with untrodden corridors and mysterious stories. At first, she is frustrated when she discovers that Northanger Abbey is an ordinary rich-man's house. However, some locked rooms attract her. After hearing about the story of Mrs. Tilney's death, and seeing no remorse in General Tilney regarding his wife's absence, she concludes that he has murdered his wife. She grows impatient to see those locked rooms where Mrs. Tilney died. After several attempts, she can get into the rooms, and to her dismay, she cannot find anything strange about these rooms. While coming back from Mrs. Tilney's rooms, she meets Henry who guesses her motives, and informs her that his mother died a natural death, and his father still loves his dead wife a lot. In fact, the loss of his mother has made his father more eccentric. Catherine is ashamed of her behavior, and fears that this incident will destroy Henry's respect and admiration for her. 

Meanwhile, General Tilney suspects that Catherine and Henry have fallen for each other, and he becomes outrageous as he considers this match impossible as she belongs to a middle-class family. He asks her to leave the Abbey immediately. Catherine comes back to Fullerton as a sad but mature girl who can now see the difference between the fictional world and the real world. After a few days, when she is convinced that she has lost Henry forever, he suddenly arrives in Fullerton. He proposes her and wishes to marry her going against his father's wishes. However, at the end, General Tilney gives his consent. The story ends with Catherine and Henry's marriage. 

Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted novel among Austen's works. However, though the tone is comic, the novel addresses certain serious social issues of Austen's contemporary England. It comments on the importance of class and money on marriage. All the pairs in the novel have to face some kind of relationship crisis because of their socio-economic status. Isabella abandons James when she meets wealthier Frederick. Catherine and Henry have to suffer from separation because of their class difference. The novel also addresses the issue of primogeniture. According to this law, the elder son becomes the sole heir of the father's property while the younger sons are forced to join either army or clergy for livelihood. This is the reason why a sensible person like Henry has to become a clergyman while his reckless brother becomes the custodian of the family wealth. 

The novel also depicts the condition of women in 19th century England, where a widow like Mrs. Thorpe has to constantly tell lies to hold onto the social position. Even Isabella's vindictive motive has a serious note underneath it. As she has a widowed mother, an insensible brother and two unmarried sisters, she has to marry well to secure her family's future. Again, Catherine feels vulnerable when she is mocked by Henry because of her reading habits, and she always hesitates to oppose John when he bullies her with his sarcastic remarks about the Tilneys. Moreover, Catherine's silence during Henry's discussion on politics again brings out the sharp contrast between the pursuits of men and women in that society. However, in some instances, the novel distorts the expected gender roles in society. The novelist constantly focuses on Catherine's passionate involvement in athletics rather than getting engaged in female accomplishments. Again, Eleanor, unlike other girls of the novel, is interested in studying history. On the contrary, Henry knows a lot about women's fashion. 

The novel is a gentle satire on both the fervent readers of Gothic Fiction and its austere critics. Austen shows the dangers of being an uncritical reader through Catherine's mistakes, and suggests how such over-passionate reading habit can mislead the readers rather than making them more sensible in dealing with life and people. Conversely, Austen mocks the critics of Gothic Fiction who are biased against such novels only because these books are mostly written and read by women. 

The novel is written in third person limited omniscient point of view, and the novelist has chosen Catherine as the focalizer to make her silliness more obvious for comic effect. The novelist often intervenes to inform the audience that Catherine is obsessed by the gothic novels and her emotions and thoughts are deeply influenced by those stories. Another interesting aspect of the novel is that the narrator constantly reminds the readers that this is a story and Catherine is a fictional character, which gives this novel a meta-fictional dimension. 

The reviewer is Lecturer, Department of English, East West University.