Is Northanger Abbey truly a Gothic Romance?

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Northanger Abbey possess all the archetypal features of a Gothic Romance”.

“In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen parodies the conventions of Gothic terror”.

In light of these comments, how far do you agree that Northanger Abbey is truly a Gothic Romance?

In your answer you should include:

  • Historical and Literary background.
  • References to other contemporary Gothic writing.
  • To what extent Northanger Abbey reflects the conventions of the Gothic genre.
  • Jane Austen’s attitude to the genre. (e.g. Parody)
  • The views of other readers/critics on

         Northanger Abbey.

The birth of the Gothic horror novel can be dated to the 1764 publication of The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. This novel introduced typical features of the Gothic style, and was criticised by some for its sensationalism. Walpole also revived some of the elements of medieval romance, only in a new form. Other contemporary writers included Radcliffe, Lewis and Beckford. The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes it as ‘violent emotions of terror, anguish and love’. The purpose of the Gothic novel was to evoke terror in the reader, show the darker side of human nature, and to reveal terrors and irrational fears that lurk beneath the civilised mind.

Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen, was posthumously published in 1818. Jane Austen’s novel can be seen as a parody, a satire of the Gothic genre, incorporating Romance and terror, typical of Ann Radcliffe. In the following essay I will examine whether this novel is a parody of the genre, or simply a true Gothic novel.

In the Gothic Novel there are predominant features which recur time and time again. One of the most important aspects of a Gothic novel is its heroine.  Typical heroines are always beautiful, pure, innocent and intelligent. They partake in many activities, are musical, artistic and creative. In The Mysteries of Udolpho, Emily, the heroine is described as having a “delicacy of features”. The heroine exudes grace, and tenderness.  In Northanger Abbey however, Catherine is the antithesis of the typical heroine. In the opening paragraph Austen states that Catherine’s ‘person and disposition were equally against her’. Austen humorously mocks Catherine’s untypical heroine characteristics for example she was ‘occasionally stupid’, she had ‘dark lank hair’ and she ‘preferred cricket’. Catherine’s parents are still alive – unlike Emily in The Mysteries of Udolpho, whose parents have died. Simply, to sum up Catherine up in her early years, Austen writes: ‘Catherine, who by nature had nothing heroic about her’. Austen is suggesting that Catherine was not born a heroine, but merely becomes one by the end of the novel by accident. This suggests that Austen parodies the heroine’s character in Northanger Abbey.

Catherine does read gothic novels such as The Mysteries of Udolpho, and this is where she begins to confuse reality with the sensationalist stories created in the novels. This is thus a parody of a typical gothic heroine – true gothic heroines actually experience the horrors which Catherine dreams of.

There is some evidence however, to suggest that Catherine does perhaps fit the conventions of a typical gothic heroine.  

Although the character of Catherine is essentially a parody of the conventions of a typical heroine there are some small aspects which portray Catherine as perhaps a true heroine.

Firstly, she does have Gothic adventures in Northanger Abbey, however trivial. The reader sees her acting in a way that a heroine would, ‘her heart fluttered, her knees trembled’. The parody is however, that her adventure involving the ‘high, old-fashioned black cabinet’ amounted to a scrap of paper with laundry bills, a far cry from the ‘precious manuscript’ Catherine fantasised about.

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Catherine is also pursued by villains –John Thorpe prevents her time and time again from seeing Henry and Eleanor Tilney. In response to Catherine telling him to stop, Thorpe menacingly ‘lashed his horse into a brisker trot’.

Catherine also has a real mysterious horror story towards the end of the book; General Tilney’s sudden dismissal – without explanation, ‘Explanation and apology are equally impossible’. Catherine has to make a long journey alone, something a heroine would find truly distressing, but for Catherine the journey had ‘no terrors for her’, thus this parodies the convention of a heroine, because Catherine’s ...

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