Discuss Austen's use of the gothic in Northanger Abbey

The first 200 words of this essay...

Discuss Austen's use of the gothic in Northanger Abbey

There is a division between the two sections of this novel; the part in Bath and the part involving the abbey. The first part, being the Bath section is contains an element of the gothic because Catherine and her companion Isabella read (novels very popular at the time). There is a link with the second section which is to do with the gothic element which is Catherine and her companion's reading of gothic novels. The beginning section is romantic but is eclipsed by the strong gothic component in the Northanger section. There is a ostensibly peculiar change in Catherine's character from literal and mundane to over imaginative in the respective sections; "a fundamental incongruity devolves around the uneasy coexistence of the novel's two sections: self-contained Gothic burlesque is grafted unceremoniously upon sentimental comedy of manners"1. This whole issue makes the novel less easy to comprehend. In Bath and at Northanger Abbey, Catherine with her romantic fantasies influenced by Gothic novels, especially The Mysteries of Udolpho, experiences a painful procedure of disillusionment and becomes more mature. She learns to tell who is her true friend, the meaning of true love, and