Fullerton, does however, have positive attributes. It is the home of Catherine’s family, who are a stable and supportive unit. The people of Fullerton are more genuine than in Bath as the permanent residences require them to be sincere and eradicate the opportunity for the kind of trickery Catherine encounters from Isabella Thorpe in Bath.
The second focal environment is Bath. The comparison with Fullerton highlights the fact that Bath is an exciting place, a place filled with visitors, rather than residents. This creates an air of falseness, which is ironic as Bath is the genuine geographical location, as opposed to Fullerton, which is fictional. Bath is a place with which Austen is familiar and she seems to be aware of its vices. Austen uses Bath to underline the gulf between it and the rather less exciting reality.
On arriving in Bath, it is strange that although Bath is such a thriving town of social activity, she fails to make new acquaintances or renew any old ones. It is here that Catherine meets Henry Tilney and the Thorpe family.
Bath lacks the stability of Fullerton and it is this insincerity that enables Bath to be seen as a place where it is easy to practise deceit. Bath is full of “new acquaintances” and thus easy to befriend and utilise people to assist in any schemes and to fall back upon, if caught. It is here that Isabella deceives the trusting Catherine for longer than would be possible in a close nit environment like Fullerton.
In contrast to Isabella, Catherine’s new friend, Henry Tilney, is aware of the falseness of Bath. He puts up with the shallow entertainment in the hope he finds a worthy friend there, as happens on meeting Catherine. Indeed, while dancing with Catherine, he convey his amusement that many visitors to Bath come to dislike the place, but prolong their stay only to leave when money runs out, thus presenting a damaging fascination with Bath. He thinks that Bath has “little variety” and that Catherine should be tired of it “at the end of six weeks”.
Bath, although a real geographical location, is an artificial environment separate from reality. People are preoccupied with fashion and dance rather than hard work. It is a place for the wealthy, those who aspire to be wealthy and those who live in the pretence of wealth.
The third and final principle location is Northanger Abbey, the title of the novel. As Bath is a place of animation with little reality, the abbey also has a distinction between Catherine’s fanciful speculations and as it really is.
Henry is aware of Catherine’s fantastic imagination and jokes about it in a story he tells Catherine on their way to the abbey. Catherine however does not take heed of his point or from her imaginings regarding the chest and cabinet in her apartment. The abbey is thoroughly modernised and is nothing like the sinister gothic buildings which feature in the novels Catherine reads, by Mrs Radcliffe. The ideas that Catherine takes from these books draw her into inventing her own fiction about the happenings at the abbey regarding the Tilney family. These fantastical ideas are not appropriate for such a comfortable and peaceful environment as Northanger, or the Tilneys, its owners.
The different environments throughout the novel mark the different stages in the narrative. Fullerton is the place from which Catherine must leave her staid and stable surroundings in order to find adventure. Bath is the place of fun and amusement, but also a place of deception and dishonesty. It is the place where Catherine learns about the harsher aspects of life through Isabella’s trickery and superficiality. In Northanger, once she is put right about her fictitious imagined mystery regarding Mrs Tilney, Catherine finds friendship in this solid and comfortable environment. It is also the place where she learns of Isabella’s deceit and this emphasises the positive and truthful aspects of Northanger.
On returning to Fullerton, Catherine finds warmth and comfort in her family after the hurt caused from the past deception. Fullerton becomes a more exciting place with arrival of Henry and his proposal of marriage.
Thus Austen uses the 3 principle locations to highlight ideals and underline the transitions throughout the novel in Catherine’s life.