Discuss Austen's use of the gothic in Northanger Abbey

Having made clear her own attitude toward Gothic romance (that it is at best implausible, at worst ridiculous, and never true to life) Austen now makes it clear to the reader Catherine's opinion of such books. That Catherine should be so enthusiastic a reader of Mrs. Radcliffe and her peers id not unexpected, nor creditable of censure: the lack in her everyday life of excitement persuades Catherine to read fanciful stories, and to wish her life as eventful as the lives of her literary heroines. This wishful thinking soon colours her own experiences, so that Tilney's disappearance from Bath is construed as a “sort of mysteriousness” which makes Henry more attractive.

Catherine indulges by looking in her own life for gothic excitement. Henry Tilney’s story that he tells her on the way to Northanger Abbey is a key example of where her Northanger gothic fantasies begin.  Austen produces discussion among the novel's principal characters of different kinds of taste in reading, suggesting that enjoyment of Gothic fantasy should be balanced by reading literature of other kinds. She shows here how a “lack of variety in reading” may produce an expectation that life will be as depicted in the works (in this case romantic fiction) to which one's reading is restricted.

Austen completely ridicules gothic literature through Catherine’s thoughts concerning the Tilney’s home at Northanger Abbey.  The satire of conventional literature is ubiquitous throughout the novel and is not anticipated to be subtle to the obscure reader.  Although our generation is would not have been her target audience, the reader can still recognise the contrast of both the conventional and satirical forms of literature.  Northanger Abbey although a  modern and pleasant place of residence is transformed into a creepy gothic castle with torture chambers where murders have occurred and people are kept prisoner.  This is clearly a mockery of the gothic, which is mentioned several times throughout the novel and is finally humorously brought to life in Catherine’s imagination.  If Northanger Abbey was truly meant to be a gothic novel then the descriptions of the Tilney residence and Catherine’s suspensions would certainly have been justified.  However, due to the entertaining and satirical tone of the novel the gothic style of writing does not fit in and has no place in the story.  Therefore, it can only be assumed that the author wished to intentionally make fun of these novels and also make the reader conscious of it.  We know the Tilney residence does not actually correspond with its horrific portrayal, so again, the narrator enters Catherine’s mind to make the comical reference to gothic literature.  The following description of the Northanger Abbey shows how reading gothic novels has distorted Catherine’s way of thinking. It has been said that Northanger Abbey is "a novel about a novel and the people who read novels”. nCatherine is a prototype of inexperienced passionate young women prevailed upon, nay harassed, by the fashion of getting their minds widely deranged through unabated preference for Gothic horror novels  Again, this is another play against the gothic as if to suggest that reading these novels could actually cause a person to believe that the novel is there life.  The narrator enters Catherine’s mind and permits us to see the way in which gothic novels have tainted her way of thinking:

 “This is strange indeed…an immense heavy chest!  What can it hold:?  Why should it be placed here?  Pushed back too, as if meant to be out of sight…her fearful curiosity was every moment growing greater; and seizing, with trembling hands, the hasp of the lock, she resolved at all hazards to satisfy herself at least as to it’s contents…”

 Why should only a large wooden chest perplex her to such an extent?  Although this is comical the true punch line of the satire is discovered once it is learned that the only horror inside the chest is a simple list of laundry.  Catherine’s mind, which is occupied with gothic stories, is the author’s means of conveying this mockery to the reader. Austen is mocking the gothic as a genre. We know that it was very popular in the time when Austen wrote the novel. Many critics believe that Henry Tilney is voice of the novel; teasing Catherine with gothic ideas, stories and fantasies
            In conclusion, it is evident that Austen wished to be unconventional in writing this novel and wanted the narrator to be the one to make the reader aware of the contrasts of conventional literature and “Northanger Abbey. The narrator and the method in which the story is told are the focus of the story.  Although the narrator is not an actual character in the story her presence is known and her opinions are expressed and can be identified by the reader.  Jane Austen provides her audience with an alternative form of literature by having a novel focus on how a story can be told as opposed to most novels which traditionally focus on the story itself.  Cleverly, by using a likeable character that the implied reader can identify with and relate to, Austen is able to use this character as a model for her extraordinary comparison.