Rather than displaying the ‘vigorous sagacity and lofty fortitude’ of a typical Gothic heroine Catherine is naive, deficient in experience and perception. Essentially Catherine’s misguided interpretation of the world around her stems from this acute naivety. For instance she is unable to detect the falseness of Isabella, despite her exaggerated exclamations, “I have been waiting for you at least this age”, and selfish manner, evident when she urges Catherine to cheer up “do not be so dull my dearest creature” but only so that she will not bring her down as well, “you will quite break my heart.” Catherine’s inability to both judge people and a situation is a character flaw as opposed to the result of an indulgence in melodramatic fiction.
The reader learns that Catherine has somewhat of an obsession with gothic fiction, using these books as an escape from reality, “lost from all worldly concerns.” Through her gothic parodies Austen makes it clear she does not approve of this but indicates that Catherine’s real folly is in imposing its values on the world around as it has dangerous consequences. Upon reaching Northanger Abbey Catherine’s inability to judge a situation leads her to confuse reality with scenes from the books that she has read. On the night of her arrival, a violent storm strikes the Abbey, and in her mind she imagines “ a countless variety of dreadful situations and horrid scenes.” Her imagination indulges the situation, creating circumstances similar to the gothic novels she reads, “midnight assassins or drunken gallants.” Believing she is like the heroines of such books, “a curiosity so justly awakened”, she decides to explore, encountering a mysterious chest, an item that strikes her as satisfyingly gothic and her imagination does the rest, caught up in the possibilities of what could be in the chest, “suspensions of agony.” As it happens the manuscript found in the chest are not a secret journal or a terrible confession but merely a discarded laundry bill, much to Catherine’s disappointment and shame.
Even prior to her arrival at Northanger Abbey she is looking for some dark secret, upon finding that it is normal she invents one for herself. She recognizes General Tilney's haughtiness and the tyrannical control he tries to exert over his children, but she attributes his attitude to the grisly murder of his wife, since such a plot twist occurs frequently in Gothic novels. Catherine, unable to detach herself from what is make believe has no reasoning for such assumptions, a dangerous combination. In this sequence of gothic parody, Austen mocks the absurdity of such stories, creating humour at the expense of Catherine and her naivety, but at the same time highlights the disturbing nature of Catherine’s fantasies. Anne Ehrenpreis suggests that ‘Catherine learns at Northanger the lesson that life is not like a Gothic novel, though its strangeness and violence are real enough.” Therefore although Catherine’s plight is humorous, due to the author’s satirical style, parallels can be drawn with real life violence inspired by violent stories, a terrifying prospect and a message that the author is trying to convey, and a lesson that has become more relevant today.
Upon realising her mistakes she is ashamed, but unlike the traditional gothic heroines who are perfect, she is able to develop and learn from her mistakes. She loses her illusions, and becomes a better judge of character, now able to see that Isabella is manipulative and self obsessed, evident in Isabella’s letter to Catherine, in which she tries to cover up her culpability for leaving James for Frederick, “such a strain of shallow artifice could not impose even on Catherine.” The consequence of her wild imagination is the hurt caused by her disillusionment about Isabella and her subsequent eviction from Northanger abbey, both genuinely upsetting experiences. If she had not let her imagination run amok she would have been able to realistically assess both the General and Isabella for what they really are and therefore avoid this pain, thus Austen teaches us the dangers of an imagination uncontrolled by reason.
Other characters that read the same gothic fiction as Catherine, such as Henry and Isabella do not succumb to the same fantasies as Catherine. This shows that the fault lies in Catherine’s character rather than the melodramatic fiction she reads.
