Discuss the role of friendship in Northanger Abbey.
This essay will discuss the role of friendship in Northanger Abbey by
examining the different types of friendships between Catherine
Morland, Isabella Thorpe and Eleanor Tilney in the novel, alongside
the significance of friendship to the plot and themes of the novel.
Whether one can regard only true friendships as important will also be
explored.
In Northanger Abbey (NA) there are two main friendships, that of
Catherine and Isabella and Catherine and Eleanor. These two
friendships can be seen as a total contrast to one another.
Catherine is very pleased to meet Isabella after being disappointed in
not seeing Mr Tilney again. The narrator informs the reader that
Catherine is fortunate in finding a friend as ‘Friendship is certainly
the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.’ (p.18 NA).
Isabella being the elder of the two has much more knowledge of
fashionable society than Catherine and is, therefore, able to teach
her a great deal about the expectations of society at that time.
Catherine initially looks up to Isabella and considers herself lucky
to have found such a good friend (p.19 NA).
Isabella and Catherine’s friendship grows very quickly, unlike that of
Catherine and Eleanor, which progresses much more gradually. Isabella
is very free with her friendship, professing to do anything for her
friends, even when she has known them only a short time. In contrast,
Eleanor takes her time to get to know Catherine. She is far more
sophisticated than Isabella and does not jump into a friendship
without getting to know someone first. It is only during Catherine’s
stay at Northanger Abbey that the two women become close friends.
There are v...
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...expecting nothing in return. (www.kettering.edu).
Eleanor would not quite do anything for her friend. Even though she
regarded Catherine as a true friend, Eleanor still puts family loyalty
before Catherine even though she disagreed with her father.
Nevertheless, both Isabella and Eleanor’s friendships in Northanger
Abbey are crucial for developing and maturing Catherine’s character.
Bibliography
Austen, Jane. [1818] 1990 Northanger Abbey, ed. by John Davie, with an
introduction by Terry Castle, Oxford World’s Classics, Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Regan, Stephen. Ed. 2001. The Nineteenth-Century Novel: A Critical
Reader, London: Routledge
Da Sousa Correa, Delia. Ed. 2000 The Nineteenth-Century Novel:
Realisms, London: Routledge
www.sparknotes.com/lit/northangerabbey [Accessed 21 January 2004]
www.kettering.edu [Accessed 21 January 2004]
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