Jane Austen’s Nothanger Abbey is a unique work unlike many other early 19th century novels. It is clear the author was aware of her audience and it can be argued that Austen had, in a sense, created a new breed of character within a new breed of novel. Catherine Morland, through her coming of age tale, is a completely believable and realistic character, challenging the way readers typically related to the characters in their novels. Throughout her journey, Catherine experiences excitements, disappointments and even struggles that avid readers, such as her, can easily relate to. Jane Austen strategically employs the use of various narrative techniques throughout her work, which also allow the reader to grasp greater insight into the mind of their heroine; they begin to become familiar with Catherine and even develop a relationship with and an attachment for her. Furthermore, to reinforce the development of a connection between her readers and characters, Austen establishes a new novel form, scattering her work, Northanger Abbey, throughout with gothic elements. Altogether, through her unique, believable characters, her narrative strategies and her eye for gothic features and challenging the norm, Jane Austen successfully established a classic, timeless novel. In Northanger Abbey’s protagonist, Catherine Morland, Jane Austen invented an entirely new breed of character. Strategically, the author wrote herself into the book. Austen explores the struggles of a young reader: deciphering between reality and the fictional world of novels, a struggle she has experienced firsthand. It is blatantly obvious that Catherine is a passionate reader from Austen’s repeated references to classical novels, in addition to her well-known defe... ... middle of paper ... ...ability to take them away, to another world. Yet, through Catherine, they are reminded that they leave behind reality and, at some point, they must return and distinguish between fiction and realism. Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a unique piece of literature that has earned the right to stand on its own. Through it, she strategically designed a new form of character within a new form of novel. She employs the use of her own experiences and tactically combines it with her novel characters, especially Catherine Morland, her clever narrative style and her distinctive use of gothic imagery to challenge her readers. She causes her readers to turn their judgments upon themselves, realizes that at some point in their lives, they have walked a mile in Catherine’s shoes. Works Cited Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003. 5-187.
The ways women are presented in Northanger Abbey are through the characters of Catherine Morland, Isabella Thorpe, Eleanor Tilney, Mrs Allen, and the mothers of the Morland and Thorpe family, who are the main female characters within this novel. I will be seeing how they are presented through their personalities, character analysis, and the development of the character though out the novel. I will be finding and deciphering scenes, conversations and character description and backing up with quotes to show how Austen has presented women in her novel Northanger Abbey.
Jane Austen's characters are extraordinary. Vividly painted, complete with personal eccentricities and short-comings, they make the reader laugh over the foibles of humanity. One of Austen's most memorable characters is Mrs. Elton, who could be considered the antagonist of Emma. The reader's very first introduction to this character invokes a strong feeling of dislike mingled with amusement. This strong reader reaction is the result of a carefully structured build-up to Mrs. Elton's introduction. Austen shapes this reader reaction first though the subjective opinions of others, specifically, the praises of Mr. Elton and the criticisms of Emma. Then, after building this foundation, Austen introduces the reader to Mrs. Elton through an objectively recorded conversation that cements the reader's opinion that Mrs. Elton is a snobbish, self-centred woman.
The novel's characters had been deeply influenced and pressured by British society when making crucial decisions that affected them emotionally. The quintessential character who had been manipulated by British society is Catherine Earnshaw who had been deeply in love with Heathcliff. They had frolicked together everyday; she would read to him and educate him in various instances. When she ...
Throughout history, heroes/heroines have been stereotyped to look, behave and have certain backgrounds. Typically a hero is described as somebody who is strong in appearance, and usually an overachiever. However, in the novel, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Catherine Morland is depicted as a weak and unintelligent person that turns out to be a heroine. In order to make these descriptions, Jane Austen uses literary elements such as tone, imagery and the technique of describing others in order to describe the main character.
Cohen, Paula, Marantz. "Jane Austen’s Rejection of Rousseau: A Novelistic and Feminist Initiation." Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature 30.3 (1994): 215-234.
Jane Austen’s novels have always played a large part in my life. My love for this nineteenth-century female author began with movie adaptations of her books; my interest quickly spiraled into the richness of her texts. I know that Jane Austen was not the norm for her time period. She was a female trying to live independently in a male dominated society, but she did not let the difficulty of her situation impede her success. When she was told that her stories would get her nowhere and that she would do best to abandon her career, she persevered. Jane Austen wrote many novels, and most of them became extremely popular. Jane Austen wrote her novels to support herself, and I believe that she used them to reveal truths about humanity, happiness, and perfection. All the characters that Austen created have one common theme: they desperately seek out their place in the world. This struggle plagued people from
The literature output in Jane Austen’s creation is full of realism and irony. Janet Todd once asserted that "Austen creates an illusion of realism in her texts, partly through readably identification with the characters and partly through rounded characters, which have a history and a memory.” (Todd, The Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen, 28.) Her works are deeply influenced between by late eighteenth-century Britain rationalism phenomenon and early nineteenth-century of romanticism.
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.
Jane Eyre has been acclaimed as one of the best gothic novels in the Victorian Era. With Bronte’s ability to make the pages come alive with mystery, tension, excitement, and a variety of other emotions. Readers are left with rich insight into the life of a strong female lead, Jane, who is obedient, impatient, and passionate as a child, but because of the emotional and physical abuse she endures, becomes brave, patient, and forgiving as an adult. She is a complex character overall but it is only because of the emotional and physical abuse she went through as a child that allowed her to become a dynamic character.
Several times in Northanger Abbey Austen’s main character, Catherine, gets caught up in her emotions. In the second part of Austen’s story, Catherine is frequently consumed by curiosity, and it is in this same part of the novel in which the gothic mood is introduced, beginning with Catherine’s travels to Northanger Abbey. Catherine is eager to find the abbey to be like those that she reads about in novels, and Henry affirms this belief stating, “And are you prepared to encounter all the horrors that a building such as ‘what one reads about’ may produce? – Have you a stout heart? - Nerves fit for sliding panels and ta...
Jane Austen’s career followed novelists such as Ann Radcliffe and Laurence Sterne, at a time when the Gothic and Romance novels were very popular. However, Jane Austen did not look favorably upon these styles, believing them to be harmful to both literature and the reader. In writing her own novels, Austen parodied these genres, but not merely for a humorous effect. She had specific messages that she wanted to get through to her audience, through this method. She wanted to impress upon her reader the value of that which is ordinary, but real, the importance of thinking for oneself, and to make logical judgments of characters.
Through remarkably realistic characters like Elinor, Marianne, Fanny, Lucy, and Col. Brandon, Austen brings our attention to the way we should and should not act. She highlights sense’s importance, but insists that sensibility must temper it. These lessons, as much as the compelling stories, explain why Austen’s work is still relevant today. Read her works; learn what she teaches; strive to live your life in a way that unites sense and
Through remarkably realistic characters like Elinor, Marianne, Fanny, Lucy, and Col. Brandon, Austen brings our attention to the way we should and should not act. She highlights sense’s importance, but insists that sensibility must temper it. These lessons, as much as the compelling stories, explain why Austen’s work is still relevant today. Read her works; learn what she teaches; strive to live your life in a way that unites sense and
Although written during both the Victorian and Gothic time period, Jane Eyre draws upon many revolutionary influences that ultimately enabled it to become one of the most successful books of all time. Jane Eyre is merely a hybrid of a Victorian and Gothic novel, infusing a share of dark allusions with overzealous romanticism. The primitive cultures of the Victorian period reflect high ethical standards, an extreme respect for family life, and devotional qualities to God, all in which the novel portrays. Yet, to merely label Jane Eyre as a Victorian novel would be misleading. While the characteristics of a Gothic no...
Monaghan, David. Jane Austen Structure and Social Vision. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1980.