Northanger Abbey
This post may contain plot spoilers!
I’ll be very quick to say that Northanger Abbey
Catherine Morland, the main character in Northanger Abbey, is a 17-year-old girl on her first trip to Bath. Catherine is a well-bred young woman with a love of gothic novels. This love becomes a problem when she starts to see morbid mysteries everywhere she looks.
Her love, Henry, teases her about this obsession, but when he realizes how it makes her lose sight of reality, he chastens her. I’m sure Austen was making a point about how reading too many of these gothic novels can lead to a warped view of real life.
The second main point of Northanger Abbey is the idea of money vs. love when it comes to marriage. Catherine’s brother is engaged to her friend Isabella. Isabella confesses that the brother is the love of her life, only to abandon him when she learns he is not as well-situated as she thought. Henry’s father, General Tilney, gets the wrong impression that Catherine’s family is very well-off, and that she is in line for a significant inheritance. He then courts Catherine as a spouse for Henry – courts her so well, that for a while I wondered if he might have wanted her for himself. (He is a widower.) He invites Catherine to join his daughter Eleanor at their home, Northanger Abbey, for an extended visit.
While Catherine is visiting, the General leaves on a business trip to London, where he finds out that Catherine is not as well set-up as he thought. He immediately returns to Northanger and forces Eleanor to inform Catherine that they have a previous engagement that requires them to be gone, and that her visit must be cut off. He books passage for her on the post the next day, without even an offer of a servant to accompany her. He has decided that she is socially beneath his family, and therefore treats her as such – ignoring all social niceties and customs.
Fortunately for Catherine, Henry loves her, and is set up well enough with a living as a curate to support a wife. He confronts his father for his treatment of Catherine, and finding Catherine at home with her family, proposes to her. It all works out in the end, but along the way you receive a very clear picture of how important money was when it came to marriage, and how love was a secondary notion.
For those of you who love all-things Austen, you will want to read this. For those of you just starting with Austen, try Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility first.
3 stars
Honestly I like Northanger Abbey better than Mansfield Park. I think a heroine who is a bit silly is easier to take than one who is seemingly perfect in every way….
I always thought it was not a coincidence she named the two worst ones after the houses… like she didn’t even want to bother with titles for them…
August 1st, 2007 at 9:47 pmMy daughter loves Northanger Abbey, though she recognizes it is not among Miss Austen’s major works. I think she likes the strong element of good-natured parody.
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:38 amI love the parody. I think Northanger Abbey is the funniest of all Austen’s novels. Someone once described it as ‘snort-your-coffee-out-your=nose’ funny. And I agree. Also, I always thought Henry Tilney was the Austen hero I’d most like to marry. He’s got it all and he’s wickedly funny too! I read somewhere that his personality and Austen’s were much the same. I can imagine it’s true.
August 3rd, 2007 at 5:32 amAre you going to see “Becoming Jane”?
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:13 amAre you going to see the new Anne Hathaway movie, Becoming Jane? I admit that the only JA novel I have read is Emma. P&P is on my list but getting to it is a whole nother story!:-)
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:50 amLawanda – like Mary Poppins (practically perfect in every way)!
Willa and Faith – maybe if I knew going in that it was a parody, I would’ve enjoyed it more. I agree about Henry Tilney, though – I love a man with a sense of humor!
Lisa and Laney – I’m definitely going to see Becoming Jane – knowing full well that most of the story is speculation. It looks wonderful, though, doesn’t it?
August 3rd, 2007 at 6:55 pmYea, but Mary Poppins is one of my faves… so I must be too confused to give opinions any more… haha!
(I am REALLY tired right now.)
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:10 pmI have to agree with you – Northanger Abbey is one of my least favorite Austin novels. I afraid much of the humor everyone talks about slipped right over my head!
August 4th, 2007 at 4:24 pmWendy – glad to know I’m not the only one!
August 4th, 2007 at 4:42 pmYeah, Jane was parodying all those insanely popular gothic novels. Since I’ve read a few of them, I really enjoyed the book, partially just because it was fun to read a book that made fun of a book that I’ve read, but somehow is no where near as popular as they were in the late 1790′s, early 1800′s…..
August 4th, 2007 at 5:48 pmI completely agree with both of your prespectives on Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park. Of Austen’s 6 novels they rank numbers 6 & 5 respectively IMO.
I’m visiting from Semicolon’s Reviews.
August 4th, 2007 at 8:23 pmI’m probably going to see Becoming Jane but I might wait until it comes out on dvd. But I am already annoyed by it. For one thing, in this age of ‘feminism’, the writers’ seem to have premised Austen’s incredible talent for writing as the result of a broken love affair. I guess they’ve never read any of her juvenelia or perhaps they don’t know that Pride and Prejudice was first written when she was 19 before she was engaged to Tom Lefroy. Geesh! She was just an incredibly talented lady! But we can’t have that now can we!!!!! Grrr. I also can not comprehend why Hollywood or whoever it is, keeps using American actresses to play English women. They did this with Miss Potter too. There is incredible talent on the other side of the pond. Why not use it?
Blessings,
Faith
August 5th, 2007 at 11:04 amCarrie K- I love the gothic novel Rebecca – and I went through a Victoria Holt stage in high school, though she’s a little more updated.
Petunia – thanks for stopping by!
Faith – I’m sure a lot of British actresses are saying the same thing!
August 6th, 2007 at 8:16 amI agree about the british actresses. It kinda ticks me off about the whole “feminism” take on Jane Austen’s life too. Which, while I really do WANT to see Becoming Jane, I am not sure I will like it so much for that reason. :-p
August 9th, 2007 at 8:19 amI actually started with this one last year (I think I read P&P in high school), and did enjoy it, even though many people say it’s not her best work. So, I’m looking forward to digging into S&S or Emma, on my Semicolon challenge list.
August 11th, 2007 at 4:33 amLawanda – I plan to watch it with a great big grain of salt!
Jennifer – Oh, you have some wonderful reading ahead of you! I know you’ll enjoy them. I just re-read Persuasion, and am now sure that it is my favorite of her works.
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