Satirized And Parody In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

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Recommended: Gothic themes in literature

Despite being rampantly popular, the questionable plots of gothic novels is both satirized and parodied in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. However, while Austen mocks the gothic romance genre through Catherine’s intent fascination on its dark conditions, she simultaneously uses the setting of Northanger Abbey as a metaphor for the literal and realistic horrors underlying society. Initially introduced as naïve and trusting, Catherine’s time at Northanger Abbey is the setting of her bildungsroman and by the end of her stay one can consciously affirm her status as a heroine. Ironically, while Catherine is oblivious of the unscrupulous intentions of the Thorpes and General Tilney, she is hyperaware that the road within Northanger Abbey was “odd

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