Satirized And Parody In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

295 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

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

Show More
Related

  • Perception is Everything: Evelina and Northanger Abbey

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...e and high society, but shift the focus from a first-person perspective (Evelina) to the more omniscient third-person narrator’s voice (Northanger Abbey), and there are many comparison points to be made between the two. They enrich each other, offering two perspectives on a very similar world—one character sees reality, as it is—the humor, the difficulties, and danger of it. The other creates her own reality, allowing her imagination to cloud what may actually be truth. Combined, they offer a rich glimpse into the life of an 18th century girl becoming an 18th century woman.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Barbarity In Frankenstein

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores

    Read More

  • Discuss the role of friendship in Northanger Abbey.

    1589 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Literary Analysis Of Wieland By Charles Brockden Brown

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    The gothic often presents dangling characters and plot lines, which contribute to the main point of the gothic: suspense. Brown’s works depend on the use of suspense as a literary technique and is evident in Wieland within Clara’s first person point of view narrative. Her constant reflections on how difficult it is for her to continue on with the series of events. Such actions, although they may seem trivial, persuade the reader to continue on to find out what happens

    Read More

  • Northanger Abbey Quotes

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Evil Villains in Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jane Austen completes her story with a “Cinderella ending” of Catherine and Henry marrying. However, her novel is more than a fairytale ending. Although often wrong and misguided in their judgments, she shows the supremacy of males that permeated throughout her society. Jane Austen takes us from a portrayal of men as rude, self-centered, and opinionate to uncaring, demanding, and lying to downright ruthless, hurtful, and evil. John Thorpe’s and General Tilney’s total disregard for others feelings and their villainous ways prove Austen’s point. Whether reading Northanger Abbey for the happy ending or the moral lesson, this novel has much to offer.

    Read More

  • The Narrative Voice in Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

    588 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Austen portrays her heroine, Catherine as an innocent young girl who fails to understand the language. She is too young that she cannot understand the words may have different meaning. Catherine consistently misjudges people around her. She fails to interpret about what ...

    Read More

  • Jane Austen's Emma

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    Beautiful dresses, passionate romances, elegant parties, a general state of leisure and happiness – these are only a few of the idealistic views of the nineteenth century. In her novel, Emma, Jane Austen paints a much more realistic picture of the ins and outs of high society in England of the 1800’s. Through the presumptions and pride of the characters of heroine, Emma Woodhouse, and secondary character, Mrs. Elton, Austen presents a stark critique of the social assumptions and diplomatic maneuvering so common of the society of her time, however, by the end of the novel, Austen’s critique is made clear by a subtle foil of these two characters – Emma having been the only one of the two to learn her lesson.

    Read More

  • Little Friendship in Jane Austen's Persuasion

    1444 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jane Austen's Persuasion is a dark novel. From the jolting breaks in the romantic drama--the falls of little Charles and Louisa Musgrove--to the heroine's depressing existence--Anne Elliot has a "great tendency to lowness" (Austen 66)-- to the overall autumnal mood, the work is at times a gloomy, though always interesting, read. Perhaps its darkest facet though is the ubiquitous presence of an antagonist. While Mr. Elliot appears, most blatantly, to be the villain, in actuality, it is Lady Russell, whose persuasions are both manipulative and, frighteningly, pervasive, who should truly bear that stigma.

    Read More

  • Comparing Northanger Abbey and Frankenstein

    1787 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Jane Austen's Nothanger Abbey

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Gothic Fiction

    2538 Words  | 6 Pages

    In this paper a brief definition shall be given of what Gothic Fiction is. The main part will deal with the Gothic elements within Jane Eyre in chronological order. In a final step special attention will be given to the uncanny as it is found during several incidents within Thornfield Hall and why it is different from the classic Gothic. This will be done with special attention to the character of Bertha Mason – the protagonist when it comes to the Gothic aspect of the novel.

    Read More

  • How Does Jane Austen Use Satire In Northanger Abbey

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey has been praised by countless critics as the perfect balance between satire and realism. The novel, a light-hearted comedy full of humorous situations and entertaining wit, has enticed countless readers with an unprecedented writing style which combines elements of gothic and satirical literature. Although the novel has captivated readers over the years, the story has received its fair share of criticism. Tara Ghoshal Wallace, for example, claims that the novel’s storyline was inconsistent due to Austen’s use of satire, and Carole Gerster accuses Austen of disrupting the novel’s narration to integrate her own voice.

    Read More

  • The Castle of Otranto and Wuthering Heights: Love Beyond Classes, Life, and Death

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    Setting his work in the Middle Ages in a remote castle with horror and fantastic elements, Horace Walpole popularized the Gothic Romance genre with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. He was the vanguard in bring thrills to readers with ancient prophecies, mysterious deaths, specters and supernatural events in his novel. However, the Gothic genre reaches a climax in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847), which is marked by its intensity of emotions and artistic subtlety. Wuthering Heights is an exquisite blend of realism and romance that makes it a classic love story that haunts us till today. In this paper, I will argue that social problems of class and economics pull Heathcliff and Catherine apart, and the Gothic Romance genre affects Wuthering Heights by adding Gothic elements of an extreme weather and landscape, supernatural events and death in her novel to create a dark and mysterious atmosphere appropriate for a revenge plot with heightened emotions.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Characters In Jane Austen's Novels

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    When Catherine Morland (the heroine) visits the Tilney’s home in Northanger Abbey and learns of “strange” events consisting of the sudden death of Mrs. Tilney, her room that no one goes into, and how the General refuses to hang his late wife’s picture up, she automatically suspects the General of being a bad husband. She fantasizes that the missus is actually alive and that he has her chained up somewhere, barely sustaining her (Austen 179). Catherine came to this conclusion by reading many Gothic novels, such as Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, and most notable Uldopho, all of which are allusions. She is so enraptured with these types of novels mainly because it represents the world of fantasy and temporary excursions (Austen 45; Lauber 12). Austen is ridiculing her father’s favorite genre as Catherine’s fantasy is utterly ridiculous and illogical. She really reveals Catherine’s idiocy by admitting her suspicions to her love interest, Henry, who says, “Consult your own understanding, your own sense of the probable, your own observation to what is passing around you. Does our education prepare us for such atrocities?”(Austen 188). By exposing the mind of a girl who believes she is living in a Gothic novel, Austen displays the concept of Quixotism which is disposing of outworn literary made through ridicule (Lauber 13). However, only through the words of her most beloved Henry Tilney does she grasp her foolhardiness and her whole perspective of the world

    Read More

More about Satirized And Parody In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

Open Document