The Importance Of Characters In Jane Austen's Novels

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Gowns, balls, gentlemen, ladies, debutantes, and marriage; such is the main focus of Jane Austen’s novels. Set in a time where women were confined to housework and gossip, Austen's novels are based on the visions of young and ordinary girls living their lives. In her adventures there are no wars to be fought, no political contention present, and lacks characters with exceedingly special qualities. All of Austen’s true heroes are ethical, steadfast, and banal characters who can be found in all corners of the globe. Austen prefers to emphasize humans’ ordinary and moral virtues which are evident in all of her books; which may be a contributing factor to her grand success. Because her characters are so identifiable and her universal themes of …show more content…

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

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