Week Three: Northanger Abbey, or How to be Completely Naïve and Get the Man of Your Dreams

Ladies and tyrants and boos – oh my! I always forget how much I love to read Northanger Abbey – then I pick it up and a smile floods my face. Though lightening strike me down, this novel comes very close to eclipsing my love of P&P. Very close. Why, you might ask? Because deep down I know that I am much more like Catherine Morland than I am Elizabeth Bennet. A Facebook quiz proved it too.

Catherine Morland is a fifteen year old girl whose first passion in life is reading novels – novels referring to the gothic romantic coming of age genre that was so popular at the end of the eighteenth century and also favorites of Jane herself. So naturally she has a very – quite possibly over – active imagination. This all sounds so familiar…. Oh yeah. Because that would be me. Anywho. The daughter of a minister and sibling to nine , she is invited by rich, childless neighbors to go to Bath, the place to be in the summer months - because “when a young lady is to be a heroine…something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way” (Northanger Abbey 6). And so it does. Enter HENRY TILNEY!!! *insert cliché big sigh* Henry Tilney is the son of General Tilney and the sister of Eleanor Tilney and brother of Captain Tilney. And he has a sense of humour, and he’s cute, and he’s a minister – but he still reads novels! And enjoys them!!! And he makes me laugh and he is so sweet and considerate… and that was me talking, not Catherine. He is, obviously, the hero of our story. The villains? Numerous! And not limited to the following: Isabella and John Thorpe. Isabella loves Catherine’s brother and John starts to fall in love with Catherine (I hope you automatically read those italicized words in a snarky sneering sing-songy voice. If not, go back and repeat). The first time you meet those characters, you can immediately see through their façade. Our sweet, dear, NAÏVE heroine cannot, unfortunately. Luckily she is whisked away to Northanger Abbey upon invitation from the General. But what mysteries are hidden in its aged walls? What is really behind those bumps and moans in the night? What really happened to Mrs. Tilney? All these questions haunt Catherine’s over-active imagination while she is there…

I’m going to stop now. I’m notorious for giving away the ending. Although I suppose the title of this post does that for me. But then, it is a work by Jane so a happy ending is required.

And if you appreciate the dark, gothic, foreboding tone I attempted to use at the end of the synopsis, check out this 1965 reprinting of the novel… 

As with all of Austen’s novels, two things really drive this work’s greatness – character and place. The characters are all recognizable and though some are contemptible, none are flat. They all have a story and various motives. We all know an Isabella or John. We all know an Eleanor. We are probably all related to a General Tilney. As for Catherine, although we may not be as young as she is (fifteen), we have all had similar embarrassing moments to the ones she experiences, after which we slap our foreheads and call ourselves stupid in as many ways as we can think of (and I know you are either nodding or looking away from your computer and remembering your most-like-to-forget moment).  In regards to place, like Pemberley is for P&P Northanger Abbey is for Northanger Abbey. Clever of Jane to title the book that then isn’t it? Just as we have all fantasized looking out at Pemberley and thinking “Of all this I might have been mistress” you’ll find yourself longing to glimpse this illustrious home. Finally, what sets this novel apart is the humor and irony in every word that comes from Jane Austen’s mouth. She is the omniscient narrator and I personally feel like it is this, her first work, that most gives a reader a glimpse into her playful nature.

I have included both the Masterpiece Theater version of the novel below. The film is a fantastic adaptation of the work – in my opinion, one of the best book-to-screen films ever. It manages to capture Austen’s playfulness as well as remaining true to the characters and place. And J.J. Feilds is the perfect Henry Tilney.

So I do realize that today is Friday…not Thursday as I had promised. But I’ve had a long week and my internet access is sketchy at best. So please forgive me J. I had originally intended to begin my costume next week, but since I have to work everyday (this blog won’t pay the bills you know) that will have to wait. I believe I shall do a review of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Well, the BBC version at least. It’s not Jane Austen, but it is the P&P of the Industrial Revolution, and a bit of a role reversal. Basically, Jane would have loved it.