3.2 Characters
Considering the typical Gothic characters, Northanger Abbey presents them all, although altered for the purpose of creating a parody. There is a heroine, a hero and a villain. However, there are no ordinary people or servants to provide comic relief or to comment on the events. Catherine Morland is the main character. The very first sentence of the novel is: “No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.” And the description continues with:
Morlands . . . were in general very plain, and Catherine, for many years of her life, as plain as any . . . and not less unpropitious for heroism seemed her mind . . . she had no taste for a garden . . . she never could learn or understand anything before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid.
Therefore, the initial statement which Austen wants to communicate to her reader is that Catherine, in her infancy, was hardly a heroine. Consequently, this statement has two conclusions, either that she is going to become one or that she never will be. A few paragraphs later, the first option proves to be correct, since Austen suggests that Catherine will undergo a change and will eventually become a heroine despite
…show more content…
All of the characters from the “horrid” novels were presented as exceptionally intelligent young girls admiring nature with special talent for composing sonnets, playing instrument and other abilities. Catherine, on the other hand, is an absolute opposite of Madeline of Clermont, about whom her father claims that: “one of his chief sources of pleasure was derived from the culture of his daughter’s mind . . . a companion well qualified to diversify his lonely hours . . . she possessed an exquisite taste for drawing and