NORTHANGER ABBEY & THE GOTHIC

1. NORTHANGER ABBEY & THE GOTHIC

2. The Gothic • Old building in antique style/ gothic windows • Innocent heroine • Villain • Hero whose identity/integrity is doubted • Ruins • Ghost/ monk-like figure • Mystery

3. The Gothic • Storm • Strange noises • Sliding panel • Dark atmosphere • Missing document • Servant, preferably with a secret • Staircase, preferably winding

4. Romance • Story of adventure and love • 16th & 17th centuries = representation of life a cynical one. Witty and critical with an ornate classical & rhetorical style • 2nd ½ 18thC – rejection of this and looking for a more natural approach

5. Northanger Abbey • Burlesque = intention of humour – treats lofty material humorously or pretends something ordinary is significant & dignified • Parody of the gothic novel – especially, Ann Radcliffe’s – The Mysteries of Udolpho • Also Burney and Richardson

6. How does she do it? • Ridicules romantic fiction by offering models of what is expected of a heroine, and denying Catherine these qualities • Wit – paradox, antithesis, epigram & pun • Irony – dramatic, verbal & socratic • Satire • Dialogue • Voice & viewpoint • Mood • Sentence contstuction

7. Irony • Dramatic irony = situation is apparent to the reader, but not to the character (laundry list) • Verbal irony = words used in an opposite manner to their literal meaning (‘the delicacy, discretion, originality of thought, and literary taste which marked the reasonableness of that attachment’). Use of negatives: ‘without’ ‘never’ ‘instead of’ • Socratic irony = adopts a character’s viewpoint to ridicule them – shows us her characters foibles (dialogue of Isabella, Thorpe & Mrs Allen reported second hand as so tedious)

8. Dialogue • Direct speech • Indirect speech • Interior dialogue

9. Satire • Ridiculing of faults of human nature - Result of irony • Primary focus here is Gothic and romance literature – the misuse of it • Sharpest satire is at the expense of the Thorpes

10. Voice and Viewpoint • Omniscient • Interior dialogue – Catherine’s point of view • Austen’s own voice

11. Sentence Construction • Length & construction is important • Action & events = short sentences • Elaborate construction of the period, with many dependent and linked clauses

12. Purpose? • Reading novels causes foolish imagination in the reader and leads to all sorts of dangers • Reading novels is alright as long as the reader doesn’t mistake them for real life • Its not necessary to find danger in novels, there’s plenty in real life

13. Purpose? • Is she ridiculing society in Bath and elsewhere • Is she preaching about the dangers of society? • Is she having fun with her readers to entertain them?

14. Romanticism ? • How does her purpose relate to the concerns of the module? • Valuing the imagination, the individual & idealism • Search for meaning through relationship with the natural world & wider social/political contexts • Examine or affirm the power of the imagination to inform, illuminate and transform human experience • Experimentation with ideas & forms may reflect or challenge ways of thinking