May 1

Why I think John Thorpe is an interesting character in Northanger Abbey

img_0002This sums up my thoughts

 

John Thorpe is one of the many characters Catherine meets in Bath. However, while others such as Henry Tilney act more like gentlemen, John Thorpe is not, which makes him stand out. He is quite rude towards others, and even his mother (“Ah, Mother! How do you do?” said he, giving her a hearty shake of the hand. “Where did you get that quiz of a hat? It makes you look like an old witch.”) and usually WILL NOT admit he is wrong. Since Catherine loves reading novels, she already may have a problem with her since he hates them (“Novels are all so full of nonsense and stuff; there has not been a tolerably decent one come out since Tom Jones, except The Monk; I read that t’other day; but as for all the others, they are the stupidest things in creation.”). His sister Isabella has similarities, but John Thorpe is a lot worse than her.

This does not change the fact that even if he is a dislikeable character, he is useful to the story, since  for example, [USELESS SPOILER ALERT] he is the one who lied to General Tilney about Catherine’s wealth, meaning that without him, she would probably not have spent so much time with Henry in the first place, which is a major part of the plot. It is rather interesting to see that Austen made this character dislikeable and yet useful to the plot, since the reader wants to follow characters that they find likeable, usually (and want John Thorpe to shut up about those horses and carriages). Due to the satirical nature of the novel, it is possible that Austen wanted to make fun of gentlemen; perhaps JT was integrated in order to show another aspect of those kind of characters, which adds a bit of depth into his character. Hence, this is why I find John Thorpe to be an interesting character in Northanger Abbey.

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May 1

Isabella Thorpe in Northanger Abbey

isabella thorpe

Isabella Thorpe is definitely the most entertaining character in the novel. Although she might be called a villain, we should consider the context of the novel. Isabella represents many young ladies in the Victorian Era. They were expected to be fashionable, beautiful, and perfect at all times. Isabella was trying to fit into the culture at that time by marrying a rich husband. She believes that marriage is worthless without money, “it is not a trifle that will support a family nowadays; and after all that romancers may say, there is no doing without money.” She leaves her fiance James Morland when she realizes that he does not own a huge fortune.

Furthermore, she is a linguistic manipulator as she flirts with General Tilney. She hopes he would propose to her knowing that her ‘friend’ Catherine is interested in him. Therefore, she is considered a traitor.

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April 12

The Mysteries of Udolpho

Boo! (*Insert Jump-Scare Here*)

Ooh! A castle! Wow! Let’s check it out! Oh, and split up! I mean, that’s a good idea, right? Nothing bad could happen then!

Welcome to the Mysteries of Udolpho; cited by some as the archetypal Gothic novel.

As is common in Gothic fiction, the main character of this novel is female; ‘Emily St. Aubert.’ Raised as an only child, the novel begins with her and her father’s relationship. This grows stronger after the death of her mother, and during the mountainous trip they take after her death. (“Do you want the bad news, or the good news first? Well, your mother’s dead. But hey! We’re going on a holiday!”)

On this trip, Emily meets a man, the dashing Valancourt, and they quickly fall in love. However, at this point things take a downwards turn.

Emily’s father dies. She ends up forced to live with her aunt, who pretty much has me thinking Cinderella’s aunt. Nasty, self-centered. She and her dodgy Italian nobleman of a husband try to force Emily marry an even dodgier Italian Count, who dodgy Italian uncle then realizes is broke, and sends packing. The uncle then packs them off to his creeeepy old castle, in remote Italy, called Udolpho.

Lots of bad stuff happens, Dodgy-Broke Count fails to abduct Emily (twice!) people die (the aunt, for one, who dies due to heavy abuse by the uncle). There is a lot of stuff which happens in the castle that might or might not be supernatural. Eventually, Emily breaks out of Udolpho (with the help of a secret admirer, no less), and being the heir to her now dead aunt’s estate, goes there, takes control of the property, hears Valancourt went to Paris and ended up broke, doesn’t care, is reunited with him, and lives happily ever after.

This novel is significant to us because of the degree to which it is chiefly this novel Northanger Abby satirizes. It definitely takes the mickey out of Gothic fiction as a whole, but this novel is a key focus.

This was Ann Radcliffe’s fourth book, but is mainly known due to it’s significance in Northanger Abbey.

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