In the critical essays at the back of our edition of
Northanger Abbey, Gilbert and Gubar, in "Shut Up in Prose," make this statement on page 292: "This is why
Northanger Abbey is, finally, a gothic story as frightening as any told by Mrs. Radcliffe, for the evil it describes is the horror described by writers as dissimilar as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Phyllis Chesler, and Sylvia Plath, the terror and self-loathing that results when a woman is made to disregard her personal sense of danger, to accept as real what contradicts her perception of her own situation." This is definitely a feminist criticism, aimed at contrasting Catherine's desire to "author herself as a heroine" (Gilbert and Gubar 291) with the treatment she receives at the hands of men. Mr. Allen is distant and disapproving; James Morland blames his sister when she fails to fall in with his scheme to drive out with Isbella; John Thorpe speaks on behalf of Catherine both figuratively and literally when he makes her "apologies" to Miss Tilney; and even Henry Tilney mocks Catherine's sensibilities and ideas - some of which are indeed not particularly worthy - and only approves of her when she begins to think as he does about architecture and landscape. Catherine - and most women - seem to be treated as a willful child to be thwarted for her own good and to be rescued. I am curious as to the reactions other women in our class have, particularly concerning Henry Tilney. Is he merely flirting with Catherine by teasing her and mocking her gothic sensibilities, hoping to produce a "better Catherine" since he finally comes to understand her good character and judgement, or is he emblematic of a darker attitude toward women, even as we keep in mind the culture in which women lived during Austen's time? I would also be interested in any other aspects of the novel that you find noteworthy.
