At the end of the novel, Jane Austen (who is quite the
present narrator in this tale) refers to Northanger Abbey as “my fable” (239).
While Austen may have simply meant that it was a made-up tale, it is
interesting to think of Northanger Abbey as a story meant to instruct. What
lessons could be learned from this novel? Certainly it shows that coquetry
leads to miserable ends, as in the case of Isabella, but what does it say for
characters like Catherine? Catherine, in the second volume, gets carried away and
imagines herself in her very own gothic novel. She is repeatedly humiliated and
embarrassed when her assumptions (about the “manuscript”, Mrs. Tilney’s
chambers, etc.) are proved wrong. Despite her ridiculousness for most of the
novel, Catherine ends up living happily ever after. What should we take as the
moral lesson of this book? For one, I take that if I were to suspect someone is
a murderer or captor that I should be a better snoop than Catherine. Austen also points out the absurdity and perhaps the ill effects Gothic novels may have on their most loyal readers. I find it
confusing, however, to try and separate out when the Gothic satire ends and Austen’s own
commentary begins.
Of course you talked about the end…again. I agree that it is difficult to pick out Austen’s commentary, Gothic satire, and also, cultural expectations. Reading this novel, I think the biggest takeaway was the importance of being a mindful reader. I think that Austen explores reading of literature as well as reading of people to make her own reader’s more aware of how they think. I think Austen uses Catherine’s naivety to encourage her women readers to be aware of their surroundings and act upon their observations.
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