Symbols and Gothic Lit.

Austen wrote this book out of her own experiences with society. er knowledge of coming out and social standing are all critical in the workmanship of the novel. Austen, choosing to write a Gothic novel, puts in an old torn down Abbey, supporting it's theme, and creates an eerie affect. Using an abbey shows its holy nature, and who used to live there. For Catherine the abbey is ideal. She is so enveloped in Gothic novels that when she goes to the Abbey herself it is in her nature to find out some twisted story.

Youth

The theme of youth is evident throughout the novel. The main characters are young and just starting their lives. They all mature in one way or another, especially Catherine and Isabella.
Catherine grows from a young girl, to a young woman who is ready be married and live her life.
Isabella on the other hand goes int he opposite direction, reverting a more in a dishonorable way. The contrast of youth a growing up is something that her readers are able to understand. If we were to take a look at the relationship between Catherine and Henry we'd see how Austen plays the maturity roles against each other. Catherine the innocent against the older and more experienced Henry. Throughout the novel, we as readers are able to sympathize with Catherine as she matures.

Isabella Thorpe

Isabella start off as the kind friend, guiding Catherine through her day to day activities and bringing her out of her sheltered life. She knows a lot about society and the current social standings and gossip. It seems that she has been out in society for most of her life, and that is all her attention will consume. So, being the kind friend that she is, she talks to Catherine and helps her out.

Little do we know that Isabella's true nature is to get to Catherine's brother through Catherine herself. She makes it quite clear that she likes her brother, yet it goes over Catherine's head.
Isabella's character is that of one who changes dramatically in every situation that she is in.

Henry Tinley

Henry opens up a whole new world for Catherine. His easy banter and way of criticizing society set her mind at ease. Henry is often amused by Catherine's naivete, and goes along with her ideas in conversation. Henry has a gentle nature, caring for his sister, and for Catherine as well.

Catherine: The Innocent One

Catherine, the protagonist, is very innocent and naive when it comes to society. She has been sheltered her whole life, and seems to be lost when it comes to society's banter. Throughout the novel Catherine was able to mature in many ways. To start off, when it came to the simple (and I use that word lightly) topic of men, she had no idea what was going on.
She meets Henry early on in the novel, and is automatically consumed with his sense of humor and the way he makes fun society. It puts her at ease. It is almost like Henry is letting her know that it is perfectly fine that she has been sheltered her whole life, because it's not like she was missing out on anything great. Henry's soothing ways and sense of humor draw Catherine right in.
Once Catherine meets Henry and starts to develop feelings for him, she has no idea what to do...this is a form of her development into society and into woman hood. She is coming across new feelings and trying to adapt to them.

Catherine shows her naivete continuously throughout the novel. For example, when Isabella and her brother spend more time with each other, and flirt continuously, Catherine has no idea. She is very annoyed with their behavior, and taken back by their notions. Her sweet innocence is in the way of what is going on around her. She tries to learn from people such as Isabella of what is going on in society, but it only seems to help her a little.
Catherine's growth is quite evident throughout the novel, as she climbs the latter in society.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter XVI Plot Overview

Chapter 16 is a happy affair.

"Mr. and Mrs. Morland's surprise on being applied to by Mr. Tilney, for their consent to his marrying their daughter, was, for a few minutes considerable; it having never entered their heads to suspect an attachment on either side; but as nothing, after all, could be more natural than Catherine's being beloved, they soon learnt to consider it with only the happy agitation of gratified pride, and, as far as they alone were concerned, had not a single objection to start" (Austen 210).

Eleanor married first. Then, a year after they had met, Mr. Henry Tilney and Miss Catherine Morland were married, "the bells rang and every body smiled" (Austen 212).

The books ends with: "To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen, is to do pretty well; and professing myself moreover convinced, that the General's unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to their felicity, was perhaps rather conducive to it, by improving their knowledge of each other, and adding strength to their attachment, I leave it to be settled by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience" (Austen 213).

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter XV Plot Overview

In Chapter 15, Catherine's mother noticed her listlessness. When she commented on her inability to keep to a task, Catherine tried harder. "Catherine said no more, and , with an endeavor to do right, applied to her work; but, after a few minutes, sunk again; without knowing it herself, into languor and listlessness, moving herself in her chair from the irritation of weariness, much oftener than she moved her needle" (Austen 203).

While her mother went on a search for a book she felt Catherine should read, the Morland's received an unexpected visitor – Mr. Henry Tilney.

He was very embarrassed, and said that the only reason he came was to ensure Catherine arrived home safely, that she was well, and that she wasn't too upset at him for what occurred in his absence at the Abbey.

"On his return from Woodston, two days before, he had been met near the Abbey by his impatient father, hastily informed in angry terms of Miss Morland's departure, and ordered to think of her no more. Such was the permission upon which he had now offered her his hand" (Austen 205).

Henry told Catherine that the reason she was turned from the house so suddenly was that the General had discovered in London that she came from a family with no wealth, as he had at first assumed.

"Henry's indignation on hearing how Catherine had been treated, on comprehending his father's views, and being ordered to acquiesce in them, had been open and bold. Usually not one to anger the General on purpose, or even argue with what he said or insisted, Henry Tilney stood up for his feelings for Catherine.

"He felt himself bound as much in honor as in affection to Miss Morland, and believing that heart to be his own which he had been directed to gain, no unworthy retraction of a tacit consent, no reversing decree of unjustifiable anger, could shake his fidelity, or influence the resolutions it prompted" (Austen 208).

Thus being said, he proposed.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter XIV Plot Overview

Chapter 14 reveals Catherine's ride back to her home. "leaning back in one corner of the carriage, in a violent burst of tears, she was conveyed some miles beyond the walls of the Abbey before she raised her head; and the highest point of ground within the park was almost closed from her view before she was capable of turning her eyes towards it" (Austen 193).

The entire journey seemed to take forever, and Catherine was miserable the whole way home. Right before Catherine's homecoming, Austen injects her thoughts into the story: "A heroine returning, at the close of her career, to her native village, in all the triumph of recovered reputation, and all the dignity of a countess, with a long train of noble relations in their several phaetons, and three waiting-maids in a travelling chaise-and-four, behind her, is an event on which the pen of the contriver may well delight to dwell; it give credit to every conclusion, and the author must share in the glory she so liberally bestows – But my affair is widely different; I bring back my heroine to her home in solitude and disgrace; and no sweet elation of spirits can lead me into minuteness" (Austen 195).

Her whole family (or at least those at home) came out to greet her, happy to see her home again. They all wished to hear of her adventures, and asked about the circumstances which led to her coming home so soon. "They never once thought of her heart, which, for the parents of a young lady of seventeen, just returned from her first excursion from home, was odd enough! (Austen 197).

Catherine dearly missed Eleanor, and in response to a comment of Mrs. Allen said: "No friend can be better worth keeping than Eleanor" (Austen 198).

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter XIII Plot Overview

In chapter 13, the General went to London for a week, and left the inhabitants of Northanger Abbey to have a lovely time without his strict schedules.

"His departure gave Catherine the first experimental conviction that a loss may be sometimes a gain. The happiness with which their time now passed, every employment voluntary, every laugh indulged, every meal a scene of ease and good-humour, walking where they liked and when they liked, their hours, pleasure and fatigues at their own command, made her thoroughly sensible of the restraint which the General's presence had imposed, and most thankfully feel their present release form it" (Austen 184).

During this time, Catherine brought up the length of her stay. How long was she welcome, was something that she wanted to know. She didn't want to overstay. Eleanor and Henry quickly shushed her reservations of being unwelcome for much longer. "The kindness, the earnestness of Eleanor's manner in pressing her to stay, and Henry's gratified look on being told that her stay was determined, were such sweet proofs of her importance with them as left her only just so much solicitude as the human mind can never do comfortably without" (Austen 185).

At the end of the chapter, however, the General returns late one night and commands that Eleanor tell her friend to leave immediately. He even scheduled a carriage to pick her up first thing after breakfast the next morning. Just after breakfast, she left Northanger Abbey, unaware of any wrongdoing on her part, but wishing she could apologize for it.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter XII Plot Overview

In chapter 11, Catherine received an unexpected letter from Isabella. "Such a strain of shallow artifice could not impose even upon Catherine. Its inconsistencies, contradictions, and falsehood, struck her from the very first. She was ashamed of Isabella, and ashamed of having ever loved her" (Austen 182).

Catherine rants to herself about the girl her broke her brother's heart exclaiming: "she is a vain coquette" (Austen 182). When talking the letter over with Henry, Catherine tells him how even though she no longer thinks they are getting married, she still isn't keen on his brother.

Captain Tilney had already been re-deployed, and left Isabella all alone. But Catherine did not care: "As it happens, there is no great harm done, because I do not think Isabella has any heart to lose"(Austen 182).

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter XI Plot Overview

In chapter 11 Catherine is invited to visit Woodston, Henry's estate. The General, Isabella, and Catherine all ride out to make a day of it. "Henry, with the friends of his solitude, a large Newfoundland puppy and two or three terriers, was ready to receive them and make much of them. Catherine's mind was too full, as she entered the house, for her either to observe or to say a great deal" (Austen 177).

She had a beautiful time at Woodston and greatly enjoyed walking the grounds. "She was sufficiently recovered to think it prettier than any pleasure-ground she had ever been in before, though there was not a shrub in it higher than the green bench in the corner" (Austen 178).

She had such a grand experience, and she couldn't wait to return.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter X Plot Overview

In chapter 10 Catherine receives some news that breaks her heart. Isabella has broken her engagement to Catherine's brother, James. In a letter to his sister, James explains what happened. "Everything is at an end between Miss Thorpe and me" (Austen 167). "Let me soon hear from you, dear Catherine; you are my only friend; you love I do build upon. Dearest Catherine, beware how you give your heart" (Austen 168).

Catherine is very upset and allows Henry and Isabella to read the letter. "Isabella has deserted my brother, and is to marry your's! Could you have believed there had been such inconstancy and fickleness, and every thing that is bad in the world?" (Austen 170).

Thankfully, Henry and Eleanor are kind-hearted and talk her out of her distress.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter IX Plot Overview

In chapter 9 Catherine resolves to have a look around the deceased Mrs. Tilney's apartments that had not been included in her tour the day before. She looks around, not exactly knowing what to expect, and runs into Henry Tilney who dissuades her of her thinking the General had been involved in foul play regarding his wife's death.

"You have erred in supposing him not to be attached to her. He loved her, I am persuaded, as well as it was possible for him to" (Austen 164). Henry is disappointed in Catherine's trying to bring the fantastic world of the novel into real life.

"Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained. What have you been judging from? Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English, that we are Christians. Consult your own understanding, you own sense of the probable, you own observation of what is passing around you – Does our education prepare us for such atrocities? Do our laws connive at them? Could they be perpetrated without being known in a country like this, where social and literary intercourse is on such a footing; where every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies, and where roads and newspapers lay ever thing open? Dearest Miss Morland, what ideas have you been admitting?" (Austen 164). Catherine is suitably ashamed and quits all thoughts of evil doings in the Abbey.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter VIII Plot Overview

In chapter 8, Catherine finally gets her tour of Northanger Abbey. Nothing was as she expected. Instead, it was filled with servants, modern furniture and styling, and most of all it was clean, tidy, and bright – not dark and creepy as she had expected.

On this tour, Catherine also receives knowledge of Miss Tilney's mothers' death 9 years earlier. Catherine immediately begins to suspect the General of foul play.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter VII Plot Overview

Chapter 7 dawned the first morning of Catherine Morland's stay at Northanger Abbey. After breakfast, the General decides to give her a tour of the grounds with Eleanor.

After walking for awhile, the party came across Miss Tilney's favorite walk. "It was a narrow winding path through a thick grove of old Scotch firs; and Catherine, struck by is gloomy aspect, and eager to enter it,, could not, even by the General's disapprobation, be kept from stepping forward" (Austen 148). The path was lovely, Catherine loved it and walked along with Eleanor for awhile as she reminisced walking this same path with her deceased mother.

Catherine was especially anxious to get a tour of the Abbey itself. This particular adventure, however, was continuously postponed.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter VI Plot Overview

Chapter 6 describes Catherine's first night at Northanger Abbey. "A moment's glance was enough to satisfy Catherine that her apartment was very unlike the one which Henry had endeavored to alarm her by the description of" (Austen 135). Instead of having a creepy room full of webs, dust, and trap doors, her guest room is beautiful, very light due to the large window, and extremely clean. The only interesting item in the room at first is a trunk at the end of the bed. Catherine thinks, at first, that it could be housing something scary… but then she opened it and only found spare blankets.

That night, during a loud storm, as she was preparing for bed "she scorned the causeless fears of an idle fancy, and began with a most happy indifference to prepare herself for bed" (Austen 139). As she looked around the room reassuring herself that there was nothing scary in the room, her eyes fixated on a cabinet she had previously overlooked. "It was so very odd, after what Henry had said… she could not sleep till she had examined it" (Austen 139). Catherine had a very difficult time opening the cabinet, but when she was finally able to look inside it only contained a few receipts.

"Hour after hour passed away, and the wearied Catherine had heard three proclaimed by all the clocks in the house before the tempest subsided, or she unknowingly fell fast asleep" (Austen 141).

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter V Plot Overview

In

In Chapter 5 Catherine finally leaves Bath is pursuit of Northanger Abbey with the Tilney's. On the way however, she is disappointed by the news that Henry does not live their all the time due to his owning his own estate – Woodston.

As they are discussing the house and it's connection to the novels that Catherine enjoys so much, Henry Tilney begins to imagine Catherine's first night in her room at the Abbey, and enjoys explaining how it may be to her. Drawing on images and phrases from the novels he had read, and his own imagination, Henry weaves a tale of horror and intrigue that has Catherine on the edge of her seat in the carriage. "Henry was too much amused by the interest he had raised, to be able to carry it farther; he could no longer command solemnity either of subject or voice, and was obliged to entreat her to use her own fancy in the perusal of Matilda's woes" (Austen 132).

Slightly disappointed at her arrival to the Abbey, Catherine noticed the lack of horrific icons and cobwebbed corners of the house. Instead, Catherine found the house to be modern, bright, and cheerful.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter IV Plot Overview

In chapter 4 continued to watch Isabella interact with Captain Tilney.

"When Catherine saw [Isabella Thorpe] in public, admitting Captain Tilney's attentions as readily as they were offered, and allowing him almost an equal share with James in her notice and smiles, the alteration became too positive to be passed over. ... James was the sufferer. She saw him grave and uneasy; and however careless of his present comfort the woman might be who had given him her heart, to her it was always an object" (Austen 122).

Finally, when Catherine could no longer stand to see her brother upset, she went to Henry Tilney and asked him to speak to his brother on her behalf. She wanted Mr. Tilney to stop lavishing his attentions on Isabella.

Henry Tilney refuses the request, however, insisting that it is as much Isabella's fault as it is the Captains. "No man is offended by another man's admiration of the woman he loves; it is the woman only who can make it a torment" (Austen 124). "You have no doubt of the mutual attachment of your brother and your friend; therefore, that real jealousy never can exist between them; depend upon it that no disagreement between them can be of any duration" (Austen 125).

Catherine admitted he to be wiser, and followed his instruction of disregarding the situation.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter III Plot Overview

In Chapter 3 Catherine begins to see another side of Isabella that she does not like. Henry Tilney's older brother, Captain Tilney continues to flirt with Isabella and she returns his attentions, even though she is engaged to James Morland.

Of course, Isabella refuses to acknowledge that she is at fault: "I certainly cannot return his affection, and as certainly never meant to encourage it" (Austen 118).

When they are at the Pump-Rooms, Captain Tilney arrives and distracts Isabella from talking to Catherine at any length. Catherine is sitting next to Isabella and overhears everything they are saying. "Quite out of countenance [she] could listen no longer. Amazed that Isabella could endure it, and jealous for her brother, she rose up, and saying she should join Mrs. Allen, proposed their walking" (Austen 120). Isabella pretends not to hear her suggestion for walking, so Catherine leaves on her own angry for her brother.

Northanger Abbey Volume II Chapter II Plot Overview

Chapter 2 brings delightful news to Catherine Morland. Eleanor Tilney wants her to come for a prolonged visit to Northanger Abbey, her home in Gloucestershire. "Northanger Abbey! – These were thrilling words, and wound up Catherine's feelings to the highest point of extasy" (Austen 113).

Catherine was excited to spend an extended amount of time with Eleanor and Henry Tilney. She wasn't as keen for the General's company, but as he had personally invited her, she was still thrilled beyond words. In a short amount of time, the necessary arrangements were made and Catherine could focus on how she felt about the ordeal.

"She was to be their chosen visitor, she was to be for weeks under the same roof with the person whose society she mostly prized – and, in addition to all the rest, this roof was to be the roof of an abbey! – Her passion for ancient edifices was next in degree to her passion for Henry Tilney – and castles and abbeys made usually the charm of those reveries which his image did not fill" (Austen 114).