Jane Austen, the author of Northanger Abbey, differs from most British and global classics. This fact is because she had the unique gift of writing about what happens in everyday life but did so in such a way that readers were absorbed in her work. She began in the early 19th century and enriched the old genres of classic literature with feminine grace, wisdom, and depth of judgment. She managed to distance herself from monumentality and the old prose canons. Northanger Abbey is a story of surprising, tender, and even somewhat naive love combined with sparkling humor. That is why the book appeals not only to women readers but also to men. In addition, it is full of adventures and various mysterious situations, which, of course, have a pretty funny concept. When the reader is familiar with Jane, he should already be used to humor in her serious works, as she cannot do without it.
A distinctive feature of Northanger Abbey can be called that the work plays a significant role in the love of the main character to read. That is, there are other additional novels in the Gothic style, and they have a significant impact on Katherine. Consequently, if you remove them from work, the work itself will also disappear. One could say that the author is describing all the dangers that literature itself holds. The writer of such a contradiction did not bother at all (Ehrenpreis 343). Moreover, when the future classicist manages to ironize literature skillfully, the reading becomes as fascinating as possible. Indeed, no matter how high the standards set by the author, he managed to achieve them.
Through the example of Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen proved to the world that true masterpieces of literature never go out of fashion and never get old. Today readers can find many people who could compare themselves to the characters in this novel, to compare different everyday situations and overcome difficulties with humor, which, in principle, tried to teach the writer her readers. For two centuries, both children and adults have enjoyed experiencing part of the life of Catherine and the people who surround her.
This work of Jane Austen can be divided into three parts. The first is the romantic part, a trip to Bath, walks, balls, and new acquaintances. Here the author makes fun of manners, all the sighs of maidens, vows and assurances of eternal friendship and love, and the desire of men to look better than they are. The second is the gothic part, life in Northanger Abbey. The main character, having read Gothic novels, is looking for family secrets; she sees conspiracies and crimes, and she suspects the host of evil deeds (Ehrenpreis 344). The third is the traditional Austen happy ending, where in such a complicated situation, the author resolves the situation and takes care of the bright future of his ward.
The book’s plot is not dynamic, so the story is interesting not because of the rich action, dizzying moments, and intrigue that takes your breath away. The book is valuable because of the feelings, emotions, characters, manners, customs, and traditions displayed on the pages. In addition, the work is memorable, with a style worthy of a true classic that readers have hardly ever encountered in modern English-language literature, even British literature. It will be interesting for the reader to get in touch with an ancient society that, while so different from ours, still had many similarities. The pursuit of money, ambition, and the desire to marry haunts girls and to make the most of their daughters with older ladies and idle talk (Ehrenpreis 346). Observing the lives of the main characters in Northanger Abbey, readers can recognize themselves, just dressed in a different fashion and living according to different rules of good manners.
The love in the pages of the novel is not the kind of love one finds in the works of his contemporaries. A love that is not reducible to passion does not begin with it. A spiritual intimacy that comes first when everything else is forbidden. A feeling that hides in the soul and it still needs to be guessed. In Northanger Abbey, love is also not some dynamic factor that advances the plot (Ehrenpreis 347). It is a quiet feeling that permeates the narrative, but I found no dizzying ups and downs of relationships, tragic separations, and grand reunions. All the genre classics are present in the book, as are the traditional three acts: acquaintance and rejection, relationship establishment and obstruction, and longing and reconciliation.
The character of the main character is shown in great detail, displaying her inner conflict and all facets of her not-so-complex and, indeed not, original personality. Throughout the book, Jane Austen refers to Katherine Morland as “not a heroine,” which readers found very sweet, amusing, and, most importantly, reflective of the truth. The main character represents a good, moderately witty young man with high moral principles and the right system of values of a young man with an ordinarily hot heart and ardent desires. As for the secondary characters surrounding the girl and her lover, you can recognize in them the reader his acquaintances and friends, simple and open characters.
Work Cited
Ehrenpreis, Anne Henry. “Northanger Abbey: Jane Austen and Charlotte Smith.”Nineteenth-Century Fiction, vol. 25, no. 3, 1970, pp. 343–348. JSTOR.