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During Austen’s life, she had written six works which all have an eye-catching heroine. Catherine Morland is exactly the heroine in Northager Abbey. She is not like other heroins who are born perfect. On the contrary, she is garden-variety with no obvious charm. Besides, she is deeply influenced by Gothic novels, so that she has no correct understanding of the right and the wrong. She has grown into a mature lady gradually by receiving education from her lovers and other acquaintances around her. In the process of her growth, the gradually awakening feminist consciousness seems especially important in the Patriarchal Society.
1.2 The Summarize of the Plot
Catherine, a pastor’s daughter, is very innocent and pure. Her family is very well off while she is very ordinary, with average-looking but dreamy character. It is very clear that she is a non-traditional heroine. One day, she makes acquaintance with three new friends: Tilney, an upright and considerate man; and the Thorpe sibling, both of whom are evil and slaves of money. Catherine and Tileney fall in love with each other while Mr Thorpe also wants to chase for Catherine. In order to achieve this goal as well as marry his sister to Catherine’s brother. Mr. Thorpe plays tricks on Tilney’s father, which lets the timeserving father strongly object the marriage. Worse still, he even kicks Catherine who are invited to visit out of the house without mercy. Though Tilney always shows respect for his father, he doesn’t make a concession when facing the choice of marriage. After numerous difficulties, he gets married with Catherine.
The first half of the story is set in Bath, a city in the southwest of England(Ye Xin, 2010). It is a fashionable place dotted with many hot springs. Bath was in a period of great prosperity in 19th century, assembling debutantes from all walks of life. So it is with Catherine Morland. She doesn’t lose her goodness and sincerity when she participates in the comingout ball so she wins the heart of her eligible man, Henry. The latter part of the story focuses on the plot that Catherine is invited to visit Henry’s residence--Northanger Abbey, which she has heard some rumors about its spooky evil before. However, all the gossips are proved to be ridiculous in the end.
At that time, John Thorpe tries to chase Catherine but fails, so does the relationship between his sister and Catherine’s brother. As such, this presumptuous and voracious man who is ashamed into anger starts his revenge. He lies to Henry’s father and plays down Catherine as well as her family. As a result, Catherine is driven away by Henry’s father. Her love is beset with crisis. Fortunately, the story takes an abrupt turn because of the hero Henry. He breaks secular stereotypes and insists on his true love with his wisdom and courage. At the same time, Catherine is also encouraged by him and exerts herself to their love, so there is a happy ending.
1.3 Literature Review
When the novel was published, it hasn’t arisen great interest among critics. What’s more, their major concern was the elements of Gothic in this novel. In Yang Yong’s essay, For “Gothic Novel” the Bell Tolls, he mentions that “it not only put on some classic stories about love and marriage, but also satirized the sentimental novels, especially the Gothic novel, which was very popular at that time. Through this, the author emphasized once more the heritage of reason and realism”(Yang, 2004). We cannot deny that the Gothic factor holds a large proportion in this novel, however, with the development of feminist consciousness, more and more people begin to realize the opinion of Feminism from the contents.
In Chen Jingzhen’s(2008) article, she holds the view that “It is the contention of this thesis that Gothic elements in the novel are employed to express Austen’s feminist ideas rather than mock them. This literary attempt falls within the boundary of Gothic feminism”. It may be a better definition to the novel.