SOURCE: "Heroines, Heroes, and Villains," in Jane Austen's Novels: A Study in Structure, Chatto & Windus, 1953, pp. 83-172.

Below, Wright investigates Catherine Morland's character, especially as it is highlighted by the words and actions of Henry Tilney and John Thorpe.

Catherine Morland

As a satire of the Gothic horror tale,Northanger Abbey contains all the ingredients of this genre except the hero and heroine, who are deliberately normalized, partly for the purpose of heightening the ridicule. Like all parodies the book exhibits two sets of values: one is satirized, the other (by implication) is shown to be 'truer'. Here, the illusions of Gothic sentimentality are contrasted to the less flashy but more durable values of good sense; the Gothic world is one of fancy, the world as apprehended by good sense is 'real'. But the book goes somewhat beyond these limits—it goes beyond to explore the limitations of...