Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

Words: 167
Pages: 1

The title of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey suggests that the place will be of severe significance to the story. Catherine's expectations of the place are high, fuelled by her novel-reading experiences. A climax is anticipated, but the opposite seems to take place. There is a scattering of assumptions and expectations related to the setting that unnerves both the protagonist and the reader alike. But while Catherine Morland tries to keep her gothic fantasy alive by using her vivid imagination, the reader begins to experience a rejection of this gothic sentiment. The unfolding action at Northanger Abbey reveals to the reader that Northanger Abbey is not a work of pure gothic fiction. Jane Austen exploited the form and conventions of the genre,