Video 1: The Novel and Female Enlightenment
Hello and welcome to week four lectures on Northanger Abbey. In today's lecture session, I'm going to talk about a Gothic terrorists and Catherine Morland that happens through her. Got the experiences in this novel. Now Austin draws a line between the Gothic novels of the 1790s, usually set in the past in continental, Europe and England in the 1790s, when Henry reminds Catherine that she should remember the country and the age in which we live, remember that we are English, that we are Christians. That's our education prepare us for such atrocities. Do our laws connive at them by the end of the novel, Catherine has a clock learn not to take novels or hurdles. So, so seriously, so this is a very, um, Interesting moment in the novel. When Henry tell me chastise is Catherine Morland for imagining God, the horrors, uh, in his father's house, um, that is Northanger Abbey. And in this, um, Comment of Henry Tilney. We can see Austin dividing the Gothic novels of the 1790s from the England of the 17, nine days. So if you remember, um, the stash yeah. Qualities that become across in the Gothic novel to the cemetery, nineties, I usually usually, uh, from, uh, continental Europe and. We can see how that contrast between England and the other is established through God, the narratives. So what is significant here? Is that those. Spaces in continent of Europe are supposed to be spaces of atrocity. And, um, and what Henry tell me is trying to communicate to this English woman, to this English girl, Catherine Morland. That, um, we are Christians. We are English. Our laws are better laws, uh, righteous laws, uh, and therefore, um, you should have imagined all these nightmarish, uh, scenarios, uh, to be taking place within an English, um, structured domestic structure. So then. Kinda utility is taken to task. These ideals are communicated to Catherine Morland and to the English readers who are reading the pages of this novel. So by the end of the novel, apparently Catherine Moreland has learned her lesson. And at last year has also learned not to take novels or herself. So seriously. Now there's another side to this, um, concept of, uh, got the novels, which were very popular in England, uh, in the late 18th century. And that I did is consumerism. Isabella torque eventually recommends the seven hearted novels to Catherine admits that she hasn't read them herself, but has in turn been given the list by ms. Andrews? Isabella is interesting to be more that she keeps up with the fashion is able to make these recommendations than in her own enjoyment of novel reading. So, uh, as you can see, there are several, uh, related to, um, ideas here. One is that it was passionable to me, we'd horrid novels. In other words, got the novels in those. Times, and Isabella is keeping up with this fashion. And even without reading those novels, she pretends to have read them and she passes the list to, um, uh, to Catherine Morland herself. So, uh, what is interesting here is that, uh, you know, in polite society, People do what other members of that society are doing. And Isabella here is imitating the fashionable trajectories of the people around her, and she is kind of introducing Catherine Morland, um, to, into that polite society who, um, has been breeding, um, these kinds of novels as well. So one, um, very clear thing that gets a pattern in this comment is dark. Fashionable society read these fiction. They were consumed by this fiction. And, um, so in order to kind of, um, participate in that, um, group's interests, one has to have read these works. So this is something that we have to keep in mind while. Henry Tilney argues that England is different. Its laws are different. Its culture is different. It shouldn't be compared to the heinous crimes that take place in continental Europe. Um, these kind of, um, hypocritical trajectories, and also ongoing bad. There is a consumption of a lot of novels of this kind by impressionable young girls. Now let's do talk about the idea of the novel and female enlightenment. Terry castle labels, Northanger Abbey, a comedy of female enlightenment in which Catherine Morland is educated out of the sentimental. Gothic tradition after a time in bog, her coaching by head detailing, uh, Catherine realizes she can think independently. She has learned to relish her intellectual freedom. The spur is the spike shot, initial naivety, and lack of reason and understanding she becomes an unlikely thinking woman. Hey Ryan, this, uh, comment is significant for, uh, several reasons. One, um, this novel is, uh, Perceived as a comedy, a female enlightenment, it's a comedy because Catherine Morland makes a lot of errors. Um, then she spends time in Northanger Abbey, so that, uh, for that reason it's a comedy. And secondly, it's a novel of female enlightenment. Uh, we did approach this concept of female, uh, learning in relation to the idea of, uh, Heronian Assam. Please remember that in the previous lectures we compared, um, you know, um, the male building stroma to the female, uh, uh, buildings, Romano in which, um, heroin's, uh, such as Emily said, Oh, bird undergo a kind of growth trajectory and reach maturity at the end of the novel. So school similarly, just as in the Gothic, um, uh, fiction, um, it's just mysteries of Adolfo. We have, um, Well, uh, kind of, uh, building's Roma, which is, um, ongoing for, uh, Catherine Morland in this particular novel. And, uh, if you go back to that previous slide, you can see how, um, Moreland is being taught by Henry Tilney. Can detail any becomes the, the educator here, um, in some respects for clathrin Moreland and he reminds us of, um, mr. Knightley, um, The, the hero of Emma, uh, the person that Emma marries at the end of the novel. So that's similarity. Is there a female being educated by an ideal, uh, male? So that's, that's something we need to keep in mind here, which, which kind of sets this novel apart, um, in, uh, in, in this kind of, uh, study of Gothic novels. The other point that has been raised here is dark. Uh, Catherine Morland seems to be kind of, um, educated out of the sentimental Gothic tradition that she has completely kind of rejected that Gothic tradition at the end of the novel. That's something that, yeah, which is debatable. If you read the novel, um, very, very carefully. And Catherine also undergoes a kind of, uh, uh, growing up. Process. And by the end of it, of course she can think independently despite her eye, you know, initial, uh, naivety and, uh, her, um, impressionable nature, which just kind of takes sun and believes in whatever appears to her, um, in polite society. So, uh, at the end of the day, she becomes a thinking woman's heroine because of her strength of character and courage. Now Catherine does read a lot of looted, Gothic, thriller, such as novels by Ann Ratcliffe and M G Lewis, Matthew Gregory Lewis, uh, or frat clips is, uh, the mysteries of a double first. She says, Oh, I am delighted with the book. I should like to spend my whole life in reading it. I assure you if it had not been to meet you. That's her friend, Isabella Thorpe. I would have not come. I would not have come away from it for all the world. Her desire, never to leave the text places, Catherine, at risk. She begins to script her life and her interactions with people as though she were living in a Gothic novel instead of in reality. So you can see, um, two aspects, um, in this, uh, set of ideas. One is, um, These Gothic novels are immensely gripping. Um, you know, uh, it is difficult to kind of, um, put these books away even to socialize, um, backed, uh, of course, Catherine Nolan makes an exception for her friend, uh, Isabella Thorpe. And the second is dark because of her emotion. Um, you know, uh, experiences in massive experiences, um, in such, uh, novels, she kind of sees the world around her, through those lenses, um, the settings, the characters, the plot of God, the fiction, and therefore she is kind of scripting her experiences as if she were living in a fictional world as if she is, I hear Roy, um, who is kind of navigating the traps. Sexual har by Gothic Willens. So the reality, it takes a back seat and fictional thing kind of comes to the fore. Um, and that has detrimental effects. Um, up to a point for Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey


Video 2: Gothic Terrors
Let's talk about Gothic and magic. The nation, Catherine, her galactic imagination is given full reign in the environment of not anger, Abby. Well, one of the most memorable and well-crafted scenes in the novel in waltz, many of the most familiar story, late 18th century Catholic. A dark and stormy night, a sealed chest, a very excited and impressionable heroine. Uh, when the morning dawns and readers find, um, Catherine led down by the secret sealed chest, which contains a little more than a laundry bill, Austin clearly illustrates the humorous dangers of an excess of Gothic imagination. So you can see how, uh, Austin kind of harnesses. Explore the Gothic attributes, um, such as a dark and stormy night. Um, we do have storms. If you remember the previous lectures about Frankenstein, the storms have massive significance, uh, in relation to the idea of the God deck. There's a sealed chest. Um, and of course there is this, uh, very excited, um, and curious heroine who wants to kind of, uh, no, get to the depths of the mystery in Northanger Abbey. When you get home, then she gets hold of a piece of paper. She thinks it might contain something horrible about the past of not anger, Abby, but she realizes that it's just nothing more than a laundry. Bill. So then when she reads that she is kind of disappointed. And through that moment in the novel, Austin kind of illustrates the excesses of the Gothic imagination on the part of, uh, Catherine Morland and even, um, For the readers, perhaps because you know, some readers are reading the novel for the first time would have anticipated some dark secrets to come to the surface when Catherine lands on that, uh, piece of, uh, um, parchment. And it's just, um, you know, a bit so you can see how, uh, Austin takes, um, Catherine Morland to task for her excessive imagination and excess of imagination is, uh, uh, a central. Got the fiction. You can see how, you know, Emily said, Oh, but also dispossessed or kind of a wild imagination, uh, at certain moments and, and all these kind of, um, ideas about letting one's imagination run riot is, is an attribute. And that. What is kind of driving these bless as well. It's if, if there isn't a kind of, um, such an imagination than, um, the narrative editor, Jay will also be lost. So what Austin does is she kind of picks up on that, gives an object to the narrative and then kind of, um, you know, uh, kind of, uh, busts the, uh, expectation of the readers. Yet, there are true changes to the happiness of Catherine novel too, especially a, the explanation for the death of mrs. So tell me, uh, if you remember the novel, uh, gentle Tony's wife is. Dead, um, is, uh, and therefore, uh, Catherine kind of imagines that, you know, she could have died, do some kind of, um, role on the part of, um, general Tilney. So. Tell me how tell me son had a chimney gets to know about, um, the Todds of Catherine Morland and he chastises colds. Uh, Catherine tells her off believing that gender Tilney maybe akin to Iraq, Cliffy and Willan, and the NATA tells us a Katherine state, the visions of Vermont were over. And this is a code from the novel. Catherine was completed awakened Henry's address shock. As it had been, had more thoroughly opened her eyes to the extravagance of her late Francis that all the several disappointments I had done, then all this era disappointment had done most grievously where she humbled most bitterly. Did she cry? So Henry's, um, Not her thumb on the brief narrative, kind of shatters all the fancies of Catherine Morland, but she had been developing in her mind because of her book, reading fiction and the impact of this kind of novel reading is on their romance. Um, at least when it comes to the relationship between, um, Catherine and Henry Tilney and the way Catherine sees that relationship for her, everything is over because Henry is disappointed and she is humble and she thinks, um, doc, you know, doc, that drama, it's no longer there. And most bitterly did she cry? Oh, what? That grave mistake. So glottic has an impact on the happiness of, um, The heroin back in a very, very different way, um, to the other Gothic fiction that were very popular in the late eighties. so Catherine has neglected to consult her own understanding her own sense of the probable and consequently has allowed what she has read rather than the evidence of her own eyes. Just script her vision of life. This failure to exercise reason alongside her imagination, jeopardizes the potential romance with Henry and the fulfillment and joy such a union may bring. So what is being criticized, but Austin in this moment is Catherine. Morland inability to exercise reasons. Alongside her imagination. So she had not been rational in judging her experiences at North end or Abbott. So it does this inability to be reasonable, puts her romantic relationship with Henry Tilney into great changer. And she is watered that there could be no fulfillment and joy because that union between them could not possibly happen. So. You can see how, uh, you know, uh, Austin celebrates their utility of recently against excess of imagination. Excess of imagination is condemned, excessive, you know, romantic principles are also, uh, condemned in, um, Austin. For example, if you think back to, uh, um, pride and prejudice, um, you can see how Lydia is as good as I, so access is always kind of criticized by. Austin in her works, but there is a different kind of hotter and, um, Northanger Abbey with relation to general. Tilney, let's see what that is. Catherine alliances that the horror first surrounding society is not that men directly murder their wives, but rather the far more commonplace truth that people marry for money and make their spouses miserable. Once she understands, gently gentle. Tell these real motivations, his social secrets. Yeah. Feels morally justified, pursuing a romantic relationship with Henry despite his father's initial objections. The General's unjust interference so far from being really injurious to the Felicity was perhaps rather conducive to it by improving both their knowledge of each other and adding strength to the attachment. So let's take the first point that had been put forth by the critic here, the first, um, Point that Miller puts forth here is that there is not perhaps a Gothic horror in Northanger Abbey, but there is a soul shift horror. I'm what is that social horror? The horror is that people matter for money and, um, you know, uh, and they make their spouses miserable. So this kind of nightmare is dead within domestic, that date and that, uh, perhaps. Is there, um, and gender till knees, um, household too. And once she realizes that gender Tilney threw her out because she was not rich enough to marry her son, uh, his social secret became a parent and. Catherine feels that she has every right to pursue a romantic relationship with Henry, uh, despite the objections of his father. So when they are separated on that separation also kind of, um, you know, leads to a better understanding, um, between Catherine Morland and Hendrick Tilney and, um, this, uh, Father figure, uh, general Tilney had been and, um, you know, uh, conducive to their happiness Felicity means happiness, uh, instead of completely, uh, preventing it. So you can see how, um, The God thick HARO gets represented as a societal horror in Austin's novel as Richard Lansdowne notes, just when book, the heroin and readers have learned to recognize and dismiss the imaginings gender, telling you to turns to the scene at times re-agent throws captain Moreland out of his house. When Tony's style, though, um, Though. And Tony himself was more given to locking up a women rather than evicting them. So, what we see is that Catherine Morland is thrown out of nowhere under Abby. When Jenna told me you get licensed, that she is not very rushed, that she cannot bring a very filthy dowry to the marriage. Um, he gets rid of her and, uh, This, uh, act act of, um, general Tilney reminds the readers of when behavior who kind of operates, um, on, on, on, um, the, the idea of, um, money, money becomes the driving principle for all his acts, um, in that novel. So this kind of thing. Attitude of general Tilney makes us confront him too much, Tony himself back the critic, very, um, you know, uh, um, humorously points out that he has a habit of locking up. Women generally just kicks them out. So you can see there are symbolic comparison since between when Tony and general Tilly in the way they kind of put money before anything else. Consequently readers see that as Austin parties to Gothic should remain entrenched in some of it's true. Yeah. To a reliance on the Gothic, even after she claims to be. And then it also indicates that reason alone cannot provide a full and adequate understanding of humans contact. So what becomes a pattern and Northanger Abbey is dark. Even though Austin, um, parodies it, she also kinda kind of retains, um, The tropes of the pattern in order to, uh, kind of, uh, make her point. So, uh, the reliance GOC thick is essential to kind of illustrate the triumph of romance in this picture, a novel, the reliance of. Um, on the God, thick is useful to kind of exhibit the social heart that are undercurrent in this novel and, and this kind of, um, uh, shows us that I'm imagining she cannot be completely rejected from this kind of fictional universe. Reason alone cannot provide a full and adequate understanding of him. I'm a contact instead the needs. To be a kind of an imaginative discourse in order to drive home the point about, um, rationality and reasonable, um, and proper human relationships. For example, a feelings such as those associated with romance cannot be completely accounted for within social education. They have a more individual imaginative, competent that may even conflict with social demands. Hence, although the novel concludes with Katherine's realization of. Social Dan personal secrets. The text also ends with a revelation of Henry Tilley's deeply personal secret. His love for Catherine. So what the critic is here, I'm arguing is that imagination cannot be completely removed. From, um, uh, uh, emotions such as romance because, um, those kinds of, uh, relationships and emotions does have a more individual imaginative component, which may even kind of be in a contradiction, but social demands. So you can see how, um, You know, gender to me has this social demand for money from, um, Catherine Morland that she cannot provide. All she has is her affection, her, um, romance for, um, his son, uh, gentle, uh, Tony's son, Henry. So, what we understand from, uh, Northanger Abbey is that, uh, yes, captain Morgan undergoes a kind of an education. Uh, she does learn to read, uh, reality, um, through her own experiences. She does, um, kind of use, um, Rationality to assess people at the end of the day, by the end of the novel, but romance and imagination cannot completely, um, you know, um, removed from this kind of society because, um, ultimately romance and imagination are essential to kind of assert the importance of rationality. Self and it all, it is also useful to bring to the surface, other secrets, for example, um, Catherine realizes the deeply personal secret of, um, Henry Tilney that he is in love with her. So, uh, there should be a kind of realization that, um, Imagination is important. And in this novel, Austin uses the imagination that she derives from, Oh God, the friction, she kind of harnesses. A lot of things. Got the drops in order to drive home. The point, the point that, um, you know, one should not lead, um, lights based on the plots and, and setting and characters, uh, of, uh, Gothic fiction. So Katherine must become attuned to the social sphere, but Henry must admit the existence of feelings in opposition. That's fair. And that's the rhetoric of the Gothic, which is allied with the word of the individual. Imagination is still present at the end of Austin stacks and retains an important educate important educator function. So there is an educator function. Um, we understand that Austin, um, educated. Catherine, Morland go for obsession with a Gothic novel. The readers are in therapy. Totally not to look at the real world through Gothic eyes. Um, and there is this subtext as well, uh, which is that England is not. Continental Europe. Um, English, Christians are not like the Catholics that one finds in, um, uh, continental Europe that is represented in Gothic fiction. Uh, England's laws are better laws to all these, um, Concepts are educated through this novel. And, uh, Catherine Morland becomes, um, you know, the figure through wheat, through which all of these ideas are communicated to, uh, to the audience. So that's, that's one thing that the other point is that there is romance, uh, which is, uh, kind of, uh, carried out using this discourse of Gothic, uh, by, um, Catherine Morland she goes to Northanger Abbey because she's fascinated by that. Um, you know, a house and, and that kind of introduces her further to, um, to the world of Henry to the mind of hands. Gothic has it's detrimental effects to Catherine Morland, but Gothic is the means by which she also kind of reaches our head openness ultimately with, um, Henry. Killed me. So got the tropes cannot be completely set aside and, and rejected. Um, as sometimes as some critics argue that this novel completely exhausted slices, um, you know, uh, the Gothic, um, ideas from this novel, but, but the heart is not true because the God, the kid is also use to, to capture the. Social horrors on the domestic horrors present in all societies, not just in continental, but in English society. So that is the radical idea that Austin is communicating here. In this novel, we do not have the kind of, um, uh, villains who lock up. Um, they men, um, demanding their property, but we do have, uh, you know, father figures who, uh, kick women out of their realm because they don't have the adequate, um, financial status to enter. So in that regard, Indian is not much different from the continental villains that you can see in the mysteries of Adolfo's Forbes agenda Tilney can be a perfect Montani figure, but not in the ways he really kind of carries out his evil plans, but you can see the kind of oppression that he can bring into the lives. Of people who are under his influence for example, and his son, Henry Tilney. Um, so, and, and, and the way he kind of unceremoniously, um, kicks up and Catherine Morland, um, asked her to leave the house is something evil and cruel. And these attributes that symbolically, um, uh, you know, uh, associating Henry Tilney with, uh, counterman Antonia. So money is the driving motor for, uh, the villains that you see in, um, In all these, uh, Gothic romances from con uh, such in continental Europe and the same factors, also kind of motivating, uh, figures such as, um, gender Tilney. He may be a general and not account, but that doesn't make him, um, entirely different, um, from the other gods. Well, and so what Austin is consciously or unconsciously illustrating to us is that, you know, despite all these facade, there is a connection, um, between, um, English, uh, father figures and, um, Italian, um, uh, patriarch. So, um, there might be a bit of a difference in, in terms of the setting, uh, in terms of perhaps the loss, but the reality, the ground reality is entirely different and it does have a lot of effect on the, uh, happiness of young. Women. So got the tropes are fascinating because they are a mandible that can be applied, used exploited harness in different ways in all these fiction. Um, so even a parody. Even a priority was not the anger. Abby is considered to be even a party. Dusk make use of the Gothic, drops to drive home. The point that, um, patriarchs must not control the happy of, uh, young people to just hand retail me and Catherine more or less. And that money should not be the most important consent for these figures in, um, you know, uh, arranging marriage. These kinds of, um, education is also being carried out in, um, this novel. So Gothic is an extremely useful, uh, mode to, um, to kind of drive home all these points about a society. Thank you for watching. I'll catch you in the next session.