Video 1: Henry Tilney’s Gothic Narrative
Hello and welcome to week force lectures on Austen's Northanger Abbey in today's session. I'm going to talk about God. The parody. The plot that Henry Tilney comes up with for the benefit of Catherine Morland. And I'm going to conclude by talking a little bit about female Gothic and the despotism off gender. Tell me. One can call the natter of Henry Tilney. The Gothic heard of Henry Tilney as artful parody. Uh, he patter beast, the Gothic plot when he is driving towards Northanger Abbey with, um, chapter Moreland and, uh, the critic, uh, McMaster argues that, uh, We can all agree that for the fall, that for her first set of tools, arrows, Henry himself is largely to blame his odd foot parody of Gothic. As he drives her towards the Abbey, supplies her with all the mantle for her imaginings on that first domain night, since he delivers his beguiling narrative in the second person and the future tense, how fearfully will you examine the furniture of your apartment? It has the force of. Profits. So this is a very interesting comment that we can, uh, you know, closely examine it, uh, for the implications, um, that they have for the character of, uh, Catherine, as well as, uh, for Henry Tilney. So Henry Tilney is an excellent reader. Of course. Yeah. Uh, we have seen that much, uh, in our previous lectures. So even though he is an excellent reader and he parodies the God, they can makes fun of Catherine Morland, um, impressionable nature, especially in reading the world through Gothic, uh, lens. We also realized that Henry Tilney is culpable. In creating a Gothic terrors in the mind. Right? Catherine Morland um, when he drives to work Abby with Catherine, Morland the narrative that he comes up with is so beguiling. So charming is so fascinating for Catherine dark. Um, she begins to kind of, um, you know, uh, be taken up so much by that kind of story, uh, that then she actually enters that. Um, how's, uh, she begins to read everything around her, um, as if she is, uh, reading a God big novel, too. That there are two very important aspects. Um, been difficult assistant, but McMaster would just, firstly, he points out that, um, Henry Tilney is addressing, um, Catherine Morland directly. You can see the use of the second person, how fearfully bill you examine. So he is, um, imaginatively placing Catherine Morland in that, uh, uh, house in that room. Abby. And he is, um, how, uh, in a weird way, uh, capturing the future in the present so that, uh, Catherine Morland becomes a cock, the Kilroy and of sorts. Um, secondly, she says that this kind of, um, foreseeing, um, of the, of the future is, is prophetic because Catherine, uh, more or less puts it into practice when she stays in Northanger Abbey. So you can see how, um, Implicated Henry Tilney is in the way Catherine Morland behaves and not the anger Abby. And we also remember that Henry Tilney is an avid reader of the gods too. Um, he re he has read a lot of Gothic fiction, but he is a good reader, quote unquote, because he knows the difference between a reality and fiction and that. Even though he knows all the God take drops, um, got the drops and all the attributes of God, like, um, he is able to be, um, able to differentiate between the two that the tropes, that one finds in a Gothic novel and the furniture of a reality of domestic city. Now we have referenced in retail, he's Gothic narrative. So many times in our, uh, lecture discussions, uh, it will be better to read from the news. Well, this got the igniter conjured by Henry Tilney. Um, so I'm reading from the novel. So this is the quotation from the novel, and this is what he tells Catherine Morland. Um, that might happen to her. No, certainly we shall not have to explode, wait into a hole dimly lighted by the expiring embers would fire nor be obliged. Just spread our beds on the floor of a room without windows dues or furniture. But you must be aware that when a young lady is by whatever means introduced into a dwelling of this kind, she is always apart from the rest of the family, look at the way he concludes here we are in this extract on the side slide that, um, perhaps Catherine Morland is going to be put in a part of the house, which is, um, you know, isolated from the rest of the family. And this kind of comment, uh, makes Catherine wonder as to the reasons, um, as to why this particular guest is, uh, is launched in a different part of the, uh, household, um, and, and, and the rest of the family, while they snugly repaired to their own end of the house handy, Tilney continues the story. She is formally conducted by Dorothy, the ancient housekeeper up a difference. Eric is and alone, many clean meat passages into an apartment. Never. Yeah. Used since some casino can die to about 20 years before. Can you stand such Sarah many as this asks Henry Tilney to Catherine Morland. So you can see how he's gently poking fun at the kind of events, um, that Catherine more than perhaps anticipate, uh, when she is going to, uh, stay at Northanger Abbey. So he says that, you know, while the rest of the family are going to go to their, um, Sniff, uh, snug, comfortable, um, you know, uh, spaces, living spaces. Uh, she will be, uh, Catherine Morland will be formally taken away by that ancient, uh, housekeeper. Um, and she will, uh, be taken off a different staircase of past many gloomy, dark passages into, and the apartment that had never been used since somebody died in it. Um, couple of years ago, ages ago. So you can, um, Immediately see all the cues and paraphernalia of the golf big, uh, not such as the ancient housekeeper justice. The halves is very anxious and the housekeepers also ancient. And we also are reminded of that. The Gothic trope of how that structure of the Gothic house is something which is invested from the past. So just as they've got, the causal did not Tang or Abby. And other, uh, you know, uh, key, uh, domestic setups, you know, domestic structures have got novels are, um, you know, uh, elements from the past. So with this present one to which, uh, Catherine Morland is going to be a guest. So. The element of the ancient is it got the characteristic blooming passages, of course. And, um, the idea that, you know, the guests would be placed in an old unused, um, uh, bedroom of sorts is, um, part and parcel of the Gothic paraphernalia. So he is trying to scare, um, Catherine Morland as well as get her excited about, um, her fascination with ancient structures, um, such as, um, No, it's just got no, nothing rabbit. He continues to billion, not mine. Miss give you, when you find yourself in this gloomy chamber, too lofty and extensive for you with only the feeble raise hands, single lamp to take in its size. Its walls hung with tapestry, exhibiting figures, as large as life and the bed of dark between staff or pub. Well, but presenting even a funeral appearance, William, not really a hard, not. Within you. So he continues with the Gothic description of the interiors of her chamber, of her bedroom and, um, Abby. And he says that it's going to be very clear. I mean, it's large as well. It's lofty. Um, it's, it's whilst it's two words for Catherine for this young, small a female, and there will only be a single source of light. But just this lab and that lab, but it's of course not sufficient to lighten up the entire. Chamber. And he further goes on to say that there will be, uh, you know, tapestry, hangings, uh, clock hangings, and on those, uh, uh, material, there will be, uh, figures, um, you know, uh, figures depicted on it, which, which are not major, um, which are as large as life. And, um, the bed is. Dark in color, dark green or popup or, and all these color have a symbolic association with the funeral with death. And so, uh, this kind of ambience, really Henry to least suggest. That might make Catherine Moreland's heart sink within her. So you can see how very full on he's got thick description, uh, or not Vander. Abby is for the benefit of Catherine Marla. He's playing with her, he's drawing with her. He's being Costa, he's being playful. And yet. There is a subtle element of threat threat that is coded in Northanger Abbey. It's a symbolic threat, but the threat is there. How fearfully will you examine the furniture of your apartment and what really designed, not tables, toilets, wardrobes, or drawers, but on one side, perhaps the remains of a broken loot on the other. Honduras chest, which no effort can open an over the fireplace, the portrait of some handsome warrior whose features will. So in comprehensively strike you that you will not be able to withdraw it, your eyes from it. So he continues 10 each and then continues with the God tech description of that apartment. And he says that now nothing will be off the usual or the routine or the everyday, but, um, there will be, uh, Broken objects, objects, which are in accessible to her in terms of a broken object, there was a Brook, the loot symbolizing, some kind of broken, uh, romantic narrative. And there's a chest suggesting mystery. Uh, it's so heavy that, you know, one cannot open it and there would be a painting. Of course, all the have paintings, you know, and, and, um, that painting will pick the handsome VAR or warrior. It would be so striking that Catherine not be able to take her eyes off ed, so you can see. Fact while he's describing, he is drawing the attention of Catherine to his narrow narrative. In fact, you can say that he is enjoying the yeah. Mentioned that he receives from Catherine. You can see or imagine that rapt attention of Catherine Morland. You can see her expression, uh, in intensity as she is listening to Henry. Tell me, so. This kind of, um, attention is, uh, enjoyed by Henry Tilney and, um, Y while he is telling her and exciting daily is also frightening her. So, um, this combination is what makes the goddess work. The combination of, um, fear and excitement and curiosity, uh, is such a heady mixture that Catherine is hooked. Henry Tilney continues with has got not repair history. Start a Dorothy. Meanwhile, no less struck by your appearance. Gauges on you in great agitation and dropped a few unintelligible hints to raise your spirits. Moreover, she gives you recent disappears. That the part of the Abbey, you inhabit this undoubtedly hunted and in slums, you that you will not have a single domestic and domestic, whether they call, but this parting cordials, she cut his courtesies off. You listen to the sound of her receding footsteps. As long as the last echo can reach you. And when with fainting spirits, you attempt to Fasten your door, you discover with increased alarm, that it has no. Look, you can see how he is increasing the horrors that might with it, Catherine. Yeah. More or less. Um, while she is staying within the Abbey, he States that, um, Dorothy, the ancient housekeeper will be hinting something unintelligible to Catherine Morland and those hints, um, are, um, Going to increase of Katherine's, um, susceptibility, um, to potential Gothic threats in this passage. See how, uh, Henry Tilney, uh, touches on both the suggestive aspects of it, the Gothic, um, and, um, you know, the kind of, um, Real carers as well. The suggestive, uh, relates to comments about an intelligible, um, you know, ideas regarding, um, threats that could, um, affect Catherine and the reference to hauntings that, you know, the potential for spirits, um, to, uh, wizard that part of the household and the real terrors, um, involve the, uh, The point that, um, that is mentioned by telling me that, uh, when, um, Catherine tries to lock the door, this imaginary Catherine, uh, in the future, when she tries to lock the door, she will discover that it has no lock. So this is a very interesting, um, Passage in that regard, you can see how he altered uses the character of Dorothy too. Uh, scare Catherine, this Catherine, uh, who would that foresee of who would enjoy all the, um, uh, happenings? Um, Jewel horror when she is staying in North anger. So this housekeeper, um, is the one who also appeared you mentioned, would mention to Catherine that, you know, um, there will be no domestic, they didn't call in case she needs anything, the help in the middle of the night. So. All these Gothic tropes, you know, the, the trope of spirits, the droop of the scary skeet, bubbles, um, very old, um, the idea that, you know, there's no lock to her door, which might protect her a lot though. Always protects them. Um, you know, um, at the resident, uh, in that bedroom back, you can also see that that is not going to be available to, uh, Catherine Morland. So this not of that I have read across these slides tells you the powerful nature of Henry till nice tail. Uh, he is not just a story teller. He is kind of, kind of for profit, um, and article one who foresees, uh, things that might happen to Catherine, um, in Northanger Abbey. So. Competent who was traveling with Henry Tilney, uh, it's, it's kind of, um, forcing, um, the Catherine who was, you're going to enjoy suffer through these Gothic terrors. Um, and, and that kind of, um, uh, foresight is given to her now by, uh, her companion Kendra too. So you can see a vague kind of posts more than, um, A framework that is being, um, set up in this moment in the novel, when the present Catherine, um, kind of, uh, has a glimpse into the future of her life when she undergoes all these Gothic terrorists. And when, when the. In a housekeeper terrifies her and she realizes that there is no, there's no lock to her room. So all of these, um, are, uh, incidents, um, which are part of that tale, that cat that, um, Henry tells Catherine. So Hendry being her article, Catherine is almost bound to do as he predicts. So he. Since he is a prophet, like figure, um, Catherine has no choice, but to kind of enact that prophecy, it's almost like a self fulfilling prophecy in some respects. Um, so he predicts something and captain makes sure that she does something, um, more or less similar to what he has, um, predicted. And he knows fully well how suggestible she is hindering. He knows that she is very impressionable, that she is consuming a lot of Gothic fiction. And she has, um, a particular idea about, uh, not banger Abby, which is along the lines of the God that. So when he concludes, when he, uh, referenced, uh, Henry with Henry, uh, concludes his tail, uh, your lap suddenly expires in the socket and leaves you in total darkness. She explains Catherine exclaims. Oh no, no. Do not say so, but he does nothing to disarm him, dangerous prediction or bring her back to reality. So you can see when he's telling the tale. Catherine is just bone being as that Catherine in the future, not the anger, Abby lost it, that God thick darkness would respond to. And she says, Oh no, don't say so. Um, so I spoke to his comment that, you know, the lamp will go out. Um, he's reacting as how that got lost in the darkness would react. So she has inhabited that story. She's gone into that future nattered though. Um, so you can see how very suggestive, innocent, naive of that case Merlin is. But. You can also see that Henry Tilney does not do anything very significant to, um, collapsed that tail to kind of, uh, deconstruct the tale to tell her that, okay, this is just a figment of his imagination that he has conjured up to scare her, to excite her. Uh, and, and he doesn't really kind of bring back to the actual world. He doesn't tell her very effectively the difference between, uh, reality and fiction.


Video 2: Catherine’s Gothic Fantasy
Now, uh, Catherine has her own, um, assumptions about the nature of the relationship between general Tilney and his wife who was dead. Um, so off her and happiness in marriage, she felt persuaded in her efforts to mrs.Tilney. The gentle, suddenly had been an unkind husband who did not love her walk. Could he therefore have loved her? And besides handsome, he was, there was something in the tone of his features book, his not having behaved well to her. So you can see the psoriasis, um, the assumptions, um, Doc up Catherine mix about the nature of gender, nice marriage. Um, she quickly comes to certain conclusions. The general did not like the works of his wife. Therefore he, um, Did not love her. And, uh, even though he was handsome, you know, there is a peculiar, uh, cone of his features. There is a certain element in his, uh, facial expressions, his features that, uh, perhaps suggest that he did not treat his wife well. So these are some of the. Conclusions to which Catherine comes to, and this is a Gothic fantasy that she believes in. Um, really so that, you know, this kind of belief also helps her to navigate, um, the, um, especially reality of not under ABIC reading a physiognomy is a recurring activity in the mysteries of adults for, and Catherine aspires to be an a, to B as explored in the arc, as Emily said, or Berg. So as the agenda, silently stocks, the drawing room with downcast eyes and contracted bro, a brow Catherine concludes, um, that, uh, you know, um, Catherine concludes that he has the air and attitude of a Montonya. So it should be Catherine concludes the S should come, um, with conclude and therefore it should read Catherine concludes he has the air and attitude from Antone, the abuser incarcerator and probably the murderer of his wife. Uh, her got the plot making once begun the hardest multiplied. So reading. Somebody his face is also a Gothic art drop. And this happens in the mysteries of Adolfo when Emily sent ABA read the facial expressions of Montani. So, um, in that, uh, kind of, um, uh, tradition, Catherine Morland reads. Uh, the, uh, uh, physiography of gentle Tilney. Yeah. And she watches him silently stop the room, what the up and down the drawing room. Um, and he's downcast, he looks upset and he is, uh, thinking about something intensely with contracted around and Catherine immediately confused that, you know, he looks like he has the behavior. He has the attitude and air Tony and Tony from the mysteries of it. Yeah. Dolphin, who is an evil Waylon who locks up Emily and her art. So you can see how very quickly, uh, you know, uh, Catherine Morland connected the appearance of agenda tilting with the appearance of count and Tony. At this point, uh, general Tilney has not done anything to, uh, suggest to Catherine that he is really evil. He hasn't locked her up. He hasn't kicked her out of the house yet, but you can see, um, that Catherine Morland. Quickly making a lot of judgments about, uh, gentle Tilney and, um, she draws up parallels between Montani who was an abuser incarcerator and um, so you get, you can see, um, you know, it'll tell me what comes count Martone and her Gothic plot making once begun by Catherine. Um, the horrors that attacked, she imagines multiply hugely. Having moved from Gothic deck Karch had got the arc catheter is the more likely to get into trouble. And she does this time. Hendrick had just her in the act of snooping, you know, his dead mother's room and Catherine is all well with guilt, you can see how, um, This over, imagine it of, uh, Hiran Catherine Morland, uh, acts on the various, not of that. She has read in heart, including the one told to her by Henry Taylor and she tries to put into practice. What was she as read and heard? And she, uh, snoops, um, mrs. Taylor needs a room, the dead mother of Henry till needs room. And, um, she is caught in her act of snooping. And, um, when. Henry Tilney takes her to task. She is all well. Um, she is, um, you know, suddenly aware of the excesses of our galactic imagination and she feels terribly guilty about suspecting general, tell knees hand in the depth of, um, mrs. Tilley. Henry is on the horse suspicions in a flash so fast. In fact that he creates some suspicions, self, um, you had formed the support. So is of such horror. Uh, he approaches her as I have hardly words to, and indeed words, faith him, but just how much evidence is there for Henry to jet use her hearts, a mice too. She's guilty about her unwarranted explorations to his mother's Rome. Uh, you can see how McMaster not really questions. Um, Catherine's actions here. Uh, she also questions, um, the behavior of Henry Tilney how put Henry become so, uh, suspicious so quickly. Um, um, so if he is, um, kind of coming to the pool so directly, um, what makes him, um, come to such a conclusion about Catherine Morland assumption? So. Is he also thinking along the lines of Catherine Morland about the death of his mother. So these are the questions that immediately come to, um, critics such as, uh, McMaster. We realized the Hindu becomes intensely upset or what Catherine's imaginary. Thanks. Because as he implicitly concedes the bruise, his so feelings and memories, right, his mother had had to bet much from her husband scamper and coldness. It gives for the marriage had been pragmatic and mercenary for the husband. And as a result for the wife, um, in so far as the life of the husband was concerned, happy. So we did use a lot of, um, Things from Henry his confessions, um, quote unquote, because he does, um, inform, uh, Catherine or that, you know, uh, the narrative of his mother, that the story of his mother is, um, associated with painful memories. So feelings. Um, so. He also concedes and fastest accepts that, you know, the marriage of his father, mother, where, um, where that made footprint magic, practical reasons for, uh, most nutty reasons. Um, you know, uh, it was not a romantic marriage and as a result, uh, the wife was unhappy and Ray's mother was unhappy. So, uh, because of these memories, Henry is upset to realize that Catherine Morland is, um, kind of the father, uh, question stunning, um, the nature of the relationship between, um, general Tilney and, um, and, uh, mrs. Taylor. So all of these associated ideas, it makes them unhappy that he's not even able to kind of, uh, fully, um, you know, Uh, put it in a what? The assumptions of Catherine Morland. And Catherine's a hearted surmise is, um, put in these words, she becomes suspicious because of soccer circumstance. She States your mother's dying so suddenly. And you, none of you being a tome and your father, I thought perhaps had not been very fond of her. That's all she says, and it's not much to go on. Is it? And he yet, and yet he guesses. So perhaps the probability, some negligence, some, uh, involuntarily, she shook her head or it may be something less, still less pardonable. So. You can see, uh, you know, uh, how Catherine arrives out her heart. It's, it's a hard, uh, assumption that gentle Tony perhaps killed his wife, uh, which is dark. You know, none of the children were at home van. Um, her mother died and, um, And your father, she says to hangi was apparently not very fond of her and not being formed doesn't mean that he had in fact murdered her. And, um, so Henry is really offended by the kind of quick sanctions, um, that, uh, Catherine Morley comes to. So, uh, but you can see how, um, Catherine Merlin picks up on certain suggestive elements surrounding the death of mrs. Tilney and those suggestive elements are some of the tropes of what now the question is if he can, so swiftly guess her surmise, he referring to Henry. Tell me if Hendrick and so swiftly guests, Catherine's art. Surmise and on such slender evidence doesn't it's adjust. He knows that the gender was grouped up their history. Why that he did drive her to an early grave. Uh, even if he didn't actually murder her at the end of the novel. Sure enough. After the Gentles outrageous behavior to Catherine herself. We told Catherine heard enough to feel that in suspecting general Tilney of either murdering or shutting up his wife, she has scarcely sinned against his character or magnified his cruelty. So, um, there is a suggestion which is very clear. And what, what does that suggestion, even though Andrew, uh, his father general Tilney did not actually murder his wife. He could have driven her to an early grave. He could have killed her out of his, um, indifference, coldness, and, um, all of these, um, all these, um, Comprehension, uh, that Catherine Morland, uh, eventually, um, you know, derives about the general makes her feel that she, um, had sinned, um, against, um, not she had actually not sinned against his character or achieved might just have magnified his, uh, cruelty. So Catherine feels that she was right in, um, Guessing that the agenda had been cold and not very fond of his wife. So it might not be a lit to moderate, but it is, um, uh, death brought about by the generals, um, uh, indifference and the treatment on the cold treatment of his wife. Now let's, um, come back to the idea of the female Gothic. In that sense, female got the novels, expose a societal gender inequalities. In fact, that's the most important point. Yeah. About a female Gothic and how very, um, Powerfully it lays bare the agenda discrimination, the double standards and the inequality between the sexes and yeah, not the anger. Abby evokes and plays with Gothic, too ropes and conventions. And it also makes an, uh, um, uh, it also makes references to other Gothic novels. Right. So by playing with Gothic tropes and conventions, it becomes part of the, uh, golf thing, even though there is a parity effect, uh, uh, in fact, using that parody, um, not bender. Abby is very successful in, uh, laying bare the gender inequality and the oppression suffered by the, uh, female sex. Medium brain gold, fuller asserts that Northanger Abbey represents a particular brand of the female. Go up, pick the domestic God, take the purpose of which is to underscore the realistic, but seemingly innocuous, dangerous and misfortunes that preset Catherine and Elena, whether they be social, financial or sexual. So. What, um, uh, fuller here tries to do is give up, uh, subcategory to the female, uh, block deck, which is that of the domestic Gothic and the domestic box thick, uh, um, points, uh, very powerfully to, um, the misfortunes and the dangers and the passions and sufferings undergone by, uh, women with regard to. Social financial and sexual, uh, domains. So Catherine and Elena caught in that, um, the set of, um, discriminations, um, You know, you, you, you know that Catherine, I cannot marry a hand very easily because she's not rich enough. And Elena and her, um, you know, lover cannot, um, join in Holy matrimony that very easily because of objections to their marriage. So, uh, the domestic Gothic and the female got the come together here. To make a very powerful comment about the nature and role of women in society. So they not have financial independence, they are socially underprivileged. Um, uh, you know, if they don't have the right connections, the right, uh, uh, amount of wealth and, um, they, they need to be, uh, you know, uh, in doubt, in, in various aspects to be attractive to them, a male, uh, partner, Now let's talk very briefly about gentle Tilney. He is a desk are accustomed on every ordinary occasion to give at the law in his family. His binding authority is such that he or he is always checking his children. Spirits. Um, did you handle to me is a person who wants absolute control and authority over his family. In fact, um, you know, his children's spirits that are also controlled, uh, by, um, by general chill name, he is the law giver and, and, uh, he, he wants his, um, uh, household to be under his thumb entirely. Yeah, Jane Austin's representation. Autism is a circle as well. Uh, Allister that word observes that his domestic journey is revealed in his exact thing. Demount of punctuality from his family. He betrays an extraordinary degree of patients and irritation with any delay. And certainly his obsessive attitude towards time. So his obsession, but time is so an indication of his exacting behavior or his domestic tyranny. Um, the demands for punctuality is actually an assertion of his authority. And when somebody, uh, disobeys him and district got hit becomes extremely impatient and irritated. So we realized that general Tilney is very similar to Montani because of its thirst for money and his severe attitude, but he does not kill anyone directly. Uh, it's a kind of a symbolic murder of happiness. Um, that he does, um, you know, if a Dole he can be called, uh, as a murderer it's, it's, uh, it's a symbol, like a martyr and not a literal one. He's a burlesque of Washington of Madani and this is categorized based manifestation of wildland and trivial. Events when Tony gets angry and has a tyrannical attitude. Whereas gender tells me is while, and for the sake of being wild, um, for instance, general telling you is facing the drawing room, his watch in his hand, and having a very instant of the entering, pull the bell with wildland order dinner to be on the table directly. So you can see how we read a patriarchal. Um, doc general Tilney is, and that kind of power, um, on his part and that the demand for obedience from his, uh, inferiors and from his family members. Yeah. Uh, reflects on the, uh, imposing nature, oppressively imposing nature of general Tilney yeah. In other words, he's like a real host lost and who feels the need to remind us? Constantly that he is the master. So those subjects are also prevalent to the character off gender Tilly. He, he thinks, and he believes that poverty is slipping away from his hands. And he has to kind of establish that in a very loud manner, in a very aggressive and violent manner. Thank you for watching and continue in the next session.