Anti-Gothicism in Northanger Abbey

Abstract

Northanger Abbey tells the story of a very creative innocent hero. Catherine Morland imagined her as the heroine of Gothic novels, but at last she learned to distinguish between the imaginary life and the real life. Northanger Abbey was the first novel that was written by Jane Austen, but it has not received enough attention and has not been fully studied in the past for a long time. In fact, Northanger Abbey has its unique value, especially the attitude of the author to the Gothic novel, which has caused more and more attention and debate in recent years.

This thesis gives a contrastive analysis of Jane Austen’s anti-Gothicism from four parts. The first part briefly introduces Jane Austen and Northanger Abbey. The second part elaborates gothic novels and gothic elements in Northanger Abbey. The third part gives an analysis of parody and anti-Gothicism in Northanger Abbey. The last part discusses Jane Austen’s attitude Towards Gothic Novel in Northanger Abbey.

The author of the thesis sets out to explore the Gothic Novel from a satirical point of view, that is to say using parody to analyze anti-Gothicism in Northanger Abbey. Although Jane Austen imitates the gothic framework, she gives its mockery and ridicule to reach the effect of irony. 

Key words: Northanger Abbey; Parody; Anti-Gothicism