Northanger Abbey - analysis, part 2 of 2
The drama in Jane Austen’s novels lies within its social situations driven by the stark realities of the marriage market, the snubs and snobbishness of those higher up the food chain, that is the wealthy, the fashionable, the beautiful, none of whom are shy about expressing their social value.
Austen’s mission is not to take down everyone who fits this category but to take down the unkind, the supercilious and the immoral. This last sits uneasily with a 21st century readership who since the 1920’s has enjoyed letting it all hang out; being moral is decidely out of fashion. Then beneath all this lies an undercurrent of anger, violence and the threat of chaos. In Northanger Abbey, though Catherine is clueless about the world she has a moral compass coupled with a sense of survival.
In Chapter 18, in Bath, Catherine is amazed to witness Isabella’s flirtation with the handsome, fashionable and morally corrupt, Captain Tilney, who says:
‘“I wish your heart were independent. That would be eno…