A New Gothic Heroine: Catherine Morland in Austen's Northanger Abbey

Catherine Morland, the heroine of Northanger Abbey, redefines what it means to be a heroine. While typical gothic novel heroines are wealthy, intelligent, beautiful and altogether desirable creatures, Jane Austen’s “gothic” heroine in Northanger Abbey belongs to an average middleclass family, is “often inattentive and occasionally stupid” and is described as “almost pretty” by her parents (37-39). Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Catherine is intended to be seen as a heroine, as the narrator continually reminds the reader throughout the book, lest one should forget, that Catherine is “my heroine” and should not be seen as anything less (93, 120, 224).

"No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be a heroine." - Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

While Catherine is declared by the narrator to be a true heroine, even the narrator acknowledges that Catherine fails to measure up to what a heroine ought to be. The first page of Northanger Abbey introduces Catherine saying, “No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be a heroine” (37). Catherine’s childhood is uneventful and her lack of talent in drawing and playing the piano causes her to fall “miserably short of the true heroic height” (41). She is not an accomplished young lady as many heroines are, but she is identified as affectionate, of a cheerful and open disposition, and has no conceit or affectation (42). Catherine is modest and ordinary and very much unlike a typical heroine, and yet she is identified as a heroine nonetheless.

Some critics believe that by making Catherine a different kind of heroine than the average heroines in gothic novels, Austen is attempting to redefine what it means to be a heroine. Elaine Bander says that even though the “narrator invites us to view Catherine as a banal, woefully deficient candidate for heroine-ship, the novel shows us Catherine’s rigorous empiricism and generous, courageous behavior, thus undermining the quixotic narrator's false criteria and prompting readers to rethink what a novel and its heroine ought to be” (211). On one occasion, Catherine’s generous character is displayed when she seeks to apologize to the Tilneys at the theatre for missing her walk with them, even though it was not entirely her fault. The narrator describes this scene saying: “Feelings rather natural than heroic possessed her; instead of considering her own dignity injured by this ready condemnation…she took to herself all the shame of misconduct… and was only eager for an opportunity of explaining its cause” (109). Unlike a dignified heroine, Catherine abandons her pride in order to reconcile with her friends. Joanne Cordon interprets such a scene as “delineating the difference between ‘natural’ and ‘heroic’ feelings” (46). By doing so, “the narrator reveals the difference between her heroine, Catherine, who acts in a ‘natural’ way, and the other fictional heroines, who act in a ‘heroic’ manner, heroic here meaning stilted, stereotypical, and wrong” (Cordon 46). By making Catherine natural and ordinary, Austen creates a heroine who is caring and kind and willing to humble herself in order to maintain a valuable friendship.

Catherine is an ordinary and modest young woman, and yet she is identified as a heroine. Austen redefines what is means to be a heroine, showing that it is better to be ordinary, honest, humble and virtuous than talented, beautiful, wealthy, proud and dignified.

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Works Cited

Bander, Elaine. “Revisiting Northanger Abbey at Chawton.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen
Journal, vol. 31, 2009, pp. 209-221. Literature Resource Center,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=briercrest&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA227364159&it=r&asid=71cbd7a286940a0dc6d0d16292280c48

Cordon, Joanne. “Speaking up for Catherine Morland: Cixous and the feminist heroine.”
Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies, vol. 32. no. 3, 2011, pp. 41-63. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=ureginalib&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA277271357&it=r&asid=c12ddc5f8570c1bea38d9e64a6cd60be3