The Gothic Novel

The Gothic Novel

1. It was a big change from the sentimental to the gothic novels

   • Men were worried thatthe dramatic stories of love would influence young women to disobey their families when selecting a spouse

2. Introduced supernatural elements and was often set in an exotic location

   • Austen satirises the gothic by including niether of these elements and by setting her story in England

3. Gothic novels influence Catherine's falty assumptions about General Tilney and his involvement in the death of his wife

   • Leads to Henry educating her and her growth throughout this bildungsroman

4. The drama of Catherine's real life is no less vivid than the worlds she reads about in novels

   • The reality is often worse

5. Austen frequently references Ann Radcliffe's 'The Mysteries of Udolpho'

6. Henry's retelling of the Gothic horror tale on their way to Nothanger Abbey influences Catherine's thoughts that evening

   • Shows Henry's influence over Catherine
   • Catherine unlocks the cabinet in her room, expecting to find something horrible, and finds only laundry bills

7. Eleanor acts as the repressed gothic heroine, despite the fact that Catherine strives to be so

8. The suddenness of her reputed illness; the absence of her daughter, and probably of her other children, at the time—all favoured the supposition of her imprisonment. pg. 211