Q. 'Jane Austen depicts the absurdities of the Gothic style in her novel.' Do you agree? Give examples from the text to support your answer.
Austen presents the absurdities of the Gothic style in her novel. She weaves Gothic elements into her story mockingly by showing images of the Abbey and its mysteries inside that turn out to be a result of Catherine's hyperactive imagination. Ironically these fantasies were brought upon by her reading material, especially Radcliffe's 'Mysteries of Udalpho' since she is depicted to compare her endings in the Abbey such as the chest and the closet to peculiar objects from 'Mysteries of Udalpho'. This allows the readers to realise the negative's of attachment to Gothic style novels.
Austen presents moments where Catherine is lost in her imaginations in a dramatic tone which mimics the Gothic style. She uses colourful imagery and plot devices that perhaps make the readers laugh and ridicules Gothic novels. She illustrates an old mysterious chest in the Abbey that turns out to be a random chest full of bedding. She allows Catherine to find a curious manuscript that turns out to be an ordinary laundry receipt. Austen paints a picture of a secret passage way that is actually just an innocuous staircase. The sudden thunders and portraits of the deceased are all portrayals of Austen's skewering of the Gothic style. Thus she allows her reader to stay engrossed in this novel and focus on the gothic imagery that points towards deeper themes in the novel.
Austen portrays Catherine to suspect General Tilney of murdering or keeping captive his wife. This depicts an image of the typical Gothic style villain and by exposing Catherine's assumptions as false she exposes the exaggerated Gothic style that brings action the writing. She also succeeds to show the readers how fictions such Gothic elements are.
The final scenario that Austen presents to mock the Gothic style is that of a cliched, random and exaggerated happy ending. She presents a duex machina in the form of a gentleman who had suddenly acquired wealth which was enough to persuade General Tilney to let him marry Eleanor. This is seen to give way to Henry and Catherine's marriage and even Austen accepts in the narration that she found it quite random, 'His unexpected accession to the title and fortune had removed all his difficulties.'. Here Austen models a typical Gothic ending allowing her readers to contemplate that perhaps in real life a convent plot element can not make things easier and how it is absurd to expect one.
I agree that Austen mocks the Gothic style. During her time people were obsessed with the Gothic genre and she is probably trying to shed light on the fact that real life is much different and perhaps how people should not be so lost in their fantasies that they start confusing real life with fiction and get themselves in trouble like Catherine.
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English Literature 9695
Non-FictionThis is a compilation of all the essays and notes I wrote while I was in ALevels. It must be noted that not all of of these are A* material (though none goes lower than a grade B) so they aren't meant to be copy pasted for your school assignments. U...
