Extra Credit Questions: 2007 Adaptation of Northanger Abbey

This film is an excellent adaptation (though taking certain liberties) of Austen’s early novel, which was written in 1798 along with the first versions of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility (then entitled First Impressions and Elinor and Marianne).  However, she revised the work in 1815 and changed it a bit, much as she did the other two works (which were more heavily revised).  That said, it represents an important transition from the world of wit and satire to the world of Romance and Gothic excess, which Austen parodies in Catherine Morland’s reading habits.  However, like Sense and Sensibility, Austen gives us satire from a woman’s point of view, and offers us unique insight into the “little” world of domestic concerns that few men could be bothered to take notice of. 

Answer TWO of the following…

1.         Though Austen doesn’t take us to the streets of London or the depths of Otranto, we do see the very real world of Bath, a notorious social center of the time.  How does Austen’s ‘tour’ of Bath offer a satire of the people, manners, and aims of high society as rich as anything in The Way of the World?  Be specific and cite an actual scene (or dialogue) from the film. 

2.         In the opening chapter of Northanger Abbey, Austen’s narrator admits that “[Catherine] never could learn or understand any thing before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often unattentive, and occasionally stupid.”  The film, too, shows Catherine as a somewhat unremarkable and not at all ‘wise’ at first.  Why do you think Austen creates such a untypical heroine?  How does this play into some of the themes of the book/film, as well as her taste in novels? 

3.         Why does General Tilney throw Catherine so unceremoniously out of his home?  What is her “crime”?  Why might his actions have seemed more ‘Gothic’ at the time than they do today?  What were the repercussions for Catherine, being sent home without a coach or a servant…and what fate might have awaited her once she got home? 

4.         How does the movie (like the book itself) seem to be a satire on novels in general?  What kind of novels does Catherine and her friends read, and why might reading, when done without sense/education, lead to trouble?  Additionally, how might this relate to our own times—to women (and men, perhaps) who read indiscriminately and view the world accordingly?