Morality In Northanger Abbey Essay

Austen considered all components of English society when she wrote ‘Northanger Abbey’, along with the social construct she also employed the religious construct which at the time was a dominant part of English culture. Kitson commented on the religious climate of the Romantic England in Poplawski’s ‘English Literature in Context’ as,

“The culture of sensibility, with its concomitant attempt at the reformation of manners, is important here, as is the evangelicals and their commitment to good works and strict morality” (Kison, 2008).

The Romantic period was one of change towards the later year, the established church was considered to be under threat as many believed that it had become passive and inaccessible in people’s lives (Kitson, 2008). In the time ‘Northanger Abbey’ was set the church still had control over the public and their ideals on morality. Copeland and McMaster mentioned the Christian construct as conforming to ‘Northanger Abbey’s’ plot and character construction, the continued to state that,

“The linking of character and plot could be read as an optimistic belief in the ultimate defeat of the selfish and self-serving and the ultimate triumph of the selfless and self-sacrificing. Such a reading would conform to both conventional Christian moral teaching and the secular morality” (Copeland & McMaster, 1997).

By positioning Catherine as a device for the Christian construct of morality, she is presented to the reader as the higher character and therefore in a position to prevail in the eyes of the reader. Alongside Catherine is perhaps a character more endowed to highlight the Christian morality, Mr Henry Tilney, the clergyman of Woodston and Catherine’s eventual husband. He displays a clear connection to the Christian construct of morality when he guides Catherine down from her gothic inspired