The book Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen is more complicated than what can be seen by the naked eye. Each turn that the story takes and each decision the character makes can be seen as a carefully calculated detail taken in part of the writer to prove a point. Each aspect of the story might have been added to make the reader think of what they believe and put it up against what is shown in the book and one of these circumstances happen to be Isabella Thrope and the depiction of her character. Isabella is viewed as an antagonist by Catherine Morland and maybe by most of the readers and before coming to this conclusion, the question of why she behaves the way she does and what circumstances she is trying to overcome must be considered.
In the story, Isabella is seen to be envious and boisterous and her efforts to make her presence known create a conflict in Catherine and her opinion of her friend. When readers look at Isabella through Catherine’s eyes, it is easy to form an opinion that Isabella is cunning and desperate to climb the social ladder and these traits can be seen as characteristics that one should not be proud of, but according to Joseph Addison and Sianne Ngai, there could be more to her character than meets the eye. The article “On the Pleasures of Imagination” by Joseph Addison talks about the empowerments of the sense of sight and how it adds to a colourful and imaginative life by saying “It fills the mind with the largest variety of ideas, converses with its objects at the greatest distance, and continues the longest in action without being tired or satiated with its proper enjoyments.” (Adison), stating that the power of sight can help create and mould ideas about what can be perceived by human sight. …show more content…
In the book, the readers get a glimpse of the events of the story through the lens of Catherine Morland and the insight to all of these events might be more limited than it should be, getting only one characters perspectives on a situation doesn’t fully allow the readers to take every angle of the events and the lives of all of the characters into consideration and all of these facts are important when forming an opinion of the characters and as stated by Addison “We cannot, indeed, have a single image in the fancy that did not make its first entrance through the sight; ..” (Addison), and this is when Isabella’s experiences, circumstances and other obstacles that she has to face comes into the light. When it comes to Isabella’s circumstances, little is known of her background except for the fact that she does from a family that has very little fortune and she is a very beautiful female, but there are so many other details from that picture that are missing such as the consequences of her poor fortune and the expectations from her family and her close society and these issues cannot be perceived through the eyes of Catherine. She (Catherine) has experienced a completely different life and different perspectives due to difference in attitudes of immediate family and educational exposure and her expectations of someone in Isabella’s position is very different and their can be seen when Isabella was anxious of the Morland’s approval of the match between her and James and in response to Isabella’s anxieties, Catherine said “… for parents to be more kind, or more desirous of their children’s happiness; I have no doubt of their consenting immediately.” (Austen; 132), indicating the acceptance on the part of Catherine’s family, inspite of Isabella’s poor fortune and their general want for the happiness of everyone around them. With growing around a family like that, it is hard for people like Catherine to see the desperation and the struggles of people who are not as open-minded as her. Isabella’s immediate family might see things differently from the Morlands and this cannot be understood by her. With this, Isabella’s indifference to James’s feelings and her leaving James and trying to get engaged to Captain Tilney may have been seen as a betrayal in Catherine’s side of the story, but it may have been an act of
In the story, Isabella is seen to be envious and boisterous and her efforts to make her presence known create a conflict in Catherine and her opinion of her friend. When readers look at Isabella through Catherine’s eyes, it is easy to form an opinion that Isabella is cunning and desperate to climb the social ladder and these traits can be seen as characteristics that one should not be proud of, but according to Joseph Addison and Sianne Ngai, there could be more to her character than meets the eye. The article “On the Pleasures of Imagination” by Joseph Addison talks about the empowerments of the sense of sight and how it adds to a colourful and imaginative life by saying “It fills the mind with the largest variety of ideas, converses with its objects at the greatest distance, and continues the longest in action without being tired or satiated with its proper enjoyments.” (Adison), stating that the power of sight can help create and mould ideas about what can be perceived by human sight. …show more content…
In the book, the readers get a glimpse of the events of the story through the lens of Catherine Morland and the insight to all of these events might be more limited than it should be, getting only one characters perspectives on a situation doesn’t fully allow the readers to take every angle of the events and the lives of all of the characters into consideration and all of these facts are important when forming an opinion of the characters and as stated by Addison “We cannot, indeed, have a single image in the fancy that did not make its first entrance through the sight; ..” (Addison), and this is when Isabella’s experiences, circumstances and other obstacles that she has to face comes into the light. When it comes to Isabella’s circumstances, little is known of her background except for the fact that she does from a family that has very little fortune and she is a very beautiful female, but there are so many other details from that picture that are missing such as the consequences of her poor fortune and the expectations from her family and her close society and these issues cannot be perceived through the eyes of Catherine. She (Catherine) has experienced a completely different life and different perspectives due to difference in attitudes of immediate family and educational exposure and her expectations of someone in Isabella’s position is very different and their can be seen when Isabella was anxious of the Morland’s approval of the match between her and James and in response to Isabella’s anxieties, Catherine said “… for parents to be more kind, or more desirous of their children’s happiness; I have no doubt of their consenting immediately.” (Austen; 132), indicating the acceptance on the part of Catherine’s family, inspite of Isabella’s poor fortune and their general want for the happiness of everyone around them. With growing around a family like that, it is hard for people like Catherine to see the desperation and the struggles of people who are not as open-minded as her. Isabella’s immediate family might see things differently from the Morlands and this cannot be understood by her. With this, Isabella’s indifference to James’s feelings and her leaving James and trying to get engaged to Captain Tilney may have been seen as a betrayal in Catherine’s side of the story, but it may have been an act of