(Blog 1) Northanger Abbey

Scene-Chapter XIV, Walking around Beechen Cliff with the Tilneys

At the beginning of this scene Catherine states “I never look at it [the hill] without thinking of the south of France.” Tilney is surprised at first because they had previously discussed that she had not ventured much abroad (except for Bath). She then reveals that she has only dreamed about these places through the reading of novels such as the Mysteries of Udolpho.

Here Catherine expects to be put down once again for her love of novels (as she had earlier by John Thorpe). She also considers Tilney highly educated and expects for him to be a reader of “better books” and not novels. Tilney’s response is surprising because, while he often teases her on points of education, here he agrees with her about the pleasure of novels. He goes so far as to state “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not the pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” Rather than pinning Catherine as unintelligent for her lack of experience traveling and reading high brow literature, he pins “the other” as the “intolerably stupid.”

Instead of mocking Catherine for her lack of travel experience, he praises her for her enjoyment of novels. In a sense, this scene compares elements of formal education (better books, real travel experience) alongside elements of imagination (the reading of novels) and it finds value in those elements of imagination, both pleasurable and educative. Although Catherine has not seen many places before, she has been able to imagine them through novels. Therefore, she is better off for having read something rather than nothing, even if she did not read “better books.”

Furthermore, he aligns himself with Catherine in this moment by claiming his own love for novels, particularly Radcliffe novels and the Mysteries of Udolpho. He does this in a very clever way as to both align himself with Catherine and not embarrass her, but to still maintain a level of power, dominance, and/or intelligence over her. First, he reveals that he too finds pleasure and even value in the reading of novels. Next, he claims that he has read far more than Catherine (“hundreds and hundreds”) and that if she questions him on novels he has read: “I shall soon leave you as far behind me as…”

To drive his intellectual superiority further, he switches to a point of conversation on an aspect of more formal education. While he may be willing to indulge with Catherine on matters of novels and imagination (he does this in other scenes such as telling her ghost stories, etc.), he still finds it necessary to correct her on issues of formal education, particularly language. Catherine questions “do you not think Udolpho the nicest book in the world?” Tilney then expounds on his problems with her usage of the word nice. He complains about the overuse of ‘nice’ in every situation and how it has become a rather flimsy and meaningless expression which will not do to describe the book (or anything else for that matter).

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