Northanger Abbey - Tumblr Posts - Page 2
"catharine hated needlework and practicing the piano. catharine loved playing in the dirt with the boys. catharine was just like all the other girls." ……. jane austen was the first one who called out the ‘not like other girls’ trope
When JA created Henry Tilney she was like how can I make a man that's gonna make all the girlies swoon just drive all the ladies WILD what's gonna make him HAWT and she was like I'll have him know about muslins
And she was right
FINISHED NORTHANGER ABBEY WOO
will post something -- either on isabelle or on dancing. depends on how much time i have. also trying to make sure no one's already posted about what i wanted to say lol
isabella thorpe is just as distressing as her brother
i feel like i sympathise with catherine a lot because i can so sharply remember what it was like to socialise properly for the first time and have it count. at 17, she’s stepping out into a setting far away from her family, without the grounding that she usually has. and the first person she meets is isabella thorpe, who acts as such a good older sister figure to her (especially when catherine was initially socially isolated):
Miss Thorpe...could compare the balls of Bath with those of Tunbridge, its fashions with the fashions of London; could rectify the opinions of her new friend in many articles of tasteful attire; could discover a flirtation between any gentleman and lady who only smiled on each other; and point out a quiz through the thickness of a crowd. These powers received due admiration from Catherine, to whom they were entirely new...
but that’s exactly the point: isabella acts more than anything else. she’s the foil to catherine; her scheming and her hypocrisy make a stark contrast to catherine’s innocence. her insincerity and her other actions during the book make clear how she will not end up acting in catherine’s interests, BUT CATHERINE DOESN’T SEE THAT BECAUSE SHE’S 17 AND CONFUSED AND IN BATH. it’s like watching an accident in slow motion. you know where the car is going to end up, but you’ve got to watch the agonisingly long spin off of the road it takes before crashing into the tree.
let’s take this example: isabella says to catherine: “My dearest creature, what can have made you so late? I have been waiting for you at least this age!” the hyperbole of ‘dearest creature’ and ‘at least this age’ shows either that she is being insincere or she is truly very affectionate. personally, i drew comparisons to caroline bingley writing to jane bennet, pretending to be her friend, which is why i got Bad Vibes from her instantly: “If you are not so compassionate as to dine to-day with Louisa and me, we shall be in danger of hating each other for the rest of our lives...”
but you don’t even NEED TO HAVE THIS COMPARISON! in the next scene we see her literally in hot pursuit of two bachelors, when she professes to find them ‘odious’. make it make sense, isabella. the hypocrisy just pops out off the page...
“They are not coming this way, are they? I hope they are not so impertinent as to follow us. Pray let me know if they are coming. I am determined I will not look up.”
In a few moments Catherine, with unaffected pleasure, assured her that she need not be longer uneasy, as the gentlemen had just left the pump-room.
“And which way are they gone?” said Isabella, turning hastily round. “One was a very good-looking young man.”
AND WE CAN SEE THIS REPEATING THROUGH LITERALLY THE ENTIRE BOOK! she keeps pushing catherine into her brother’s way even though she knows that he’s Very Unsuited for her (indeed, he is unsuited for all humans); she guiltrips catherine into going to clifton, so she won’t go to visit the tilneys; she pretends that she’s dissatisfied because of the long engagement and not the 400 pounds yearly that will be given to james.
to the reader, isabella’s betrayal is not a matter of if, but how, and it’s just so terrible to have to watch catherine go through it.
TL; DR: isabella, i hope your shoes drop off while dancing with the next bachelor you try to seduce. i hope you can never find a good tailor to make you fashionable dresses. i hope you step in horse manure just before going to all of your balls.
Daily (sort of) Portraits from last month!
Over on my sketch blog I’ve been posting these - go check it out if you want to see them as they happen
Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland are a gothic romance reading, Newfoundland puppy raising, gender non-conforming, queer couple.
They are very happy.
(They have a lot of fun fooling the straights.)
what do you mean hes fictional. i need him