The Novel Of Manners: Northanger Abbey By Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey displays a rather direct image to the male gender role amidst 19th century English society. As the story was meant to pose and ridicule the meaning behind society’s customs and mentality, she set the reader to perceive such narrative through the eyes of a woman whom of which discovers this facet of said society with a slight naïveté. This image sets boundaries upon romance, social norms and the development of one’s personality.

Romance within society follows a “formal” narrative order as well as numerous rules of etiquette of which mostly favour men. Throughout the varied conversations between the characters, Austen emphasizes on these rules as to ridicule them. “No young lady can be justified in falling in love before the gentleman's love is declared, it must be very improper that a young lady should dream of a gentleman before the gentleman is first known to have dreamt of her” is a passage which discusses said emphasis. This rule of etiquette dictates that a man should be the first to declare his love and that it must be done in said order to render the woman’s love mutual and socially proper. Social norms during the 19th century (whether marital or social) placed the role of men in significantly high importance compared to that of women. Henry Tilney jokes “In marriage, the man is supposed to provide for the support of the woman, the woman to make the home agreeable to the man; he is to purvey, and she is to smile. But in dancing their duties are exactly changed; the agreeableness, the compliance are expected from him, while she furnishes the fan and the lavender water”, however conveys a certain truth about the general opinion of the century. The phrase explains that it is the man’s duty to support the woman’s lifestyle (through economic means) and that it is the woman’s duty to please the husband for doing so. In addition to being the union’s sole source of economic support, the man must be the most intellectual of the two. The narrator’s description of Catherine’s discomfort as “She was heartily ashamed of her ignorance. A misplaced shame. Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well-informed mind is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. A woman especially, if she has the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can” seems to imply a certain sarcastic tone as to display the frustration towards this situation. Having greater knowledge than a man, regardless of topic, would be considered a misfortune to woman of the 19th century. Expressing such knowledge would further imply vanity on her part.

Through these norms, the social environment of 19th century English society poses men as the dominant gender. One’s personality can be drastically affected by constantly interacting with this environment. As John Thorpe advances with his plans for the next day, the narrator describes “Catherine, after listening and agreeing as long as she could, with all the civility and deference of the youthful female mind, fearful of hazarding an opinion of its own in opposition to that of a self-assured man”. This passage explains that the man must always seem confident in his actions and that the woman should listen and agree with such choices (regardless of their personal opinion on the matter). Furthermore, as the narrator depicts Henry’s departure from the manor, “He went; and, it being at any time a much simpler operation to Catherine to doubt her own judgment than Henry's, she was very soon obliged to give him credit for being right, however disagreeable to her his going”. This displays that in addition to quietly listening and agreeing with the man’s choices, the woman must also not at any time contradict or oppose him. This moment had an immense importance as to how the story ended. Not only would Catherine’s situation had been different had she opposed to Henry’s departure and strongly suggested that he should stay, but this general mentality is very dangerous in terms of social development.

If one makes a crucial decision that could potentially affect individuals other than one’s self, it would be preferable to consult those individuals as to know their opinion on the matter and if anything could be done differently. However, if one makes such a crucial decision in a social environment like that of Northanger Abbey, a large percentage of the population’s opinions are disregarded; therefore, allowing a greater probability of mistakes occurring. Considering that most of the characters were educated by predecessors with this social mentality, they will end up continuing the cycle. Austen’s depiction of 19th century English society showed a crude reality within human nature. By examining her works as well as that of other authors from that time period, we as readers can observe and understand the general mentality of said time period. We can construct upon its strengths and improve its flaws to develop a greater society and lay the foundations on which future generations will learn. When faced with a problem, it is best to divide its weight amongst many than to leave it all to one individual. Only after confronting the problem and establishing solutions brought by all parties involved can humanity’s social mentality truly evolve.