DID JOHN THORPE PROPOSE MARRIAGE TO CATHERINE MORLAND? Jane Austen NORTHANGER ABBEY novel analysis

Analysis of Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey. Did the oafish John Thorpe propose to naïve Catherine Morland, in Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey? John Thorpe tells his sister, Isabella Thorpe, “that he as good as” made Catherine Morland “an offer” of marriage, & that she “received his advances in the kindest way”, simultaneously Catherine Morland “with all the earnestness of truth, expressed her astonishment at such a charge” (). Who is right? Did John Thorpe actually propose? The lecture: • Close reads & analyses the ‘proposal’ scene between John Thorpe & Catherine Morland to show Jane Austen’s brilliant literary technique in creating two conflicting conversations in one dialogue • Considers John Thorpe as a spoof Gothic villain (where his Gothic villainy is converted into everyday villainy – such as the kidnap episode on their trip to Blaise Castle) • Examines how John Thorpe tries to utilise the language of sensibility & ‘effusions of fancy’ of contemporary