Northanger Abbey, ch. 2: The Cat Goes Stag

Or “Expectation vs. Reality: The Novel.” When Catherine’s family says goodbye to her …

• … a heroine might expect warnings about “the violence of such noblemen and baronets as delight in forcing young ladies away.” Catherine gets told to wear a scarf around her neck and keep track of the spending money her parents gave her.
• … a heroine might expect her dear sister to insist that she hear every detail of her schedule. Here, Sarah (birth name Sally) isn’t hung up on living vicariously through Catherine’s Bath adventures.
• … a heroine might expect “one lucky overturn to introduce them to the hero” on the road. Instead, the journey suffers from a lack of meet-cutes.

 The lack of dramatic setbacks is disappointing for a heroine—but Catherine’s too fascinated by the sights and cityscapes of Bath to dwell on this point. 

Speaking of disappointment, let’s meet Mrs. Allen, Catherine’s guardian on the trip. Now, for a character who is by and large a nonentity, much less a malevolent presence in the novel, Austen gives her one of the most scalding introductions she gives to any of her character. On top of possessing “neither beauty, genius, accomplishment, nor manner,” Mrs. Allen has a “quiet, inactive good temper, and a trifling turn of mind.” Anybody who meets her would be “surprise[d]” that there would exist “any men in the world who could like [her] well enough to marry [her].” Yikes! Jane, can you indicate on the doll where Mrs. Allen harmed you?

At first, Mrs. Allen seems to be suitable for “introduc[ing] a young lady into public.” Being a clothes horse, she dresses Catherine in the latest fashion (befitting for a burgeoning heroine). Cool! Oh, wait, she insists on waiting for “a dress of the newest fashion” that she can wear before introducing Catherine into society? Well, that’s not that awful, right? It’s only a few days. 

“Mrs. Allen was so long in dressing that they did not enter the ballroom till late” is literally the next sentence, perfectly timed to undercut my good faith.

It’s super crowded. Catherine has to hold onto Mrs. Allen for dear life so that they don’t get separated. When they do find seats, there’s nothing to do, nobody to talk to, and nobody for Catherine to dance with. They don’t even get their own tea tray. Catherine politely wishes that Mrs. Allen knew someone else so that they can have a chat. Mrs. Allen claims to wish that as well, although she is just as preoccupied with checking her outfit any time she feels something’s out of place. (“There goes a strange–looking woman! What an odd gown she has got on!” she exclaims at one point, easily the most interesting thing she says all chapter). 

Hold on. They’ve been in town for about three days. In all that time, Mrs. Allen didn’t visit anyone. Couldn’t she have sought out a family in her social circle, made an effort to get something lined up for Catherine, instead of arriving at the ball assuming that the same people who wintered at Bath last year would be there again?

I’m kind of pissed, but the unassuming Catherine is more sanguine. Although she misses out on her Cinderella moment as there was no “rapturous wonder on beholding her,” nor a “whisper of eager inquiry [running] round the room,” she does get some positive notices from a couple of ball-goers. She appreciates their observations more than “a true-quality heroine” might have appreciated “fifteen sonnets in celebration of her charms.”

So far, there seems to be this disconnect between Catherine’s high hopes and her genuine happiness with how things turn out. So far it’s the narrator who takes pains to point out when dramatic opportunities pass her by, as opposed to Catherine internalizing these disappointments. 

The Shapard Sphere: The architecture of Bath was very fashionable-looking with “classically influenced Palladian and Georgian” buildings, and built within a “steep bowl” (Brits might know this, but as an American reader learning about Bath these details are a big help to me). The clothing shops were also very up-to-date on fashion, which explains Mrs. Allen’s indulgence in her only hobby. Regarding Mrs. Allen, Shapard dryly notes that her speaking “pattern” of repetitious phrases and words is “a sign of her mental vacuity.”

Tangentially related to Jane Austen, I wanted to bring attention to an actress from one of my favorite P&P adaptations: Ashley Clements, who played Lizzie Bennet from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, has Been unhoused due to the L.A. county fires. Please consider supporting her via Patreon or Venmo @theashleyclem. 

Okay, Northanger Abbey business to resume next week!