Northanger Abbey Analysis Social Norms Anonymous College

Gothic novels, irrational works of literature that attempt to hold the reader in constant suspense and fear through mystery, would utilize various components to captivate the audience. Common themes of isolation, villainous men, the supernatural, evil acts, and even weather kept gothic readers in constant apprehension. While many believed these novels did not always have a pertinent statement about the world or society, they provided entertainment to its primarily female viewers, and that in itself carries a different kind of weight. Gender roles during this period were very imbalanced, as men held much greater power in both relationships and society. Men, the gender who generally held dominance in the patriarchal Victorian era, typically found novel reading, especially of gothic genre, to be a waste of time. Often women were casted as inferior and unintelligent, and were destined for child rearing and housework. Societal view on novel reading determined that it encouraged deviant behavior in females and was reason enough to commit its sinning readers to mental asylums. However, in response to society's views, Jane Austen, a Victorian era English novelist, was able to create a novel with combined elements of social convention,...