Northanger Abbey Lesson Plan

How is Catherine characterized? What portion of her behavior and thoughts are attributed to her individual character, and what portion to her gender, age, or other factors (and why does this matter)?

Students might point to lines in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 which describe Catherine as “stupid”, “ignorant”, and “uninformed” (and which describe these traits as being common to teenage girls in general), as well as lines in which the heroine encounters complex social scenarios for the first time, including: “These manners did not please Catherine; but he was James’s friend and Isabella’s brother; and her judgment was further bought off by Isabella’s assuring her” (Chapter...