Jane Austen's and Jon Jones' Northanger Abbey: interdisciplinary art

Hey y'all, Pez here. We're travelling across time and artistic mediums, today, as we navigate through the literary and filmic adaptations of originally Austen's Northanger Abbey. A gothic fiction set in 1798, both Jones and Austen's works find Catherine Morland discovering herself and the truths of society, within a world plagued by artifice and performance...

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The stringent nature of Georgian England’s patriarchal expectations – where its social decorum often leads to a domineering identity of masculinity and a meek identity of femininity – affords little autonomy to both Jones and Austen’s women. From childhood, Austen’s women are expected to only enjoy the stereotypically gentle activities of “nursing…dolls…garden[ing]”, an obliquely restrictive notion which sow the seeds of docility that eventually germinate into the “inactive good temper” that the patriarchy appreciates of adult women. Amidst this insidious process, Catherine’s “youthful female mind” – so ingrained with such “civility and deference” – struggles to muster up the audacity needed to retort against Thorpe’s imperious remarks of “nonsense…[in]tolerable” toward reading novels, a conventionally ‘feminine’ pastime that was widely dismissed as frivolous during Austen’s 19th century English society. So it is no surprise, then, that the “shame” that Catherine feels in wake of such insults is a product of patriarchal control, wherein the traditionally feminine activities taught to women from youth are the same submissive traits men exploit in adulthood, manifesting a misogynistic system where women cannot exercise their agency. Jones utilises Thorpe as one such representation of this system through the over the shoulder shot of Catherine, suggesting direct opposition, as Thorpe slowly stalks forward toward his prey, incessantly bombarding her with presumptuous innuendoes of “look for [a ring] for myself” before finally lunging in with “[we] should try the truth of that”. Contextually, the way in which Thorpe invasively whispers such to Catherine is extremely predatorial, speaking to a patriarchal system where women are helpless livestock in presence of men, who are free to hunt. Furthermore, Catherine displays clear discomfort through the multiple solo medium-close up shots, her speechlessness telling of her inner distaste to Thorpe’s off-screen speech, yet enduring Thorpe’s advances because she has no social power to explicitly deny him. So, when she finally does respond, it is with a vague, diplomatic “I think [marriage] is a good thing too”, evincing the tragic reality of servility and acquiescence most women must endure under this patriarchal society. Austen’s depiction is similarly bleak, as a society that esteems “trifling turn of mind…great deal of quiet” as the paragon of a “gentlewoman”, is one that may forever be too myopic to embolden women to carve their own unique narratives. Most disturbingly, then, it is also a society that praises those men as “sensible, intelligent” for “choo[sing]” the women who espouse the distorted view of femininity that the patriarchy indoctrinates, creating a perpetual cycle ensnared under a misogynistic system.

While perhaps Isabella is particularly cognisant of the patriarchy’s latent commodification of women, offering her partial agency in navigating the social landscape, both Jones and Austen reveal the tragic futility in defying the apathetic grip of the patriarchy. In Isabella’s introductory scene, Jones introduces her as the only woman in the frame to be wearing a low-cut dress, a seductive notion implying an active exhibition of product, her breasts. Moreover, when contextualised with Austen’s “shallow artifice” with which she characterises Isabella, her assertion in the film that she “will be…best friends” with Catherine evidently becomes hollow and beguiling, demonstrating a sly use of deception to use Catherine as a means to James. Isabella even draws on patriarchal techniques of manipulation, as her lunge forward to Catherine – into a close up shot – is reflective of Thorpe’s advance on Catherine. Jones extends Isabella’s manipulation of the male ogle when she matches the gaze of Captain Tilney, even so far as to turn around and assess his behind, an act of objectification characteristic of the traditional male. But a social persona predicated on such self-commodification and deceit ultimately crumbles. Isabella’s salacious smirk toward Captain Tilney quickly turns into a forlorn gaze, as the flickering candle in Jones’ adaptation is emblematic of the dissolution of Isabella’s guise, as, for once, the audience is shown the turbulent emotions of the true Isabella: loneliness and loss. Similarly, Austen evinces Isabella’s desperation, through the command that Catherine “will…convince” James the he was the only “lov[er]”, a tone of voice starkly different to the usually ostentatious superlatives – “dearest…best…sweetest” – employed by Isabella. However, just as both authors characterise Isabella as “impudent” and performative because she values every man as product, so too do they ask for a fundamental degree of empathy for her, an understanding that, under the patriarchy, commodification is the best a woman can do for her own sake. Most tragically, though, Isabella’s own objectification of her “handsome” face and body is nevertheless a tacit endorsement of the patriarchy, as it reinforces the patriarchy’s doctrine that women are mere subsidiaries of man. So, ultimately, Isabella’s deceitful manipulation of people is skilful as it is deplorable, but in a patriarchal world so bleak everyone else, both Jones and Austen kindle hues of empathy for women, who cannot truly write their own narratives.