French Revolution and the English Gothic Novel discussion of women's nature by having a man with the power to create new life instead of the woman, and its consequences. Jane Austen also engaged in this discussion in her gothic novel, Northanger Abbey. Catherine Morland, the protagonist of the novel, has to confront the workings of the political and economic system that involves women as chess pieces in marriages and of power relationships, after her visions of romance are over. In this novel one can also see how the mind can take a truth by means other than texts, many times removed from actual events. This speaks to
Northanger Abbey Eleanor plays no other role throughout the novel, except for the fact that she persuades her father to grant Catherine and Henry permission to marry. Frederick Tilney: He is the older brother of Henry Tilney and Eleanor Tilney, and the presumed heir to the Northanger estate. Frederick is an officer in the army, who takes advantage of women with his handsome and fashionable looks, pursuing flirtations with pretty girls who are willing to offer him some encouragement (though without any serious intent on his part). This is evident throughout his interactions with Isabella Thorpe as mentioned by Henry when describing