103 pages • 3 hours read
Jane AustenNorthanger Abbey
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1817A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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BetaVolume 2, Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Volume 2, Chapter 9 Summary
That Sunday, Catherine attends a church where there is a monument to the late Mrs. Tilney. She watches the General sit by the monument, and she thinks he is a hypocrite for mourning his wife when he surely tortured her. Catherine recalls fake funerals in Gothic novels, so she decides the monument is not evidence enough that Mrs. Tilney is not a prisoner in the Abbey. While the General is out for his walk the next day, Catherine asks Eleanor if they can go look at Mrs. Tilney’s room now. Before entering the rooms, the girls look at Mrs. Tilney’s portrait. Catherine is surprised to see that Mrs. Tilney does not look very much like her children. Just before they enter Mrs. Tilney’s room, the General returns and calls for Eleanor. Catherine hides in her room. She soon goes down to the drawing room, where she finds the General and Eleanor entertaining visitors. It is a happy scene, and Catherine feels they are safe from the General’s anger.
The next day, Catherine decides to investigate Mrs. Tilney’s rooms alone, so as to avoid putting Eleanor in any danger. She thinks it will also be easier to conduct her search if Eleanor is not there to observe her. When she enters the room, she is surprised to see that the room is bright and clean, and likely part of the Abbey’s renovated area. She begins to doubt her theory that the General tormented his wife, feeling embarrassed that she got so carried away. Suddenly, Henry appears, although he was not expected to return from Woodston for another day. They are both surprised to see one another, and Catherine is especially embarrassed to have been caught. Henry asks if she thought there was something interesting to see in Mrs. Tilney’s room, and if Eleanor let her explore the Abbey alone; Catherine answers that she found nothing in the room and she only continued exploring after the General pulled Eleanor away from their tour. Catherine tries to leave by saying she needs to dress for dinner, but Henry counters that it is too early. He asks if she has heard anything from her friends in Bath; Catherine admits she is surprised to have not heard from Isabella at all, despite the latter’s promise to write “faithfully.” Henry says it is unusual for someone to take such a strong interest in the rooms of someone they never knew, and Catherine admits that she finds it very interesting that Mrs. Tilney died suddenly while none of her children were home. She also suggests that she thinks the General was not fond of his late wife.
Henry calmly explains that his mother’s death was sudden, but it was caused by an illness she had recovered from once before. He and Frederick were both at the Abbey when she died, and they made sure the best doctor in the area was there to care for her. Henry says that despite his father’s temper, he is certain the General loved Mrs. Tilney very much and grieved her death. Henry asks Catherine if she really believes something untoward happened and urges her to “Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English, that we are Christians” (164). He says their society is interconnected on such a level that if something bad did happen, it would be well-known by many people. Catherine leaves him and returns to her room in tears.
Volume 2, Chapter 10 Summary
As Catherine gets ready for dinner, she feels embarrassed and disillusioned. She believes Henry must surely hate her now for being absurd and suggesting his father committed such a horrible crime against his wife. When Henry comes downstairs for dinner, he recognizes that Catherine is embarrassed and needs consoling, so he is kinder to her than he has ever been previously. Catherine is comforted by Henry’s forgiveness and realizes that she was hoping to find a mystery at the Abbey since before she even arrived. Henry never brings up their conversation in Mrs. Tilney’s room, which helps Catherine forgive herself for being so dramatic. While she soon returns to her usual happiness with Henry, she occasionally looks at the old chest in her room and feels uneasy.
Catherine realizes Isabella has not written to her at all since she left Bath; she finds this strange and becomes anxious. On the morning of her tenth day at the Abbey, Catherine receives a letter from James. He writes that he and Isabella are no longer engaged, and that to spare herself any discomfort she should leave Northanger Abbey before Frederick arrives to announce that he is now engaged to Isabella. Catherine is so clearly astonished by the letter that Henry and Eleanor ask what happened. Catherine cries and leaves the breakfast table in a rush.
Later that morning, Eleanor asks after Catherine’s family in Fullerton. Catherine says her family is fine overall, but she admits that James is unhappy, telling Henry and Eleanor what James wrote in his letter. Henry says he sympathizes with what James is going through, but he is convinced Frederick will not actually marry Isabella. Henry sarcastically tells Eleanor to prepare herself to have a sister-in-law who is “Open, candid, artless, guileless, with affections strong but simple, forming no pretensions, and knowing no disguise” (171). Eleanor says she would be happy to have such a sister-in-law. Catherine does not catch on to their hints. She asks if they think Isabella would be loyal to Frederick; Henry thinks she will be “very constant” unless an aristocrat comes along, implying that Isabella is a social-climber. Catherine admits Isabella did seem disappointed by the money the Morlands agreed to give her and James for their marriage. Henry asks if Catherine feels she lost a friend in Isabella, but Catherine feels quite the opposite: Isabella was not a true friend, and she will not miss her at all.
Volume 2, Chapter 11 Summary
The trio frequently discuss Frederick’s potential engagement to Isabella. Henry and Eleanor do not think the General will give his permission, since Isabella not only lacks a fortune of her own, but she also formed an attachment with Frederick in a most improper circumstance. Catherine worries for her own future with Henry since her family has less to offer than Isabella’s. However, the General has always liked Catherine, so she takes comfort in that. Catherine believes they should warn the General about Isabella so that he can make an informed decision if or when Frederick asks for permission to marry her. Henry reminds her that Frederick is a grown man, and he can make his own argument, but Catherine worries Frederick will not be completely honest about his relationship with Isabella.
Meanwhile, the General decides that Catherine should accompany him to visit Henry at his home in Woodston. The General spends the drive to Woodston apologizing for the village’s shortcomings. Catherine refrains from praising the village with too much enthusiasm, which the General interprets as her being dissatisfied with what she sees, but Catherine is overwhelmed by how beautiful she thinks Woodston is. Catherine thinks Henry’s house is the best she has ever seen, but she is confused why it is not fully furnished yet. The General explains that the place waits for a woman’s touch, although Catherine does not understand what he is hinting at.
Catherine sees a cottage nearby and remarks that it is beautiful. The General says that if she thinks it is beautiful, then they must never tear it down. Despite Catherine’s silence, the General asks her every opinion on how she would decorate Henry’s house. At dinner, Catherine notices that the General does not comment on the meal Henry went out of his way to have prepared. As their visit draws to a close, Catherine begins to realize that the General wants her and Henry to get engaged. She is unsure if Henry feels the same way.
Volume 2, Chapter 12 Summary
The next morning, Catherine receives a letter from Isabella in which she apologizes for not writing like she promised to. Isabella claims to have had a misunderstanding with James—what is more, she wants Catherine to convince him that she loves him. She continues to say that she will never speak ill of the Tilneys, but her sentences suggest Frederick changed his mind about her since he spent his last two days in Bath with another woman. Isabella thinks James misinterpreted her behavior with Frederick. Before she even finishes reading Isabella’s letter, Catherine realizes that Isabella means to manipulate her into patching things over with James on her behalf. She vows to never mention Isabella to James ever again. She reads the letter to Henry and Eleanor, and they are happy that James and Frederick both escaped Isabella’s manipulations. Catherine is still confused, though, and does not understand why Frederick would flirt with Isabella and break up her engagement if he did not intend to marry her himself. Henry explains that Frederick likely never truly cared about Isabella, and he implies that Isabella deserves whatever happens to her because she was so insincere and disloyal. Catherine resolves to forgive Frederick and forget about Isabella.
Volume 2, Chapters 9-12 Analysis
Catherine’s gothic fantasies reach their climax in these chapters, as she becomes more and more convinced that General Tilney is secretly a villain pretending to be a grieving widower. Ironically, Catherine has never once been able to see through people’s hypocrisy even when it is plain as day, but she now thinks she has discovered a secret truth no one else could possibly figure out about the General. When she realizes she invented everything and her theory had no basis in fact, she begins to feel ashamed. She is especially embarrassed when Henry catches her alone in Mrs. Tilney’s room not only because he debunks her theory, but also because she has acted improperly by exploring the home unattended. More importantly, Henry’s rebuke also seems to help her realize that her fantasies are hurtful to the Tilneys—their grief over the loss of their mother is real, while Catherine’s wild fantasies are both ridiculous and unfair. In recognizing the impropriety of her conduct, Catherine begins to distinguish between reality and fantasy, as well as the importance of keeping them separate.
The news of James and Isabella’s broken engagement is the true turning point in Catherine’s development of her sense of judgment. Catherine slowly realizes the truth about Isabella during her conversation with Henry and Eleanor. Catherine does not readily consider that Isabella never actually loved James, at first believing she must have fallen in love with Frederick. When Henry suggests that Isabella might be looking for a match with someone wealthy and not a love-match, Catherine realizes that he is right. While she is saddened to have put faith in someone so manipulative and dishonest, she is relieved to have found more genuine friends in the Tilneys. When Isabella’s letter arrives, Catherine can finally recognize her manipulation for what it is, rejecting Isabella’s attempts to use her to get back together with James.
Although Catherine now realizes that Isabella cared only about money despite insisting wealth did not matter to her, she does not yet realize that the same is true for the General. She is confused by Henry and Eleanor’s assertions that the General does care about money, since he repeatedly said he did not. Since the General claims he only wants his children to be happy, Catherine thinks he will be able to overlook her own lack of wealth because he seems to like her so much. Catherine is still learning that people do not always speak in a way that reflects their true feelings; she remains ignorant as to what the General’s true motives towards her are.
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