In both Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, authors use Gothic style to represent fears or anxieties in the lives of their female protagonists. Both Jane Eyre and Catherine Morland suffer from gothic delusions when they are scared or anxious about something (although, for Jane, the delusions are sometimes real). From the ghosts in the Red Room to the tyrannical murderers in the Abbey, Catherine and Jane's imagination, heightened by their heightened fear, these gothic scenes are holistic representations of each of these women's state of mind. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Northanger Abbey, Catherine intentionally seeks Gothic elements in her life. On her way to Bath she imagines that their carriage will be attacked, and is actually disappointed when they arrive without incident. Once they arrive in Bath, Isabella feeds Catherine's overactive imagination by giving her gothic novels. Catherine is seeking a gothic narrative in her life, not because of her fear or anxiety, but rather because she craves adventure and excitement. Catherine is able to use her imagination to transform common, everyday events into completely exaggerated gothic scenes (Glock 35). Catherine says: "Oh! I am delighted with the book [Udolpho]! I would like to spend my whole life reading it! I assure you, if it had not been for meeting you [her friend Isabella Thorpe], I would not have come out of it for the world " (Miller 131). Catherine's speech here is very similar to Isabella's usual way of speaking, which is very exaggerated. She extols her emotions, saying that she would like to spend "all her life" reading Udolpho and that she wouldn't stop reading it for "the whole world" if not to see her friend. Catherine's exaggerated speech is typical of Gothic heroes or heroines of the time. This shows the influence Isabella has on Catherine, but also Catherine's deep desire to be the heroine of a gothic romance herself. Her desire to never stray from her Gothic novel foreshadows later events in which her imagination leads her to suspect that her life is actually becoming the plot of a Gothic novel (Miller 131). Jane Eyre differs from Catherine in that it does not specifically seek out the Gothic. elements of his life. Rather, she is more interested in social relationships (Gribble 283). Jane's life, however, is actually full of real gothic scenes. When Bronte first introduces the reader to Jane in Gateshead, she is sitting alone in the window seat of a small, cold, wet breakfast room. Instead, his aunt and cousins ​​are sitting together in the other room next to a nice warm fire. There is a curtain dividing the two rooms, signifying the division between Jane and her "family". This is a very dark and depressing scene because Jane is in complete social isolation, dishonored and alienated from the very people who are supposed to care about her. She says she felt “humiliated by the knowledge of [her] physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed” (Gribble 283). Her exclusion as a child affects how she sees herself later in life, especially in her relationships with others. It is one of the main reasons for his deep desire to belong. Mr. Rochester tells Jane “I saw you had a social heart” (Gribble 283). Feeling alone and out of place is a major source of anxiety and fear in Jane Eyre. Much of Northanger Abbey is about a young woman's entry into the world. The scenes at Northanger Abbey, however, are at odds with the rest of the novel (Glock34). When Catherine arrives at Northanger Abbey, her imagination is filled with the gothic fiction she is reading (Miller 132). At certain moments, while Catherine is at Northanger Abbey, the novel itself seems to veer towards the Gothic style. Because the story is told from Catherine's point of view, and her view of reality has been clouded by reading Gothic novels, the reader's experience is also clouded. For example. during Catherine's first night at Northanger Abbey, there is a thunderstorm and Catherine is alone in her room. He spots a sealed chest that he hadn't noticed before and with some difficulty manages to open it. Inside he finds some old papers with writing on them. Before he can read them, however, the wind blows out the candle and Catherine, scared to death, runs to her bed. In the morning, when he reads the mysterious letters, he discovers that they are only shopping lists. This scene, while emotional for Catherine, is also quite scary. Austen warns against the unbridled exercise of a Gothic imagination, because it causes unnecessary fear and, in certain situations, can have more lasting consequences (Miller 135). One of the most strikingly gothic scenes in Jane Eyre is when Jane is in the Red Room. Jane was sent there as punishment. It is the room where her uncle died and she associates it with death. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sees “eyes glittering with fear” (Gribble 284). Poor Jane is terrified. To her, this 'punishment' is much more akin to child cruelty and adds an extra gothic layer to the scene. Catherine's imagination is fueled by the terror of being in the room where her uncle died and by her anxieties about what will happen to her now that he is gone and she is left with people who don't like her. Therefore, when he sees a light in the room, on a moonless night, his young mind, “prepared for horror,” thinks it is a ghost (Gribble 286). In retrospect, Jane realizes that it was probably just someone walking by the window with a lantern casting a light on the wall, but due to her excessive anxiety, she interpreted this moment as something more sinister. This scene is very similar to the one in Northanger Abbey when Catherine discovers the papers in the trunk. Both girls are terrified for nothing and consider themselves rather foolish once they realize it. Catherine's willful imagination, recklessly fed a diet of Gothic novels, convinces her that Gothic terror actually exists in her life and the lives around her (Glock 46). Henry Tilney plays on Catherine's “relieved, restless and frightened imagination” by describing all the horrors that a building such as “that which one reads about can produce” (Glock 40). Catherine's active imagination reaches a dangerous peak in the gothic setting of Northanger Abbey, fueled by Henry, her books of gothic romances, and her anxieties about being far from home and surrounded by people she doesn't know well. The novel reaches its climax when Catherine begins to suspect that General Tilney has killed his wife. Catherine is so convinced of this that she decides to sneak into Mrs. Tilney's old room, even though she is aware that the General doesn't like people coming in there. While she is examining the room, Henry surprises her and demands to know what is going on. Catherine shamefully confesses her suspicions, realizing that her delusions were willful and self-centered (Glock 39). "The romantic visions were over. Catherine was fully awakened. Henry's speech, brief as it was, had opened her eyes to the extravagance of her latest fantasies more than any of their numerous delusions had. The worst thing was that she was humiliated.wept bitterly" (Miller 132). At Thornfield, Jane also experiences several Gothic-inspired events. On Jane's first day, while exploring Thornfield Hall, she describes the place in an ominous light using words such as narrow, low, dark, with small windows and closed doors, like Bluebeard's castle. As she thinks this, she hears an intrusive noise, a laugh that she describes as sad and formal (Gribble 285) presumably comes from Bertha, who some scholars believe is Jane's alter ego There are various disturbing and gothic scenes in Thornwood involving Bertha, such as when Jane finds Mr. Rochester's bed on fire with him still sleeping in it, when Bertha tears Jane's wedding veil in half after trying it on in the mirror, and even simple laughter. and other sounds that Jane hears as she walks by Bertha's room. It is as if Bertha is responding to Jane's fears and anxieties, because Jane herself cannot respond to them. Jane is anxious about her wedding, knowing it will be an irregular one, and Bertha tears her wedding dress. Mr. Rochester talks about topics that are inappropriate for Jane and that night Bertha sets fire to her bed. When Mr. Rochester tries to marry Jane while Bertha is still alive, she sets fire to the house, maiming Mr. Rochester and dying in the process. Unlike Catherine in Northanger Abbey, these events are not a figment of Jane's imagination, but are very real. The gothic events are still fueled by Jane's fears and anxieties. When Jane is uncomfortable about something, the scene has a more gothic feel. The difference between Jane and Catherine is that Catherine imagines her life only as Gothic, while Jane's life actually incorporates Gothic elements. In Northanger Abbey, Catherine, trying to be a romantic heroine, learns that the fantastic cruelty and extravagance of the 19th century exists only in Gothic novels (Glock 37). He realizes that evil exists, but more often than not it is calculating, good-humored evil designed for less than exhilarating purposes such as financial gain (Glock 37). Henry, realizing Catherine's suspicions, exclaims: “Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English, that we are Christians. Consult your understanding, your sense of the probable, your observation of what is happening around you. Does our education prepare us for such atrocities?” (Glock 42). Catherine is wrong in the ways evil manifests itself, but not in whether IS manifests itself (Glock 43). “Such violence and insecurity may indeed arise, even in the quiet and law-abiding English, from the wild fancies of one's mind and the terrors of the subconscious” (Glock 42). Catherine is a modern and real heroine because she suffers internally (Glock 37). The Gothic adventures in Northanger Abbey highlight the fact that Catherine cannot find happiness in fantasy. He finds it only when he accepts general ordinariness (Glock 38). Once Catherine realizes her stupidity, her true self emerges in the novel, undimmed by fantasy. It is ironic that once Catherine realizes that her life is not a gothic romance, the true gothic elements begin to emerge. General Tilney forces Catherine to immediately return home alone without warning. This goes against Henry's claim that nothing Gothic happens in England. On the journey home, Catherine is very anxious about her life. She is mortified over what she assumes is the reason she was sent home, her belief that General Tilney committed murder. She is afraid of leaving so suddenly and of her separation from the man she loves. All of these elements add up to create a truly gothic scene. In Jane Eyre, after John's marriage proposal,/>.