Female Education of Catherine in Northanger Abbey

Abstract

Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's six novels which contains rich connotation and profound implication. Female education is the theme of the novel. With the help of Gothic novels, Austen interprets the theme of female education in the framework of Catherine and Henry's love and marriage story, and explores how young men and women find their own marriage partners under the pressure of society and the times. Jane Austen expressed her progressive view of female education. She thinks that only relying on parents' education at home can not cultivate mature and rational qualified women. They also need to step into the society and read novels to get personal growth in these activities of communicating with others. In Austen's time, a popular educational concept strongly advocates that women should receive family education to ensure their physical and mental purity, and believes that novels will corrupt their hearts and lead them astray. Austen's view is progressive and positive at that time. She points out the importance of rationality to emotion and imagination, and defends the art of fiction including Gothic novels.