Catherine Morland was not as perceptive at the beginning of her lifelong expedition, she was not looking for anything; an innocent 17 year old could not ask for much more, when experiencing the unique cultures and excitements of a new town, away from the ordinaries of the home she already knew too well. She only began to yearn for acceptance and comradeship after the regretful isolation she felt at her first ball in Bath. However, as luck would have it, she was not lonely for long, when her brother James brought forth his fiancée, Isabella Thorpe, of which Catherine had been determined to be the best of

Catherine is also taught by the man she admires, Henry Tilney, the one with the opinion that matters most to her. Since Henry uses this power which he does not know he has, he shatters a delicately, fragile vulnerability in Catherine that later affects her delusional frame of mind enough to set it back on the course of reality. She crosses over a barrier that should not have been tampered with and insinuates that Henry's father killed his mother, with no evidence or merit, just her wild imagination. He gets quite offended and tells Catherine that she has no right to accuse such a thing. This is where she learns through embarrassment and shame. It is proven to be another experience Catherine would hope to do without:

Catherine was indeed altered by Henry's influential force, and, with another stab of pain, she grew even more. Her fantasies of the Abbey were at an end, reality was all she knew now, and her imagination will still be used, but to a point in which she could control it. The tears she bore soon became a past innocence as she gained an inner fortitude enabling her to face the world with the esteem she needed.

Although Catherine is now a victor in comparison with Isabella, she has not yet been fully successful in being one with herself, connoting her imagination. The pain inflicted upon Catherine is not easily mended, causing Catherine to create an oblivious escape of reality, this time however, she is unable to distinguish where the illusion ends and the reality begins. When invited by the Tilneys to be a guest at their extensive estate, Northanger Abbey, she is greatly amused at the thought of reenacting one of her favourite Gothic novels, The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe. Before even setting foot near the grounds of the abbey, she is already convinced it will be a place of mystery, adventure and intrigue, a place where she could be the hero of her own story. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and through experience and humiliation Catherine is able to find a little more knowledge behind her true identity.

Catherine was not the only one who was betrayed. Later we learn that Captain Tilney disca

Some topics in this essay:
Henry Tilney, John Thorpe, Ann Radcliffe, Captain Tilney, Eleanor Tilney, Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey, , Thorpe Catherine, Henry Eleanor's, maturity catherine, captain tilney, northanger abbey, henry tilney, catherine able, true identity, catherine morland,