Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey

by

Jane Austen

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Northanger Abbey makes teaching easy.

Catherine Morland

A seventeen-year-old raised in a rural parsonage with nine brothers and sisters, Catherine Morland is open, honest, and naïve about the hypocritical ways of society. Her family is neither rich nor poor, and she is… read analysis of Catherine Morland

Narrator

The identity of the Narrator is unknown, and the narration usually occurs in the third-person. The narrator has special access to Catherine’s thoughts and feelings, but also sometimes gives a brief sense of what… read analysis of Narrator

Isabella Thorpe

A conniving, beautiful, and charming social-climber of twenty-one, Isabella befriends Catherine because Isabella believes the Morlands to be as wealthy as their neighbors the Allens, and she wishes to marry Catherine’s brother James. Isabella… read analysis of Isabella Thorpe

John Thorpe

A college friend of James Morland and brother to Isabella Thorpe, John Thorpe is an unscrupulous, rude braggart. He is a boring conversationalist who is only interested in horses, carriages, money and drinking, and… read analysis of John Thorpe

James Morland

Another Morland (Catherine’s brother) who fails to suspect those he meets of hypocrisy, James is a loving brother, son, and friend who is easily manipulated by the Thorpes. He falls in love with… read analysis of James Morland
Get the entire Northanger Abbey LitChart as a printable PDF.
Northanger Abbey PDF

Henry Tilney (Mr. Tilney)

Henry Tilney is the second son of General Tilney and is Catherine Morland’s love interest. Like Catherine’s father, he works as a parson in a rural community. He is witty, charming, and perceptive, with… read analysis of Henry Tilney (Mr. Tilney)

General Tilney

A rich man with many acquaintances, the General is obsessed with his social rank and the wealth of his family. His children all know that he would never want them to marry someone without wealth… read analysis of General Tilney

Eleanor Tilney (Miss Tilney)

A well-mannered, sensible, and sensitive young woman, Eleanor Tilney becomes friends with Catherine in Bath. Eleanor, whose mother died nine years before the action of the novel, suffers from loneliness when she is at home… read analysis of Eleanor Tilney (Miss Tilney)

Mrs. Allen

A very dim-witted, childless woman, Mrs. Allen is a neighbor of the Morlands who invites Catherine to accompany her and her husband to Bath for a holiday. She thinks about nothing but clothing and how… read analysis of Mrs. Allen

Mrs. Thorpe

A widow who thinks and talks only about her children, Mrs. Thorpe hopes for her children to marry well. Mrs. Thorpe went to boarding school with Mrs. Allen and knew her to have married a… read analysis of Mrs. Thorpe

Mrs. Morland

A wife and mother to ten children, Mrs. Morland is not very aware of the dangers of society for a young, inexperienced woman of seventeen. She allows her eldest daughter Catherine to go to Bath… read analysis of Mrs. Morland

Mr. Morland

A parson in a rural village, Mr. Morland is the father of ten children, including Catherine and James. Although he is not wealthy, he has enough money to make sure all of his children… read analysis of Mr. Morland
Minor Characters
Mr. Allen
A gruff but kind man, Mr. Allen is tolerant of Mrs. Allen’s dimwittedness and does what he can to serve as a guardian for Catherine.
Frederick Tilney (Captain Tilney)
The oldest of the Tilney siblings and an officer in the British Army, Frederick Tilney has never fallen in love with a woman. He flirts with Isabella Thorpe, who believes he will marry her, but Frederick has no intention of doing so.
Mrs. Tilney
The mother of Frederick, Henry, and Eleanor, Mrs. Tilney died nine years before the action of the novel. Catherine preposterously suspects her husband, General Tilney, of having killed Mrs. Tilney.
Sarah Morland
Catherine Morland’s younger sister.
Maria Thorpe
Isabella and James Thorpe’s younger sister.
Anne Thorpe
Isabella and James Thorpe’s younger sister.
Mrs. Hughes
Eleanor Tilney’s guardian during her visit to Bath.
Miss Andrews
A friend of Isabella’s, Miss Andrews is described by her as insipid.
Signor Montoni
a villain in the Gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho, which Catherine has been reading. Catherine compares General Tilney to a Montoni when she imagines that he has murdered or imprisoned his wife.