Characters in Northanger Abbey often use silly similes to describe each other. For instance, in Volume 1, Chapter 7, Thorpe greets his mother by comparing her to a witch:
“Ah, Mother! How do you do?” said he, giving her a hearty shake of the hand. “Where did you get that quiz of a hat? It makes you look like an old witch.
Thorpe's epithet is insulting yet harmless and amusing (much like the narration). The word "quiz"—which means something easily mocked—underscores the simile's purpose.
Similes are also used to describe places. In Volume 1, Chapter 11, Catherine considers a trip to Blaize Castle:
To feel herself slighted by them was very painful. On the other hand, the delight of exploring an edifice like Udolpho, as her fancy represented Blaize Castle to be, was such a counterpoise of good, as might console her for almost any thing.
Catherine's wild imagination often juxtaposes old estates with the Gothic castles in her favorite novels, including The Mysteries of Udolpho. This work by Ann Radcliffe was published in 1794 and features heavily in Northanger Abbey as Catherine's favorite Gothic novel and the inspiration for many of her wild fancies at the abbey. The simile, "edifice like Udolpho", shows how much she expects Northanger Abbey to match the Castle of Udolpho, and more generally, how she often expects reality to match fiction.
Characters in Northanger Abbey often use silly similes to describe each other. For instance, in Volume 1, Chapter 7, Thorpe greets his mother by comparing her to a witch:
“Ah, Mother! How do you do?” said he, giving her a hearty shake of the hand. “Where did you get that quiz of a hat? It makes you look like an old witch.
Thorpe's epithet is insulting yet harmless and amusing (much like the narration). The word "quiz"—which means something easily mocked—underscores the simile's purpose.
Similes are also used to describe places. In Volume 1, Chapter 11, Catherine considers a trip to Blaize Castle:
To feel herself slighted by them was very painful. On the other hand, the delight of exploring an edifice like Udolpho, as her fancy represented Blaize Castle to be, was such a counterpoise of good, as might console her for almost any thing.
Catherine's wild imagination often juxtaposes old estates with the Gothic castles in her favorite novels, including The Mysteries of Udolpho. This work by Ann Radcliffe was published in 1794 and features heavily in Northanger Abbey as Catherine's favorite Gothic novel and the inspiration for many of her wild fancies at the abbey. The simile, "edifice like Udolpho", shows how much she expects Northanger Abbey to match the Castle of Udolpho, and more generally, how she often expects reality to match fiction.
The characters in Northanger Abbey explicitly make use of similes in their dialogues. For example, Henry and Thorpe strive for (decidedly insulting) similes to describe Catherine. In Volume 1, Chapter 14, Henry teases Catherine about her ignorance:
If we proceed to particulars, and engage in the never-ceasing inquiry of ‘Have you read this?’ and ‘Have you read that?’ I shall soon leave you as far behind me as—what shall I say?—I want an appropriate simile;—as far as your friend Emily herself left poor Valancourt when she went with her aunt into Italy.
Here, Henry shows his rhetorical awareness by explicitly striving for an "appropriate simile." Similarly, in Volume 1, Chapter 13, Thorpe tries to describe Catherine using a simile:
“She is as obstinate as—”
Thorpe never finished the simile, for it could hardly have been a proper one.
Whether Thorpe is limited by propriety or lack of creativity, he fails where Henry succeeded. Throughout the story, many characters demonstrate a measure of literary knowledge of both rhetorical devices and literary works. The cumulative effect of these pointed references is to permit the reader to see into the characters' psyches, with emphasis on their intellectual self-consciousness. The characters' demonstrations of literary knowledge contribute to the broader narrative of the 18th century's social scene. Austen usually emphasizes wealth and social status as the main currencies by which people gain or preserve prestige, but the intellect also becomes an important addition to these more traditional currencies.
The characters in Northanger Abbey explicitly make use of similes in their dialogues. For example, Henry and Thorpe strive for (decidedly insulting) similes to describe Catherine. In Volume 1, Chapter 14, Henry teases Catherine about her ignorance:
If we proceed to particulars, and engage in the never-ceasing inquiry of ‘Have you read this?’ and ‘Have you read that?’ I shall soon leave you as far behind me as—what shall I say?—I want an appropriate simile;—as far as your friend Emily herself left poor Valancourt when she went with her aunt into Italy.
Here, Henry shows his rhetorical awareness by explicitly striving for an "appropriate simile." Similarly, in Volume 1, Chapter 13, Thorpe tries to describe Catherine using a simile:
“She is as obstinate as—”
Thorpe never finished the simile, for it could hardly have been a proper one.
Whether Thorpe is limited by propriety or lack of creativity, he fails where Henry succeeded. Throughout the story, many characters demonstrate a measure of literary knowledge of both rhetorical devices and literary works. The cumulative effect of these pointed references is to permit the reader to see into the characters' psyches, with emphasis on their intellectual self-consciousness. The characters' demonstrations of literary knowledge contribute to the broader narrative of the 18th century's social scene. Austen usually emphasizes wealth and social status as the main currencies by which people gain or preserve prestige, but the intellect also becomes an important addition to these more traditional currencies.
