Taking The Castle of Otranto as your example, outline the...

Taking The Castle of Otranto as your example, outline the main conventions of the Gothic novel, and show how your knowledge of Taking The Castle of Otranto as your example, outline the main conventions of the Gothic novel, and show how your knowledge of these conventions affects your reading of Northanger Abbey. Is Northanger Abbey most accurately described as parody of the Gothic genre, or is there a more complicated relationship going on? Gothic novels purport to revive old stories and beliefs, exploring personal, psychical encounters with the taboo (Williams, 2000). The genre, as typified by The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, involves a beautiful innocent young woman who is held captive by an older, powerful, evil†¦show more content†¦There are three gothic-like aspects to the novel. The first is the character of the General as gothic villain, patriarch and usurper and the Abbey as his gothic residence; the second is the exploration of the dead mother’s bedroom; and the final incident involves Catherine’s expulsion from the Abbey. Both the latter incidents end in very ordinary, anti-climactic ways, in contrast to gothic stories. The narrator also contrasts other ordinary incidents, with how they might have developed in a gothic novel; for example, Catherine’s journey to Bath is accomplished â€Å"with suitable quietness and uneventful safety. Neither robbers nor tempests befriend them, nor one lucky overturn to introduce them to the hero† (Austen, 1933, p19). Many commentators have concluded that Northanger Abbey is a parody of the Gothic genre. Whether or not one agrees with this view depends on the definition of parody that one accepts. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms Literary Theory offers the following relevant defining concepts: â€Å"The imitative use of the words, style attitude, tone and ideas of an author in such a way as to make them ridiculous. †¦ by exaggerating certain traits. †¦its purpose may be corrective as well as derisive.† Austen undoubtedly imitates Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), in substantial passages, as the influence of other contemporary writers also shows through, but she does so with such