Summary In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

In Jane Austen’s novel, Northanger Abbey, Henry Tilney takes amusement in Catherine Morland’s wide-eyed, easily awed, and often simple nature, which allows him to pridefully exert his witty, biting words over her.
Henry maintains a condescending and witty attitude towards women when speaking to Catherine, continuing to poke fun at the “silly” nature of their behavior compared to his. He expresses himself sharply and often imperiously around both Catherine and his sister, with Catherine not being able to understand him and Eleanor deeming him as a “brute” when it comes to women. When Eleanor requests Henry to make things clear to Catherine and portray himself as more “handsome” and “understanding”, Henry jibes, “Miss Morland, no one can think …show more content…
While Henry speaks hauntingly about the gloomy passageways, frightful stormy nights, and ancient, eerie-looking housekeepers of the abbey he lives in, Catherine listens with a sense of fright but also wide-eyed admiration and interest towards his vivid descriptions. The more Catherine protests against the eerie scenarios, the more Henry is amused and encouraged by her easily led behavior to continue on with his descriptions and impose a sense of fear on her even more. This response to Catherine’s behavior shows that Henry thrives off her easily swayed and wide-eyed reactions towards his exaggerations about what is revealed to be a normal abbey later on, which further expresses his enjoyment of using his skilled wit to impose himself over her. By frightening her with the fanciful and witty tales of the abbey, Henry is amused and satisfied by having a more powerful and greater intellectual influence over the naive Catherine, who is there to eagerly listen and allow the dominant influence of the sharp words coming out of his mouth to tower over