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| "Mad Kate" by Henry Fuseli, an artist with whom Wollstonecraft had an affair |
Answer TWO of the following...
1. In Chapter 21, we encounter Austen’s spot-on imitation of a Gothic novel, complete with many of the hallmarks of the genre from works like The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Udolpho. How do we read this chapter in particular—as a parody or a legitimate attempt to conjure up a sense of horror for her readers? Does the tone of a giggling narrator lie behind this, or is Austen allowing herself, audaciously, to write like a Mrs. Radcliffe?
2. How do you feel the Catherine/Henry romance is progressing in these chapters? Is it a dance of mutual respect and admiration, or does he appear more condescending and dominating? Consider the conversation in Chapter 20: is he mocking her Gothic sensibility or using it to woo her more effectively? In other words, does he want to correct her taste or share it with her?
3. Do you think Austen is more critical toward the women in the book than the men? Consider the portrait of Isabella that emerges in Chapter 18, when Isabella remarks, “A little harmless flirtation or so will occur, and one is often drawn on to give more encouragement than one wishes to stand by...What one means one day, you know, one might not mean the next. Circumstances change, opinions alter” (138). Why might Austen have more of a bone to pick with her own sex?
4. Consider the passage in Chapter 22 when Henry is praising Catherine’s love for a hyacinth: “And though the love of a hyacinth may be rather domestic, who can tell, the sentiment once raised, but you may in time come to love a rose?” (165). What is he trying to teach Catherine here, or perhaps, what is he hoping she has learned to appreciate/admire in this chapter?
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