Northanger Abbey is one of the feminist works of Jane Austin’s, many thesis will focus on the gothic and the heroes Catherine. However, there have some writers focus on the feminist color in Northanger Abbey. When it occurs to education, literary critics such as Liu Minxia, Dang Meili talked about the education in Northanger Abbey, they agree that women education is the major theme in this novel, because of education, Catherine meets Henry and Henry helps Catherine separate from the imagination. Marriage is another topic in this novel; Cynthia Femano talked about the relationship between Catherine and Henry in his thesis. He analysis the characteristics of them and he think “Henry is captivated by the vulnerability and innocence of the young Catherine”. He Chaoyang, another literary critic, concentrates on the feminine point, in his essay, he describes that Austin explores life of society and process of history and reveals her feminine consciousness, progressive marriage concept and profound implication through a vivid and realistic description of marriage and family life. 来.自/751论|文-网www.751com.cn/
From articles written by literary critics, we can see education and marriage is the epitome of patriarchal society. The analysis of patriarchal society and characters would alert the readers’ interpretation of the novel and Jane Austen and prompt readers to contemplate Austen’s feminism stance: One is not born to be feminine but social conventions combined with literary tradition construct femininity