Their conversation turned upon those subjects, of which the free discussion has generally much to do in perfecting a sudden intimacy between two young ladies; such as dress, balls, flirtations, and quizzes.

Isabella will continue to use such hyperbolic language, which in Austen’s novels is consistently a sign of mental vacuity or insincerity.

the approach of a gig,8 driven along on bad pavement by a most knowing-looking coachman9 with all the vehemence that could most fitly endanger the lives of himself, his companion, and his horse.

But Catherine did not know her own advantages—did not know that a good-looking girl, with an affectionate heart and a very ignorant mind, cannot fail of attracting a clever young man, unless circumstances are particularly untoward. In the present instance, she confessed and lamented her want of knowledge; declared that she would give any thing in t

Woodston, it is implied, is where Henry is the incumbent local clergyman. The reason, confirmed later, he can still make Northanger half his home, and spend many weeks in Bath, is that he has a curate, a clergyman hired by the incumbent to perform some or all of the work in the parish. Many clergymen hired curates, in part because the abundance of

The progress of Catherine’s unhappiness from the events of the evening, was as follows. It appeared first in a general dissatisfaction with every body about her, while she remained in the rooms, which speedily brought on considerable weariness and a violent desire to go home. This, on arriving in Pulteney-street, took the direction of extraordinary

Austen displays great skill in creating the sort of tension and excitement found in the genre she is mocking, though the reader’s knowledge that this is all part of a jest inevitably tempers the suspense.

The resolution of the story aptly brings together all the above aspects of the novel. It dramatically resurrects the parody elements, which had faded in the few preceding chapters, through a critical plot twist—the brutal ejection of Catherine by Henry’s father—that is a less extreme but real version of her Gothic fantasies. General Tilney reveals

Mrs. Thorpe displays the same hyperbolic feelings and expressions as her daughter. They are a sign of lack of trustworthiness in Austen’s novels.