Much perplexity

PERPLEXITY

To compose a letter which might at once do justice to her sentiments and her situation, convey gratitude without servile regret, be guarded without coldness, and honest without resentment – a letter which Eleanor might not be pained by the perusal of – and, above all, which she might not blush herself, if Henry should chance to see, was an undertaking to frighten away all her powers of performance; and, after long thought and much perplexity, to be very brief was all that she could determine on with any confidence of safety.The Narrator on Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey, Chapter 29

By chapter 29, our young heroine Catherine Morland has suddenly become a sage philosopher, wisely adapting the less-is-more dictum! Clever girl. Can one surmise that after returning to the quaint and populated charm of her parents home, she is missing those vacuous rooms of Northanger Abbey? No, quite the opposite. Her enlightened brevity comes from her anxiety and embarrassment after her abrupt departure.

I can sympathize with Catherine’s tangled perplexity. Invited to the stately home of the family of the man she admires, ignored, and then abruptly evicted with no explanation. Who would not be perplexed? After such bad treatment, I am amazed that her first concern is to carefully write a letter and return the carriage fair to Eleanor Tilney. She shows great sensitivity and kindness. A true parsons daughter.

Perplexity is a great word to describe Catherine Morland’s tangled feelings, and like-wise so many other readers who happen to find themselves the heroine of a Gothic novel!

Be sure to mark your calenders and set your Tivo’s for 9:00pm on Sunday, January 20th, 2008, cuz PBS is, like totally doing the Jane Austen thing as they present the new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey;  – – in which they describe our heroine Catherine Morland as a romance addict?!? Gee, I thought that she read Gothic novels! Well, it is worth a gander either way!

*Photograph of actress Felicity Jones as romance addicted heroine Catherine Morland, in the new ITV (British import) movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s Gothic parody, Northanger Abbey