Principal Characters

Catherine Morland

"...from fifteen to seventeen she was in training for a heroine... her eyes gained more animation and her figure more consequence. Her love of dirt gave way to an inclination for finery...". To Henry Tilney...she is "superior in good nature to all the rest of the world".

Isabella Thorpe

"...four years older than Miss Morland and at least four years better informed.... the easy gaiety of Miss Thorpe's manners and her frequent expressions of delight on their acquaintance, softened down every feeling of awe... Catherine admired the graceful spirit of her walk, the fashionable air of her figure and dress..." But by the end of the play, Catherine's view has changed. A letter from Isabella is made up of "inconsistencies , contradictions and falsehood... her professions of attachment were now as disgusting as her excuses were empty"..."She is a vain coquette and her tricks have not answered." 

Mrs Allen

"...she had neither beauty, genius, accomplishment nor manner. The air of a gentlewoman, a great deal of quiet, inactive good temper and a trifling turn of mind... dress was her passion..." 

Mrs Thorpe

"...a widow and not a very rich one; she was a good-humoured, well -meaning woman and a very indulgent mother...."

John Thorpe

"...a stout young man of middling height, who, with a plain face and ungraceful uniform, seemed fearful of being too handsome unless he wore the dress of a groom, and too much like a gentleman unless he were easy when he ought to be civil and impudent where he might be allowed to be easy..." 

Henry Tilney

"...about four or five and twenty, rather tall, with a pleasing countenance, a very intelligent and lively eye, and if not quite handsome, was very near it... There was an archness and pleasantry in his manner which interested..." 

General Tilney

"...a very handsome man of a commanding aspect, past the bloom, but not past the vigour of life... and though so charming a man, seemed always a check upon his children's spirits... his discontent at whatever the inn afforded, and his angry impatience with the waiters, made Catherine grow every moment more in awe of him..."

Annette, Montoni, The Count de Vereza
...characters from the works of Mrs Anne Radcliffe (to which Catherine is devoted....). All flamboyant, gothic figures. Villainous or fearful and trembling or dashing and mysterious.

Please direct any questions to: enquiries@northanger-abbey.co.uk