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Catherine Morland may not have been “born to be an heroine” (5), but the moral lessons to which she is exposed throughout Northanger Abbey provide us with a guide to life that is as relevant today as it was in Jane Austen’s time. Through the characters that Catherine gets to know, Austen gives us examples of both virtuous and dishonorable behaviors reflecting the moral philosophy of the Enlightenment. In this way, Austen both illustrates and extends Enlightenment thought in Northanger Abbey.
Jane Austen’s link to Enlightenment thought has been well documented. Peter Knox-Shaw cites Sir Zachary Cope, who notes that Austen’s letter of 7–9 October 1808 to her sister, Cassandra, mentions their brother Edward’s gift to her of Moral Tales. Cope—as well as Deirdre Le Faye (Austen, Letters 404) and Irene Collins (27–28)—interprets this book to be A Father’s Instructions: Tales, Fables, and Reflections, by Thomas Percival. Cope infers that, while Austen probably enjoyed the tales, she may have also been influenced by the preface in which Percival outlines the three purposes of the book: “Firstly, to inspire the young with a love of moral excellence; secondly, to awaken curiosity and to convey in a lively manner knowledge of the works of God; and, thirdly, to promote more early acquaintance with the use of words and ideas” (qtd. in Cope 55). The influence of the Enlightenment on Austen is also evidenced by her reference in Northanger Abbey to figures such as David Hume and William Robertson, whom Eleanor Tilney highly regards (110).
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A growing body of scholarship has noted similarities between the works of Jane Austen and Adam Smith, a thinker of the Scottish Enlightenment. Karen Valihora has provided extensive analysis of the presence of Smith’s impartial spectator in Austen’s works. Elaine Bander further explores the “internal moral guide” present in Austen’s heroines (84). Both Kenneth L. Moler and Mary Beth Tegan examine the similarity of Austen’s and Smith’s views on vanity. Austen’s vain characters serve as examples of Smith’s depiction of vanity and the ways it differs from the vice of pride. Elsie B. Michie provides an analysis of how Austen and Smith add to the debate about wealth and virtue. Michie explains that while Smith argued...