ABSTRACT
In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen dramatises a transformative psychological change in Henry Tilney that is fundamental to his masculine identity and driven by his love for the heroine, Catherine Morland. Reversing the sexual politics of desire and lampooning conduct books such as John Gregory’s Legacy to his Daughters, Austen both satirises conventional courtship through her comic duo and exploits the courtship romance genre to launch a sustained critique of masculinities in sociable and domestic contexts. Targeting the value for display, reputation, and brinkmanship represented by John Thorpe, Captain Tilney, and General Tilney, Austen censures men who prove their masculine status through the performance of sexual hierarchies. Henry ultimately recognises and rejects the deception and danger of masculinity as defined by his father and brother, and embraces instead an individual, internalised, and authentic identity that can complement Catherine’s feminine agency.
