Sunday, June 29, 2014

Relationship Spotlight: Henry Tilney & Catherine Morland (Northanger Abbey)

 
Lizzie/Darcy is of course the heavy-hitter, and I’ll admit particular fondness for popular pairings Anne/Wentworth and Emma/Knightley.  However, when it comes right down to it, gun to my head, if I had to pick a favorite Jane Austen couple, it’d be this fun duo without a doubt.
 
Off the bat, I’ll confess that these two don’t provide as much dramatic fodder as your Lizzies & Darcys and the other couples listed above.  They don’t get intp brutal arguments simmering with buried passion and there are no knockout declarations like Capt. Wentworth’s gorgeous letter to Anne.  Similarly, there’s no fabulous wealth for anyone to come into.  Catherine is one of ten children of a country vicar, and though Henry comes from a very well-to-do family, he’s a second son and will need to make his own way in the world.  And to top it off, they’re not even that luscious!  Austen describes Catherine as “almost pretty” and Henry as “very near to” handsome.
 
So why do I like them so much?  For this very simple reason:  they go together so well.  From the moment Catherine meets Henry, even though he’s far more used to Bath society than she is, he makes it clear that they don’t have to worry about it.  Rather than insisting upon the expected social conventions, he makes light of them, conducting small talk in an arch and ridiculous manner before assuring Catherine that it’s over and they “may be rational again.”  His irony nicely complements her earnestness, and she’s sweet enough to round out his more satiric moments.
 
Throughout the book, we see the shared interests between the two.  At first, Catherine is a little sheepish about her love of novels – in Austen’s day, “novels” were distinct from “literature,” considered cheap thrills mostly intended for silly girls – but soon discovers that Henry likes a good, sensational yarn just as much as she does, and they enjoy discussing stories they’ve both read.  Henry and his sister Eleanor, avid drawers, help Catherine develop her artistic eye, and when Catherine visits the Tilney’s at Northanger Abbey, their time is spent going on walks and rides and playing games together.  With so many fictional couples, I can be at a loss as to what they actually talk about or do for fun (ahem! Leonard and Penny ahem!,) but with Catherine and Henry, I don’t have to wonder.
 
Speaking of Eleanor, I also like that it’s not this all-consuming connection that blots out everything else.  Though it’s clear from the start that Catherine has a pretty massive crush on Henry, she gets to be very good friends with Eleanor as well.  When the three of them hang out together, Eleanor isn’t painted as the second fiddle, and when it’s just the two girls, there’s no sense that Catherine is dissatisfied and would rather be with Henry.  Plus, Henry’s affectionate relationship with his sister mirror’s Catherine’s own with her brother James. 
 
In short, they seem like a couple that would truly “work.”  You can talk all day about chemistry and spark and excitement, and I’m not saying those things don’t merit consideration, but in the end, a couple needs to get along.  They need to make each other happy, they need to enjoy one another’s company, and they need things they like doing together.  If not, what’s the point?

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