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Hello Ellie, are ye the one who wrote that comment that ye cannot stand reading Tolkien's Lord of The Rings; under the video of Janes Austen course, on the channel named Roman Roads Media?? 😂😂😂😂🎉🎉
Great video Ellie !! One of the hilarious and mischievous things that Jane Austen also includes in Northanger Abbey is that Eleanor Tilney *could* be a gothic heroine. She lost her mother, lives with a cruel and threatening father figure, has a love interest from whom she is initially torn and ends up a viscountess ! It’s the perfect story in the background that is just out of focus and that the modern reader will miss but the gothic genra reader will see and think even more on why Catherine Morland is the heroine instead of Eleanor Tilney. It’s genius
Wait, wouldn't that be the logical future fate of a typical, passionate Regency heroine who didn't get her "happy ending" and therefore went mad? In my eyes it's the same character, just with an unfortunate life story...
Im getting my PhD in English with my speciality on Austen. And yes! She was so progressive for her time. If you read Wollstonecrafts vindication of the rights of women, there are many parallels. She promotes women as rational creatures by showing rather than telling which, I argue, allows many many more to pull meaning from her works.
I watched your video with my granddaughter (she’s 6) and she just LOVED your story telling skills 😅. She pretended to faint when you said that not only was the forest haunted but the mansion as well 😱 😂
What I remember best about reading Udolpho about 15 years ago was the bit where the father was dying and he delivered this INTERMINABLE speech of Improving Words to his Best Beloved Daughter and it must've been like 3 hours long and then it was like, "and he was tired after talking that much, so he took a nap" and I was like, I now know how Emily's father died: of exhaustion. // Also the delivery of "and the MANSION isn't haunted either! ...It was PIRATES" just about killed me. Dead. Like Emily's father.
I got into Northhanger Abbey and decided read Udolpho. I ended up taking a trip inspired by Emily’s journey (Val de Garonne, Toulouse, Venice, Apennines, Mediterranean France). The regions and cities were so gorgeous and the landscapes were almost as dramatic as Radcliffe described! It was alot of fun to relive the journey but via modern transport haha. And without the supernatural.
I did like Norhtanger Abbey! When I read it, I was like, "Oh, she's making fun of gothic novels! That's hilarious!" and I really like how all Austen heroines are real girls, unapologetically. They dont' have superpowers, they aren't perfect, and they have real feelings and the other characters in the novels are real, too.
@@HopeTowneSome people are just blessed with that and I feel like it's totally unfair because I can't even come close to being so witty. People like that make me feel dumb
catherine morland is introduced to us as the very antitheses of a gothic heroine--the first word of the novel is even "no." her evolution into being a heroine and the pendulum swing from fantasy to reality is delightful if cringey to follow. catherine baiting herself not just once but twice is every teenage girl whose mother never warned her about falling into fantasy. her ability to rise from the ashes of her destroyed fantasy sober and strong is what to me makes her a heroine. despite her mother's lack of faith in her, catherine proves herself to be as level headed and capable as she is straightforward and warm. no wonder henry tilney grew to love her.
Your description of the Gothic Heroine puts me very much in mind of Anne of Green Gables. It seems like she must have imbibed a LOT of the gothic sensibility from the books she read.
I actually read _The Mysteries of Udolpho_ about 10 - 15 years ago; it was surprisingly engaging! I was already expecting the outdated tropes, the "explained supernatural," etc. I knew what I was getting into. Still, it managed to suck me in and keep me reading. There was a _sincerity_ to it that made it fun. And I was impressed with Radcliffe's landscape descripions...I'll often just skim long descriptions in books, but her prose drew me along, and I honestly enjoyed the word equivalent of sweeping landscape cinematography. After reading Emily's first glimpse of the brooding castle of Udolpho, I remember thinking "No _wonder_ people liked this sort of description back then, people used to know how to do it well!" Just like when I read Dickens, or _The Three Musketeers,_ I learned that "classic" novels were usually bestsellers for good reason. :)
I grant you that the descriptions were beautiful. If it had been just a travelogue, I would have enjoyed it. However, the heroine who was SO MUCH INTO MELANCHOLY that she'd look at a beautiful day over a glorious vista, and imagine something tragic, just to make herself feel melancholy. It drove me up the wall. Not so much a problem with the writing as with the character. I just wanted to shake her and say, "Stop imagining tragedy, just to make yourself miserable. Enjoy the happiness you HAVE!" Then there was the disappearing, reappearing, disappearing, reappearing, disappearing, reappearing, disappearing (yes, I counted) dog. He showed up when he was needed to save the day, and otherwise was nowhere to be found, nor was he even mentioned. His LOVING mistress didn't even think about him, in times of strife and danger, except when he showed up to save her skin. Sorry, but once you've owned a dog, you cannot allow that sort of thinking about a dog. And I'm a cat person! There was a lot of "show, don't tell," which was great! Except when the author decided to tell you that something HORRIFYING had appeared, and everyone who saw it was SOOOOOOO HORRIFIED, and then NEVER telling you what it was. Like "the horrifying sentence" that the man read, right before dying, and nobody ever saw it. Or "what was behind the black veil?" Well, you finally do find out about that, at the end of the book, which is just one big infodump of "tell, don't show," too late. And even though you finally find out what was behind the black veil, along with some other mysteries you've wondered about for hundreds of pages, you NEVER find out about the horrifying sentence. In fact, that horrifying sentence is used to build tension once, or maybe twice, and then never mentioned, again. The rich man and his daughter don't give money to the poor people, but encourage the hero to give up EVERYTHING HE HAS to the poor people, and then wander off, content in his new poverty, and feeling blissfully happy, because he has not yet gotten hungry. They're proud of him for being so generous, and feel proud that they taught him to be so generous, even though THEY didn't do anything, themselves. The poetry. Sure, it's pretty, but it has nothing to do with the story, and it's always so very, VERY, melancholy. In fact, it's usually the teenage girl, imagining some troubles to be melancholy about, and then writing melancholy poetry, so she can immortalize the feeling of melancholy. Ludovico BRAVELY locks his lover into a room, so that "she'll be safe," while he goes off to fight. Not considering, AT ALL, what will happen to her, if he dies in the fight. She'll be stuck in the room, slowly starving to death? NO PROBLEM! At least the bad men who broke into the castle won't be able to get to her! I mean, it's not as if they can... I don't know, BREAK DOWN THE DOOR or anything? Well, SHE cannot break down the door, so that makes her safe? And he TAKES THE KEY WITH HIM. Why not give her the key, and tell her to lock the doors, and not open them until he gives her the signal? And if three days pass without him coming for her, then she can escape and take her chances, and find some food. Or leave the castle, entirely. But, no. He thinks she's too stupid to keep the door locked, herself, so he locks her in and takes the key with him. Then, of course, in order to free HER, they have to rescue HIM. All because he's a brave man, and she's just a stupid woman, who can't possibly handle a key, by herself. And she's HAPPY about being treated that way?! The descriptions WERE beautiful. However, I wanted to get to the STORY. As I said, if this were a travelogue, I would have enjoyed reading hundreds of pages of beautiful descriptions, imagining the views of this land or that. But it was touted to be an amazing STORY, with intrigue and horror and drama and conflict. And in all the 600 pages of it, I think about 100 were actual story. The rest were descriptions of landscapes, melancholy poems about imaginary people who have nothing to do with the story, but were just conjured up in head of a teenage heroine who, despite facing ACTUAL conflict, decided she wasn't sad enough, and had to conjure up imaginary heroes and heroines to be victims of imaginary conflict, or just bad weather, and THEIR sufferings and THEIR deaths, that had NOTHING TO DO WITH HER OWN ACTUAL DRAMA. If she had written the melancholy poems about her OWN sadness and her OWN conflict and her OWN drama, I would have enjoyed it. But the melancholy poems were so darned POINTLESS. And honestly, at times, I cared more about her imaginary heroes and victims (I mean, heroines), than I did about her and her companions. So, yeah. I did NOT like The Mysteries of Udolpho. It has been more than a decade since I read it, and I am STILL salty about the dog. It should have been there with her, the whole time, or off doing its own thing, while she wondered where it was, and worried about it. But, instead, it showed up when she needed it, and when she didn't need it, IT WAS NOT EVEN MENTIONED. No explanation of HOW it got to be back with her, after she had changed locations, WITHOUT THE DOG. Suddenly, the dog just appeared by her side, because in that moment she needed a dog. But not once, while traveling without the dog, did she wonder where it was, or how it would find her, or if it were even alive, due to the fact that they were surrounded by danger. And I was extremely displeased with her father, when I found out about "the horrifying sentence," and the way he treated his daughter, in relation to that horrifying sentence. It's been a decade, and I don't remember details. I just remember that, at the time, I was LIVID with her father about that sentence. And after slogging through 600 pages, we finally got an info dump, that was too much, too late, and MUCH too fast. About 200 pages worth of information, all crammed into five, it seemed. And all presented as, "Someone died, but before she died, she told the story of this stuff that affected the whole story that these other people were experiencing for 600 pages." So, it was a fast infodump of HEARSAY about what some dying person we had never met before had to say about people who were, by this time in the story, already dead. All that "show, don't tell" replaced with, "I am going to tell you more than your brain can handle, without any visuals, at all, over the course of five minutes." And then, it ended, without answering all the questions. But I grant you, the descriptions were, indeed, quite wonderful. I can see why travel diaries were so popular, at the time. Someone who could really describe the beauties of the world, in a way that makes you feel as if you were there, was a true blessing in a day when travel, itself, was so difficult and expensive, and the vast majority of people would never get to do it, or if they did travel, it was very limited. In the Bridgerton novels, Colin writes journals, during his Grand Tour, and he writes them so well that people want to read them, just to share the experience of "the water of this ocean was the same temperature as a 30-minute old bath." He made them FEEL, as well as picture the scene. Even video can't do that. And people LOVE to see other countries, or just see a glorious day in their own homeland. Descriptive prose is important, and most people just don't have the gift for it. Mrs. Radcliffe definitely had the gift for it. Not only could she paint a picture of a landscape or a crumbling castle, but she could describe the rooms, or really any setting. You might think the heroine was a nincompoop, but you felt, rather viscerally, the situation in which the nincompoop found herself, because it was so well described. And the poetry was good. If it had ANYTHING to do with the story... Ah, well. So, let's just agree to disagree about The Mysteries of Udolpho being a good read, OK?
Don’t get me started on the three musketeers! The cavalier attitude they had in everything was my biggest pet peeve with that story! Also, the latent misogyny was so annoying and I am a conservative dude often accused of hating women! Those musketeers were absolute cads! And so selfish, whenever they helped anyone, they would think only of themselves and how well they’ll look and the disregard for Christian values was jarring in a time in which this was the norm! Argh! 😠 Although, I guess it is a classic because many of the common tropes found in historical fiction can be seen there for the first time, but still. So annoying.
@@victor382 - What actually weirded _me_ out in _The Three Musketeers_ was the attitude toward _servants._ When I read the book, I was just out of high school, and I rather expected the sexism (the casual attitude toward extra-marital affairs did surprise me...but, as I recall, I just wrote it off to "it's because they're French." 😅 ). But the way servants were portrayed was a real shock. I recall that the narrator wrote that a Musketeer's servant secretly respected his master _more_ after he was beaten(!?!) Mind you, I grew up when hitting kids was standard parenting - back then, I thought of corporal punishment as unpleasant, but "sometimes necessary" for particularly headstrong kids.(🙄) But I never fooled myself into thinking it could inspire "respect." I experienced it, and saw it happen to my sibling and cousins, so I had no such illusions. The realization that people actually once thought that it was possible for any human being, especially an _adult_ human being, to respect (rather than resent) someone who beat them...well, that genuinely shocked the hell out of me.
@@ShinyAvalon I’ll never forgive D’Artagnan for assaulting Milady De Winter, and yes, I know she is a terrible character that was murdering people right and left, scamming, and defrauding and lying, but just because she is a menace and a sociopath that doesn’t make it right for him to assault her! WTF??? 🤯 I’ll never forgive Aramis for guilt tripping and forcing D’Artagnan into selling the ring he got from the Queen so they could continue their life of debauchery. I’ll never forgive Arthos for being a cop out and running after some skirt after he said he was going to become a priest and then trash talk his previous priest friends for being crazy zealots or whatever. And Porthos is just meh. Eff him, he is a clown. And I’ll never forgive alexandre Dumas for writing this mess. Argh. 😠
@@victor382 - Wow it _has_ been a long time since I read it...I don't remember any of that stuff. The main things I remember was thinking "Okay, the first half is what all the movies are based on...and the second half is this tense psychological thriller about about a sociopathic woman bamboozling a naive young religious guard." I was thinking of re-reading it, but...maybe not. 😨
Awww! ☺️✨ Teachers around the world would be faced with a sudden epidemic of wondering, “What insane version of a cliff note did this student base their paper off?” 😂
One can at least combine reviews &! summaries by different writers besides Cliff Notes there are/we’re we’re others like Monarch Notes, Wikipedia summaries,? library reference books series called (various) Contemporary, 19th fCentury,?etc. several series in some public & college/university libraries. by authors (& books?). Good luck!
I also think that Jane Austen, a person who was so preoccupied with proper behaviour, must have been horrified about the romantic/ gothic elements bleeding into real life and becoming normalised. One of her era's biggest celebrities was George Byron and one of the biggest scandals was his tumultuous (and imo ridiculous) affair with Caroline Lamb. Byron was absolutely awful, but there were many young girls who thought of him as the ideal lover because of his apparent sensibility. He was overdramatic, attention-seeking, and abusing his title, all the things that Austen often derided. Gothic heroines might have been fun in novels, but some girls irl could have been in danger if they had wholeheartedly believed all the nonsense about guys like Byron.
Jane Austen has so many lessons for us today which run completely counter to current beliefs. No one is taught to regulate their emotions and get a hold of themselves rather than letting it all hang out. No one feels that sometimes it's just good manners not to emote all over others; we're actively encouraged to feel our feels. No one is encouraged to be stoic in the face of disappointment or distress, to be moderate in our reactions or polite and considerate in our dealings with others. One of her main lessons for me is how protective of one's own feelings a shield of good manners can be. Self control, good manners, modesty coupled with (justified) self confidence and basically not emoting all over other people is such a good and peaceful way to live. Yes, OK, I exaggerate, but there's a fine balance between 'being genuine' and being a messy, obnoxious, selfish pain in the backside.
Yes! I always felt that Marianne from Sense and Sensibility was rather selfish in her actions. I understand she was young and so felt that concealing her emotions meant that they werent real, but her actions affected her sisters. She risked their reputations and their standing, not to mention her health, all so she could be " a proper heroine" and "genuine". I always felt more in line with Elinor and how she was sensible, even when she was in love.
I just watched a delightful film called 'Love and Jane.' It's Hallmark, so not big budget, but they must have someone new on their team who is really inspired by Austen, as this is the third one this year with Austen themes! Anyway, the heroine wishes Jane could advise her on her love and social life - and so she arrives like a fairy godmother from the past. And as your post points out, a big part of Jane's reorganisation of our heroine's life is leaning manners and WHY they are so important, and actually getting a grip on how she feels instead of just 'feeling'. I think you might like the film. But be warned - the romance angle was kind of overshadowed and less developed because the real focus was on the heroine's relationship with JA. I absolutely loved it though.
@@jaimicottrill2831I always loved Elinor. She was so brave as well as sensible - I was always intrigued that it was HER who took Willoughby to task for what he did to Marianne.
It's so natural for girls, ladies, women to be so caught up in their favorite character. For example, I love Anne Shirley/Blythe so much; I dyed my hair red! I loved to play matchmaker like Emma🙂
I think the Thorpes warrant a whole video themselves. There's still a chance of Catherine getting that spooky abbey if Capt. Tilney follows his apparent trajectory.
I'd like to see that, too! I don't think of their marriage exactly as on the rebound - though it's close to the end of her relationship with Willoughby in number of pages, we are told that it builds gradually over time, and they've even been married a while before Marianne truly gives her heart to Col Brandon. It is, in fact, something of an arranged marriage, in that Elinor and her mother seem to be the prime movers. It would be a fascinating topic for a video!
Their relationship always felt gross to me. For me personally I have never had feelings "grow ". I either am immediately attracted to a person, or it never happens. I think she didn't have any other options. They had no money. No other suitors either
@@rachelbachel2I think the point of 'Sense and Sensibility' is that feelings are not all that matters. Scientifically attraction usually occurs in the first four minutes, but attraction is not love. Love can grow from attraction, but also from respect or friendship. A startlingly high number of married couples are no longer 'attracted' to each other, but still in love because their bond is deeper than mere feelings. Colonel Brandon would have done anything for Marianne and always saw the best in her. That's a much better foundation for a healthy relationship than a hot guy who is neglectful, abusive, or cheating like Willoughby.
@@cmm5542 Also, demi-romantic and demi-sexual people exist. For us, starting to feel attraction *requires* knowing a person well enough (and often also trusting them as a friend).
@@EllieDashwood 😂 luckily, you are so pretty that you can rock anyrhing. And black suits you well. You should try a look with long black gloves, it would suit you really well 🙂
I love your summary of Udolpho. It is so funny and yet so accurate. The book was definitively different from all the classics I've read before but to my own surprise, it wasn’t difficult (just longer than my usual reads) and I liked it a lot and I'm very happy I've read it. I wish I had before reading ”Northanger Abbey” though but at last, I can now spot when it has inspired or when it’s referenced in more recent novels... But everything is right even like that, because it’s Jane Austen who made me want to read it to begin with ! But from now on, I’ll describe the novel as ”Scooby Doo” because it’s chief kiss parallel.
My favorite part of the novel showing how different Catherine was from the typical gothic heroine is the scene where she sees Henry upon his return to Bath and immediately assumes the “fashionable and pleasing-looking young woman, who leant on his arm” was his sister; “thus unthinkingly throwing away a fair opportunity of considering him lost to her forever, by being married already.” I just love the picture that paints. I also feel like it contrasts Isabella, who (much like Marianne Dashwood) revels in her sensibility and over the top (but not artless) emotions. Isabella seems much more likely to be a heroine but this aesthetic
I also love that bit. It's also such a point on how nothing really changed - in modern rom-coms the conflict half the time is from the 'heroine' mistaking a sister or a friend for the love interest already having a girlfriend! Or thinking his wife must still be alive because he has s kid - I mean, that would be the first thing I'd ask!
I tried reading 'Udolfo' a few years ago but quit when she moved to France with her aunt. I knew the story would be over the top but her sensibilities wore me down and I couldn't justify wasting more time reading it :)
I couldn't make it to the exciting part - I don't usually mind slow beginnings in novels, but I didn't have the time to devote. I will try again after I finish Ivanhoe.
Perfect timing! I just started Northanger Abbey for the first time this week! So shameful confession time: I LOVE the Regency (and Georgian period). I LOVE the fashion, the politics, British landscape architecture, and romantic sensibilities. I LOVE Ellie Dashwood--I have been a fan of this channel since 2020. And I had not read a Jane Austin novel until last week (Sense and Sensibility). You should had played up how hilarious it is. As to the qualifications to be a heroine--I'm almost 75% of the way there. I have such a good understanding of the picturesque I hire a hermit to inhabit my Capability Brown landscape during parties! And I'm an emotional wreck.
I've often heard that French landscaping traditionally was very regimented and geometric, while English landscaping was more random and wilderness inspired.
It strikes me so odd that Marianne thought she had to be unable to sleep, due to being upset. When my father died, all I wanted to do was sleep. My grief innervated me. Plus, I wanted the escape of dreams. There is no one right way to feel feelings. However, Elinor's example shows us that, while there is no one right way to feel feelings, there most certainly is a kind and generous way to feel the feelings, by governing them, and not allowing YOUR feelings to become OTHER people's problems. If you feel the need to weep and wail, do it quietly, so you don't keep everyone else up. Stuff a towel in your mouth, so you can do your primal screaming, without anyone else know. Or just use your words to say, "I feel sad," without making everyone else uncomfortable at your sadness. Elinor HAD sensibility. She felt all the feels. She just governed her BEHAVIOR, while feeling the feels.
When I read Northanger Abbey for the second time a few years ago, it struck me how relevant to the aesthetic and influencer-dominated modern day it was. Now, listening to you break it down, I can see how bits and pieces pop up all over Jane Austen’s novels. I probably would have been the Charlotte or Elizabeth… the daughter trying to at least think things through. Set in this context of who is a heroine and what is a good outcome for a young lady at the time, Lizzie and Charlotte’s conversations are understatedly epic.
I've been watching your videos for years, but I think this video is my new favourite. Excellent analysis! I'm so impressed by your breakdown of the gothic heroine and how Austen critiques it in her novels. Northanger Abbey is the only one of Austen's six main novels that I haven't read yet, but now I really want to, thanks to your video!
This video might be one of my favorites! Ellie has a great sense of humor. I loved her summary of TMOU. Also, I always come away feeling like I have learned so much; she has an amazing ability to frame the bigger picture, explain the themes, and give social context that is so important for understanding the stories. I just love these videos and this channel so much!
Long-form videos on both channels today? We're being spoiled. I'm looking forward the lifestyle video after this. Hi kitties in the background! Jane Austen would have a field day if she were alive today with all of the people who are guided by their emotions while ignoring reality. Very interesting video as always.
Your description of 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' was hilarious! Pure gold, imo. Austens messages are timeless and are ever so important as entertaining as back when they were published. Cudos for your research, planning and editing ❤
Thank you for this new video Ellie! I love how Austen’s messages are still so relevant today. 😊 (PS: I guess the only way I would qualify as a heroine would be due to my appreciation of the picturesque and emotional nature. 😄 I am a little romantic at heart.)
I have to say, I was NOT expecting a Scooby reference in one of your videos! Having said that, Zombie Island is a near-perfect example of a gothic aesthetic.
I'm so glad Jane Austen dedicated her works to showing girls thevalue of being a heroine in your own, everyday life... but also I have to read the Mysteries of Udolpho, and pretend I'm living in a gothic castle.
That was an in-depth look at the concept of being a heroine, and I have to admit, I never really thought about several of the characters in the way you described them in this video. You've opened my eyes somewhat and made me reconsider Jane Autin's ideas and motivations in her stories. Excellent Job.
The Scooby Doo example! I'm dying! 🤣🤣🤣 When I first read Austen's books, as a teenager, I probably was pretty close to a Gothic heroine. No mas! Lol. Thanks for reading this book for us. I tried as an Austen fan and it was just too Harlequin Romance for me!
There is basically no spoilers in the spoiler of Mysteries of Udolpho, I just finished the book, and yeah it’s a lot, but Ellie left out all the good stuff! 😂
Thank you so much for addressing sensibility at least a little. I’d really love to see a whole video on what specifically did the Sensibility and Sense of Sense & Sensibility actually mean back then. Or even a whole series on terms/concepts that are deceptively similar to modern words but did not mean quite what we might now imagine as modern readers back in Austen’s time.
Take it like "sensitivity" essentially. When someone is described as being "very sensitive" it's assumed they feel things very deeply and immediately and sometimes irrationally. They can't control their emotions or how they emote at others.
I was always fond of Catherine Morland. She starts out so young and naive, and really struggles to mature and learn how the real world works. In the end, she figures things out and has a happy, if less dramatic, life.
This was so well done! Especially the last part about what Jane Austen was saying, that Catherine though she may not have these made up ideas of what a heroine should be that she is still worthy of having a book all about her.❤Thank you!🌺☕🥐
I loved your summary of the Mysteries of Udolpho, I read the book many years ago because of Northanger Abbey. I always really enjoy your analysis of Jane Austen as it always makes me think deeper about her novels.
Emma Corrin reads out a letter by Jane Austen (basically her Letterboxd review) and it is one of the most hilarious things written. And Miss Austen was 13 btw
off topic but I absolutely adore your content. I'm a writer where most of my stories take place in the 19th century, and I'm a history major so you're channel is a GEM ✨️
WOW! This is one of your best literary analyses yet!! I never noticed mariannes affect sensisbility until you pointed it out in comparison to others!! I love this work, i feel like I am back in high school english in the best way possible!!! Thank you so much for sharing your take!!!
Skipped the first nine minutes to avoid spoilers, but the rest of the video is so good. I read NA eight years ago and almost forgot how profound it was, definitely need to revisit. Thank you.
Really enjoyed this video and i particularly liked the end where you shared the idea of Anyone can be worthy of being a heroine. And that we often today and back then will compare our selves to much
I first heard about "Udolpho" from Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women", which was set during and after the American Civil War. In the 1860s, that thing had some staying power.
Northanger is a love letter. To writers, young readers, the romantic. Your video is a love letter to Austen and Radcliffe and your viewers and this one loves you right back. After your Scooby Doo reference I was thinking the early Nancy Drews were like that with whispering statues and supernatural stuff that was explained. Tho nothing beats a water monster played by a fisherman or shall I use the gender neutral fisher, cause who says women can't both fish and impersonate an aquatic dinosaur as well as the next person. My love to you all in this awesome community this International Women's Day. Sweet dreams. 👻 👾 🦕
this is very interesting. i find myself doing that emotional thing often. like "I'm not being sad romantically enough" and constantly trying to live like I'm a character someone is observing. it's so bizzare.
I'm thoroughly impressed by Ellie's knowledge, preparation, and delivery, and I'm very glad to have learned so much about the literature I love from such a gifted and entertaining teacher! Thank you!!
Loved your presentation and comparison of books. Never really thought about the messages hidden in Austin's novels. Please continue with more great stories that make me think.
Though it was a bit of a slog for a modern reader, I quite liked Mysteries of Udolpho. Radcliffe's imagination in her detailed descriptions of places where she had actually never been was really wonderful. Once though, I amused my husband by describing Radcliffe's natural explanations of seemingly supernatural events by comparing it to er, Scooby Doo, where the kids discover that seemingly supernatural events have rational - if often sinister - causes (sorry Ann Radcliffe, but it was an analogy that worked at the time....) You did a great job giving a summary of the book also. (oh my, next time I must make my comment after watching the whole video - as you make the same observation!)
Great video as always. Really funny, especially the parts about Udolpho. I tried to read that book twice and failed. Maybe the third time is the charm. Love Northanger Abbey - due for a reread.
I love your analysis! There is so much depth to Jane Austen's writing and I love delving into it. Sadly, I am bad at literary analysis, but happily, you are so skilled at it. I read Northanger Abbey when need comedy/ trans-embarrassment .
I’m always amazed by your ability to draw parallels between Austen’s works and the contemporary literature, ideas, and historical context that inspired her. I’m so happy to come out of the end of all of your videos having greatly increased my knowledge and also a book added to my reading list! Thanks for the video!
This was an excellent and informative video! One of my favorite books of all time is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and Mrs. Radcliffe is referenced a few times within it. Until now, I’d never properly understood the reference.
I love all of your classic lit deep dives, but I must admit I look forward to your Northanger Abbey deep dives the most (cos it's my fave Austen novel and my second fave book overall.) Also, I must say I giggled so hard at the Scooby Doo mention because, when I first started reading Gothic literature when I was 12 and was explaining the prevalent tropes and themes to my dad, he was just like, "Of course you like it. It's just an adult Scooby Doo!" (I am a lifelong SD fangirl and still watch it at age 36.) Loved the analysis and the focus on my main girl Catherine, who gets so much dirt thrown on her by casual readers of the novel. My girl is just trying her best! Question: have you ever read the 7 "horrid novels" in NA? I've read 4 of them and am curious what other readers of traditional Gothic literature make of them.
Ellie I feel like your style of speaking and explaining has gotten even better recently! I really love all your speaking points particularly in the video. Funny, yet chill, and still informative!
To be honest, I have many of the emotional characteristics of a Regency Heroine, and let me tell you, it's not an easy life. Being calmer and more sensible is enviable.💛
wow I love this video 😍 The whole discussion of aesthetics- so relatable to modern interests! going to get The Mysteries of Udolpho from the library tomorrow, then maybe I will enjoy Northanger Abbey more on the second reading.
I know it's not really to modern reader's tastes but, if you can kind of push past the Mary-Sue-ness of the MC, Mysteries of Udolpho is really quite entertaining. Personally, though, I like Romance of the Forest even more.
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Hello Ellie, are ye the one who wrote that comment that ye cannot stand reading Tolkien's Lord of The Rings; under the video of Janes Austen course, on the channel named Roman Roads Media?? 😂😂😂😂🎉🎉
Great video Ellie !! One of the hilarious and mischievous things that Jane Austen also includes in Northanger Abbey is that Eleanor Tilney *could* be a gothic heroine. She lost her mother, lives with a cruel and threatening father figure, has a love interest from whom she is initially torn and ends up a viscountess ! It’s the perfect story in the background that is just out of focus and that the modern reader will miss but the gothic genra reader will see and think even more on why Catherine Morland is the heroine instead of Eleanor Tilney. It’s genius
Oh to be an insane nun escaping at night and making music in the woods
She was living the life. 🔥
Wait, wouldn't that be the logical future fate of a typical, passionate Regency heroine who didn't get her "happy ending" and therefore went mad?
In my eyes it's the same character, just with an unfortunate life story...
Jane Austen was so incredible and forward thinking. I get mad when her work is judged according to today's feminist ideas and seen as lacking.
That’s such a good point! Her awesomeness is just beyond them.
I prefer judging her on today's knowledge of psychology and finding her outstanding.
Ellie, you are amazing. You need to write a screenplay for a 2024 Northanger Abbey.
Im getting my PhD in English with my speciality on Austen. And yes! She was so progressive for her time. If you read Wollstonecrafts vindication of the rights of women, there are many parallels. She promotes women as rational creatures by showing rather than telling which, I argue, allows many many more to pull meaning from her works.
There is evidence in various videos, etc.!that shows that Aisne Austen was sympathetic to leading English feminist thinker
Mary Wollstonecraft.
I watched your video with my granddaughter (she’s 6) and she just LOVED your story telling skills 😅. She pretended to faint when you said that not only was the forest haunted but the mansion as well 😱 😂
What I remember best about reading Udolpho about 15 years ago was the bit where the father was dying and he delivered this INTERMINABLE speech of Improving Words to his Best Beloved Daughter and it must've been like 3 hours long and then it was like, "and he was tired after talking that much, so he took a nap" and I was like, I now know how Emily's father died: of exhaustion. // Also the delivery of "and the MANSION isn't haunted either! ...It was PIRATES" just about killed me. Dead. Like Emily's father.
I got into Northhanger Abbey and decided read Udolpho. I ended up taking a trip inspired by Emily’s journey (Val de Garonne, Toulouse, Venice, Apennines, Mediterranean France). The regions and cities were so gorgeous and the landscapes were almost as dramatic as Radcliffe described! It was alot of fun to relive the journey but via modern transport haha. And without the supernatural.
The more I learn about Jane Austen and the depth of her writings, the more I love her!
Same!!!
I did like Norhtanger Abbey! When I read it, I was like, "Oh, she's making fun of gothic novels! That's hilarious!" and I really like how all Austen heroines are real girls, unapologetically. They dont' have superpowers, they aren't perfect, and they have real feelings and the other characters in the novels are real, too.
Are you sure Elizabeth Bennet doesn't have superpowers? She's like a ninja superhero with witty comebacks.
@@HopeTowneSome people are just blessed with that and I feel like it's totally unfair because I can't even come close to being so witty. People like that make me feel dumb
catherine morland is introduced to us as the very antitheses of a gothic heroine--the first word of the novel is even "no." her evolution into being a heroine and the pendulum swing from fantasy to reality is delightful if cringey to follow. catherine baiting herself not just once but twice is every teenage girl whose mother never warned her about falling into fantasy. her ability to rise from the ashes of her destroyed fantasy sober and strong is what to me makes her a heroine. despite her mother's lack of faith in her, catherine proves herself to be as level headed and capable as she is straightforward and warm. no wonder henry tilney grew to love her.
Your description of the Gothic Heroine puts me very much in mind of Anne of Green Gables. It seems like she must have imbibed a LOT of the gothic sensibility from the books she read.
And driven the impeccable Marilla Cuthbert to distraction…I love that series ❤️
I actually read _The Mysteries of Udolpho_ about 10 - 15 years ago; it was surprisingly engaging! I was already expecting the outdated tropes, the "explained supernatural," etc. I knew what I was getting into. Still, it managed to suck me in and keep me reading. There was a _sincerity_ to it that made it fun. And I was impressed with Radcliffe's landscape descripions...I'll often just skim long descriptions in books, but her prose drew me along, and I honestly enjoyed the word equivalent of sweeping landscape cinematography. After reading Emily's first glimpse of the brooding castle of Udolpho, I remember thinking "No _wonder_ people liked this sort of description back then, people used to know how to do it well!" Just like when I read Dickens, or _The Three Musketeers,_ I learned that "classic" novels were usually bestsellers for good reason. :)
I grant you that the descriptions were beautiful. If it had been just a travelogue, I would have enjoyed it.
However, the heroine who was SO MUCH INTO MELANCHOLY that she'd look at a beautiful day over a glorious vista, and imagine something tragic, just to make herself feel melancholy. It drove me up the wall. Not so much a problem with the writing as with the character. I just wanted to shake her and say, "Stop imagining tragedy, just to make yourself miserable. Enjoy the happiness you HAVE!"
Then there was the disappearing, reappearing, disappearing, reappearing, disappearing, reappearing, disappearing (yes, I counted) dog. He showed up when he was needed to save the day, and otherwise was nowhere to be found, nor was he even mentioned. His LOVING mistress didn't even think about him, in times of strife and danger, except when he showed up to save her skin. Sorry, but once you've owned a dog, you cannot allow that sort of thinking about a dog. And I'm a cat person!
There was a lot of "show, don't tell," which was great! Except when the author decided to tell you that something HORRIFYING had appeared, and everyone who saw it was SOOOOOOO HORRIFIED, and then NEVER telling you what it was. Like "the horrifying sentence" that the man read, right before dying, and nobody ever saw it. Or "what was behind the black veil?" Well, you finally do find out about that, at the end of the book, which is just one big infodump of "tell, don't show," too late. And even though you finally find out what was behind the black veil, along with some other mysteries you've wondered about for hundreds of pages, you NEVER find out about the horrifying sentence. In fact, that horrifying sentence is used to build tension once, or maybe twice, and then never mentioned, again.
The rich man and his daughter don't give money to the poor people, but encourage the hero to give up EVERYTHING HE HAS to the poor people, and then wander off, content in his new poverty, and feeling blissfully happy, because he has not yet gotten hungry. They're proud of him for being so generous, and feel proud that they taught him to be so generous, even though THEY didn't do anything, themselves.
The poetry. Sure, it's pretty, but it has nothing to do with the story, and it's always so very, VERY, melancholy. In fact, it's usually the teenage girl, imagining some troubles to be melancholy about, and then writing melancholy poetry, so she can immortalize the feeling of melancholy.
Ludovico BRAVELY locks his lover into a room, so that "she'll be safe," while he goes off to fight. Not considering, AT ALL, what will happen to her, if he dies in the fight. She'll be stuck in the room, slowly starving to death? NO PROBLEM! At least the bad men who broke into the castle won't be able to get to her! I mean, it's not as if they can... I don't know, BREAK DOWN THE DOOR or anything? Well, SHE cannot break down the door, so that makes her safe? And he TAKES THE KEY WITH HIM. Why not give her the key, and tell her to lock the doors, and not open them until he gives her the signal? And if three days pass without him coming for her, then she can escape and take her chances, and find some food. Or leave the castle, entirely. But, no. He thinks she's too stupid to keep the door locked, herself, so he locks her in and takes the key with him. Then, of course, in order to free HER, they have to rescue HIM. All because he's a brave man, and she's just a stupid woman, who can't possibly handle a key, by herself. And she's HAPPY about being treated that way?!
The descriptions WERE beautiful. However, I wanted to get to the STORY. As I said, if this were a travelogue, I would have enjoyed reading hundreds of pages of beautiful descriptions, imagining the views of this land or that. But it was touted to be an amazing STORY, with intrigue and horror and drama and conflict. And in all the 600 pages of it, I think about 100 were actual story. The rest were descriptions of landscapes, melancholy poems about imaginary people who have nothing to do with the story, but were just conjured up in head of a teenage heroine who, despite facing ACTUAL conflict, decided she wasn't sad enough, and had to conjure up imaginary heroes and heroines to be victims of imaginary conflict, or just bad weather, and THEIR sufferings and THEIR deaths, that had NOTHING TO DO WITH HER OWN ACTUAL DRAMA.
If she had written the melancholy poems about her OWN sadness and her OWN conflict and her OWN drama, I would have enjoyed it. But the melancholy poems were so darned POINTLESS. And honestly, at times, I cared more about her imaginary heroes and victims (I mean, heroines), than I did about her and her companions.
So, yeah. I did NOT like The Mysteries of Udolpho. It has been more than a decade since I read it, and I am STILL salty about the dog. It should have been there with her, the whole time, or off doing its own thing, while she wondered where it was, and worried about it. But, instead, it showed up when she needed it, and when she didn't need it, IT WAS NOT EVEN MENTIONED. No explanation of HOW it got to be back with her, after she had changed locations, WITHOUT THE DOG. Suddenly, the dog just appeared by her side, because in that moment she needed a dog. But not once, while traveling without the dog, did she wonder where it was, or how it would find her, or if it were even alive, due to the fact that they were surrounded by danger.
And I was extremely displeased with her father, when I found out about "the horrifying sentence," and the way he treated his daughter, in relation to that horrifying sentence. It's been a decade, and I don't remember details. I just remember that, at the time, I was LIVID with her father about that sentence.
And after slogging through 600 pages, we finally got an info dump, that was too much, too late, and MUCH too fast. About 200 pages worth of information, all crammed into five, it seemed. And all presented as, "Someone died, but before she died, she told the story of this stuff that affected the whole story that these other people were experiencing for 600 pages." So, it was a fast infodump of HEARSAY about what some dying person we had never met before had to say about people who were, by this time in the story, already dead. All that "show, don't tell" replaced with, "I am going to tell you more than your brain can handle, without any visuals, at all, over the course of five minutes."
And then, it ended, without answering all the questions.
But I grant you, the descriptions were, indeed, quite wonderful. I can see why travel diaries were so popular, at the time. Someone who could really describe the beauties of the world, in a way that makes you feel as if you were there, was a true blessing in a day when travel, itself, was so difficult and expensive, and the vast majority of people would never get to do it, or if they did travel, it was very limited. In the Bridgerton novels, Colin writes journals, during his Grand Tour, and he writes them so well that people want to read them, just to share the experience of "the water of this ocean was the same temperature as a 30-minute old bath." He made them FEEL, as well as picture the scene. Even video can't do that. And people LOVE to see other countries, or just see a glorious day in their own homeland. Descriptive prose is important, and most people just don't have the gift for it. Mrs. Radcliffe definitely had the gift for it.
Not only could she paint a picture of a landscape or a crumbling castle, but she could describe the rooms, or really any setting. You might think the heroine was a nincompoop, but you felt, rather viscerally, the situation in which the nincompoop found herself, because it was so well described.
And the poetry was good. If it had ANYTHING to do with the story... Ah, well.
So, let's just agree to disagree about The Mysteries of Udolpho being a good read, OK?
Don’t get me started on the three musketeers! The cavalier attitude they had in everything was my biggest pet peeve with that story! Also, the latent misogyny was so annoying and I am a conservative dude often accused of hating women! Those musketeers were absolute cads! And so selfish, whenever they helped anyone, they would think only of themselves and how well they’ll look and the disregard for Christian values was jarring in a time in which this was the norm! Argh! 😠
Although, I guess it is a classic because many of the common tropes found in historical fiction can be seen there for the first time, but still. So annoying.
@@victor382 - What actually weirded _me_ out in _The Three Musketeers_ was the attitude toward _servants._ When I read the book, I was just out of high school, and I rather expected the sexism (the casual attitude toward extra-marital affairs did surprise me...but, as I recall, I just wrote it off to "it's because they're French." 😅 ). But the way servants were portrayed was a real shock. I recall that the narrator wrote that a Musketeer's servant secretly respected his master _more_ after he was beaten(!?!) Mind you, I grew up when hitting kids was standard parenting - back then, I thought of corporal punishment as unpleasant, but "sometimes necessary" for particularly headstrong kids.(🙄) But I never fooled myself into thinking it could inspire "respect." I experienced it, and saw it happen to my sibling and cousins, so I had no such illusions. The realization that people actually once thought that it was possible for any human being, especially an _adult_ human being, to respect (rather than resent) someone who beat them...well, that genuinely shocked the hell out of me.
@@ShinyAvalon I’ll never forgive D’Artagnan for assaulting Milady De Winter, and yes, I know she is a terrible character that was murdering people right and left, scamming, and defrauding and lying, but just because she is a menace and a sociopath that doesn’t make it right for him to assault her! WTF??? 🤯
I’ll never forgive Aramis for guilt tripping and forcing D’Artagnan into selling the ring he got from the Queen so they could continue their life of debauchery.
I’ll never forgive Arthos for being a cop out and running after some skirt after he said he was going to become a priest and then trash talk his previous priest friends for being crazy zealots or whatever.
And Porthos is just meh. Eff him, he is a clown.
And I’ll never forgive alexandre Dumas for writing this mess. Argh. 😠
@@victor382 - Wow it _has_ been a long time since I read it...I don't remember any of that stuff. The main things I remember was thinking "Okay, the first half is what all the movies are based on...and the second half is this tense psychological thriller about about a sociopathic woman bamboozling a naive young religious guard." I was thinking of re-reading it, but...maybe not. 😨
I think another point is that, Catherine is so busy worrying about castles and murders that she doesn't see the very real mundane threats.
I need more of your clif notes versions of classics. Ellie's abridged version of_____. Need it.
Awww! ☺️✨ Teachers around the world would be faced with a sudden epidemic of wondering, “What insane version of a cliff note did this student base their paper off?” 😂
Agreed!
One can at least combine reviews &! summaries by different writers
besides Cliff Notes there are/we’re we’re others like Monarch
Notes, Wikipedia summaries,?
library reference books series
called (various) Contemporary,
19th fCentury,?etc. several series
in some public & college/university libraries. by authors (& books?).
Good luck!
The mysteries of Udolpho are basically a very long Scooby Doo episode
I also think that Jane Austen, a person who was so preoccupied with proper behaviour, must have been horrified about the romantic/ gothic elements bleeding into real life and becoming normalised. One of her era's biggest celebrities was George Byron and one of the biggest scandals was his tumultuous (and imo ridiculous) affair with Caroline Lamb. Byron was absolutely awful, but there were many young girls who thought of him as the ideal lover because of his apparent sensibility. He was overdramatic, attention-seeking, and abusing his title, all the things that Austen often derided. Gothic heroines might have been fun in novels, but some girls irl could have been in danger if they had wholeheartedly believed all the nonsense about guys like Byron.
Jane Austen has so many lessons for us today which run completely counter to current beliefs. No one is taught to regulate their emotions and get a hold of themselves rather than letting it all hang out. No one feels that sometimes it's just good manners not to emote all over others; we're actively encouraged to feel our feels. No one is encouraged to be stoic in the face of disappointment or distress, to be moderate in our reactions or polite and considerate in our dealings with others. One of her main lessons for me is how protective of one's own feelings a shield of good manners can be. Self control, good manners, modesty coupled with (justified) self confidence and basically not emoting all over other people is such a good and peaceful way to live. Yes, OK, I exaggerate, but there's a fine balance between 'being genuine' and being a messy, obnoxious, selfish pain in the backside.
Yes! I always felt that Marianne from Sense and Sensibility was rather selfish in her actions. I understand she was young and so felt that concealing her emotions meant that they werent real, but her actions affected her sisters. She risked their reputations and their standing, not to mention her health, all so she could be " a proper heroine" and "genuine". I always felt more in line with Elinor and how she was sensible, even when she was in love.
I just watched a delightful film called 'Love and Jane.' It's Hallmark, so not big budget, but they must have someone new on their team who is really inspired by Austen, as this is the third one this year with Austen themes! Anyway, the heroine wishes Jane could advise her on her love and social life - and so she arrives like a fairy godmother from the past. And as your post points out, a big part of Jane's reorganisation of our heroine's life is leaning manners and WHY they are so important, and actually getting a grip on how she feels instead of just 'feeling'.
I think you might like the film. But be warned - the romance angle was kind of overshadowed and less developed because the real focus was on the heroine's relationship with JA. I absolutely loved it though.
@@jaimicottrill2831I always loved Elinor. She was so brave as well as sensible - I was always intrigued that it was HER who took Willoughby to task for what he did to Marianne.
@@cmm5542 Thanks! I'll check it out.
Feelings have importance, but not primary importance. They can only point us towards or away from things of primary importance.
It's so natural for girls, ladies, women to be so caught up in their favorite character. For example, I love Anne Shirley/Blythe so much; I dyed my hair red! I loved to play matchmaker like Emma🙂
I think the Thorpes warrant a whole video themselves. There's still a chance of Catherine getting that spooky abbey if Capt. Tilney follows his apparent trajectory.
Please do a video on Colonel Brandon and Marianne. Though the novel says she grew to love him, the last minute pairing comes off as a rebound.
I'd like to see that, too! I don't think of their marriage exactly as on the rebound - though it's close to the end of her relationship with Willoughby in number of pages, we are told that it builds gradually over time, and they've even been married a while before Marianne truly gives her heart to Col Brandon. It is, in fact, something of an arranged marriage, in that Elinor and her mother seem to be the prime movers. It would be a fascinating topic for a video!
Their relationship always felt gross to me. For me personally I have never had feelings "grow ". I either am immediately attracted to a person, or it never happens. I think she didn't have any other options. They had no money. No other suitors either
@@rachelbachel2I think the point of 'Sense and Sensibility' is that feelings are not all that matters. Scientifically attraction usually occurs in the first four minutes, but attraction is not love. Love can grow from attraction, but also from respect or friendship. A startlingly high number of married couples are no longer 'attracted' to each other, but still in love because their bond is deeper than mere feelings. Colonel Brandon would have done anything for Marianne and always saw the best in her. That's a much better foundation for a healthy relationship than a hot guy who is neglectful, abusive, or cheating like Willoughby.
@@cmm5542 Very well said, thank you.
@@cmm5542 Also, demi-romantic and demi-sexual people exist. For us, starting to feel attraction *requires* knowing a person well enough (and often also trusting them as a friend).
Haven't even completed watching the video but im already loving the vibes ✨
Awwwww!✨✨✨
Emily is (long pause) perfect. LOL! Perfectly describes Udolpho. It’s a great read though.
Thanks for sharing, Ellie! Glad to see you back with the regency vibes. Also, love your outfit ☺️
Aw, thank you! I went with my gothic inspired fit for this. 😂
@@EllieDashwood 😂 luckily, you are so pretty that you can rock anyrhing. And black suits you well. You should try a look with long black gloves, it would suit you really well 🙂
I love your summary of Udolpho. It is so funny and yet so accurate. The book was definitively different from all the classics I've read before but to my own surprise, it wasn’t difficult (just longer than my usual reads) and I liked it a lot and I'm very happy I've read it. I wish I had before reading ”Northanger Abbey” though but at last, I can now spot when it has inspired or when it’s referenced in more recent novels... But everything is right even like that, because it’s Jane Austen who made me want to read it to begin with ! But from now on, I’ll describe the novel as ”Scooby Doo” because it’s chief kiss parallel.
THESIS GIRLIES, IT IS OUR TIME TO SHINE! Also, the power of imagination and making fun of stuff. THE HIGH PRIESTESS, JANE AUSTEN TAUGHT US THAT.
😂😂😂
I have a feeling your telling of the Mysteries of Udolpho is much better than actually reading it.
My favorite part of the novel showing how different Catherine was from the typical gothic heroine is the scene where she sees Henry upon his return to Bath and immediately assumes the “fashionable and pleasing-looking young woman, who leant on his arm” was his sister; “thus unthinkingly throwing away a fair opportunity of considering him lost to her forever, by being married already.”
I just love the picture that paints. I also feel like it contrasts Isabella, who (much like Marianne Dashwood) revels in her sensibility and over the top (but not artless) emotions. Isabella seems much more likely to be a heroine but this aesthetic
I also love that bit. It's also such a point on how nothing really changed - in modern rom-coms the conflict half the time is from the 'heroine' mistaking a sister or a friend for the love interest already having a girlfriend! Or thinking his wife must still be alive because he has s kid - I mean, that would be the first thing I'd ask!
What a DELIGHTFUL long form video essay, Ellie! Art credits from the Met AND Scooby Doo references??!!
AWESOME!
I tried reading 'Udolfo' a few years ago but quit when she moved to France with her aunt. I knew the story would be over the top but her sensibilities wore me down and I couldn't justify wasting more time reading it :)
I couldn't make it to the exciting part - I don't usually mind slow beginnings in novels, but I didn't have the time to devote. I will try again after I finish Ivanhoe.
Perfect timing! I just started Northanger Abbey for the first time this week!
So shameful confession time: I LOVE the Regency (and Georgian period). I LOVE the fashion, the politics, British landscape architecture, and romantic sensibilities. I LOVE Ellie Dashwood--I have been a fan of this channel since 2020. And I had not read a Jane Austin novel until last week (Sense and Sensibility). You should had played up how hilarious it is.
As to the qualifications to be a heroine--I'm almost 75% of the way there. I have such a good understanding of the picturesque I hire a hermit to inhabit my Capability Brown landscape during parties! And I'm an emotional wreck.
You have started late, but I'm sure you will catch up!
Thx for telling the Mysteries of Udolpho saga. Now we know! 😂
Great analysis!!! Love the way you show that human nature hasn’t changed in 200+ years. Thanks for all your hard work!!!
The Mysteries of Udolpho reminds me of Twilight, minus the high school setting and the vampires.
I just feel sad she didn’t live to see the upswing of Gothic Culture. She’d be thriving and doing collabs with the Brontë sisters.
I’m just now imagining Jane Bennet being overwhelming shocked when she finds out about the wife in the attic.
@@EllieDashwood And Heathcliff wondering why Farmer Martin proposed to Harriet
I seem to recall that the Bronte sisters didn't think too highly of Jane Austen because of how she satirized Gothic, though 🤔
OMG! A FULL ELLIE VIDEO!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉
Awww!!! Hope you like it!!! 💖💖💖
@@EllieDashwood I love all your stuff. Tbh, I rewatch a lot of your vids. They're just kinda.. idk... Soothing. Like having a friend chat with you. 😁
I've often heard that French landscaping traditionally was very regimented and geometric, while English landscaping was more random and wilderness inspired.
It strikes me so odd that Marianne thought she had to be unable to sleep, due to being upset.
When my father died, all I wanted to do was sleep. My grief innervated me. Plus, I wanted the escape of dreams.
There is no one right way to feel feelings.
However, Elinor's example shows us that, while there is no one right way to feel feelings, there most certainly is a kind and generous way to feel the feelings, by governing them, and not allowing YOUR feelings to become OTHER people's problems. If you feel the need to weep and wail, do it quietly, so you don't keep everyone else up. Stuff a towel in your mouth, so you can do your primal screaming, without anyone else know. Or just use your words to say, "I feel sad," without making everyone else uncomfortable at your sadness.
Elinor HAD sensibility. She felt all the feels. She just governed her BEHAVIOR, while feeling the feels.
I think this is your best analysis yet. Thank you so much!
Thank you for putting so much work into this post!
I am happy you are back!
Aw, thank you so much!!! 💖
When I read Northanger Abbey for the second time a few years ago, it struck me how relevant to the aesthetic and influencer-dominated modern day it was. Now, listening to you break it down, I can see how bits and pieces pop up all over Jane Austen’s novels.
I probably would have been the Charlotte or Elizabeth… the daughter trying to at least think things through. Set in this context of who is a heroine and what is a good outcome for a young lady at the time, Lizzie and Charlotte’s conversations are understatedly epic.
I missed these longer form, delving into a topic videos!
I've been watching your videos for years, but I think this video is my new favourite. Excellent analysis! I'm so impressed by your breakdown of the gothic heroine and how Austen critiques it in her novels. Northanger Abbey is the only one of Austen's six main novels that I haven't read yet, but now I really want to, thanks to your video!
Nice facts on Northanger Abbey's outfits from England, Electra!😍😍😍😍😍😍😍👍.
Aw, thanks! 😃
@@EllieDashwood You're welcome!😊😀😙💙💙💙💙💙💙🌷💖💖💖💖💖💖😊🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇👍
This video might be one of my favorites! Ellie has a great sense of humor. I loved her summary of TMOU. Also, I always come away feeling like I have learned so much; she has an amazing ability to frame the bigger picture, explain the themes, and give social context that is so important for understanding the stories. I just love these videos and this channel so much!
The Mysteries of Udolpho sounds like the original inspiration for Scooby Doo.
Long-form videos on both channels today? We're being spoiled. I'm looking forward the lifestyle video after this. Hi kitties in the background! Jane Austen would have a field day if she were alive today with all of the people who are guided by their emotions while ignoring reality. Very interesting video as always.
Your description of 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' was hilarious! Pure gold, imo.
Austens messages are timeless and are ever so important as entertaining as back when they were published. Cudos for your research, planning and editing ❤
Picking up a mysterious charming guy in the forest 👀👀 vampires?
Yeah, the author overlooked all the real situations that could have turned terribly sketchy. 😂
Thank you for this new video Ellie! I love how Austen’s messages are still so relevant today. 😊
(PS: I guess the only way I would qualify as a heroine would be due to my appreciation of the picturesque and emotional nature. 😄 I am a little romantic at heart.)
I have to say, I was NOT expecting a Scooby reference in one of your videos! Having said that, Zombie Island is a near-perfect example of a gothic aesthetic.
Yaaaaay a Northanger Abbey content!!!! Love your videos!!!!
Awwww! Thank you!!! 💕 Northanger definitely needs more content about it. 😊
I've been having a bad day so thank you for uploading a new video to cheer me up a bit :)
Awww! I hope your day gets incredibly better and you have the best weekend!!!
Would much rather to be a gothic hero. Nice intro from the cat too. 😀
Gothic heroes fainted a lot less. So that’s a positive or negative depending on how you look at it. 🧐
I'm so glad Jane Austen dedicated her works to showing girls thevalue of being a heroine in your own, everyday life... but also I have to read the Mysteries of Udolpho, and pretend I'm living in a gothic castle.
That was an in-depth look at the concept of being a heroine, and I have to admit, I never really thought about several of the characters in the way you described them in this video. You've opened my eyes somewhat and made me reconsider Jane Autin's ideas and motivations in her stories. Excellent Job.
The Scooby Doo example! I'm dying! 🤣🤣🤣 When I first read Austen's books, as a teenager, I probably was pretty close to a Gothic heroine. No mas! Lol.
Thanks for reading this book for us. I tried as an Austen fan and it was just too Harlequin Romance for me!
I love your videos, you're awesome! ❤ I enjoyed Northanger Abbey so much, Catherine is so naive and adorable you can't help yourself!!
There is basically no spoilers in the spoiler of Mysteries of Udolpho, I just finished the book, and yeah it’s a lot, but Ellie left out all the good stuff! 😂
Thank you so much for addressing sensibility at least a little. I’d really love to see a whole video on what specifically did the Sensibility and Sense of Sense & Sensibility actually mean back then. Or even a whole series on terms/concepts that are deceptively similar to modern words but did not mean quite what we might now imagine as modern readers back in Austen’s time.
Take it like "sensitivity" essentially. When someone is described as being "very sensitive" it's assumed they feel things very deeply and immediately and sometimes irrationally. They can't control their emotions or how they emote at others.
I was always fond of Catherine Morland. She starts out so young and naive, and really struggles to mature and learn how the real world works. In the end, she figures things out and has a happy, if less dramatic, life.
Could you talk about animals in Jane Austin's work and time? Cats, Pugs etc., horses? How were they viewed?
This was such an enlightening video essay! Never thought about Austen that way.
This was so well done! Especially the last part about what Jane Austen was saying, that Catherine though she may not have these made up ideas of what a heroine should be that she is still worthy of having a book all about her.❤Thank you!🌺☕🥐
finally a new video
Hope you like it!!! 😃
I loved your summary of the Mysteries of Udolpho, I read the book many years ago because of Northanger Abbey.
I always really enjoy your analysis of Jane Austen as it always makes me think deeper about her novels.
Love your content ❤❤
Emma Corrin reads out a letter by Jane Austen (basically her Letterboxd review) and it is one of the most hilarious things written. And Miss Austen was 13 btw
That sounds awesome!
please read some of jane austen's juvenilia on your channel, dear ellie! it would make one or more great videos!@@EllieDashwood
I just love listening to your voice❤ everyone say thank you for the extra long video!!
off topic but I absolutely adore your content. I'm a writer where most of my stories take place in the 19th century, and I'm a history major so you're channel is a GEM ✨️
WOW! This is one of your best literary analyses yet!! I never noticed mariannes affect sensisbility until you pointed it out in comparison to others!! I love this work, i feel like I am back in high school english in the best way possible!!! Thank you so much for sharing your take!!!
Skipped the first nine minutes to avoid spoilers, but the rest of the video is so good. I read NA eight years ago and almost forgot how profound it was, definitely need to revisit. Thank you.
This is the best explanation I've ever seen for gothic heroines!! The Janeite nerd in me is grateful! 😂❤
Really enjoyed this video and i particularly liked the end where you shared the idea of Anyone can be worthy of being a heroine. And that we often today and back then will compare our selves to much
Uneven mountains!!! Drama! Look at us, we are DEEP!
I first heard about "Udolpho" from Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women", which was set during and after the American Civil War. In the 1860s, that thing had some staying power.
I've been admiring your work since 2021. And this is one of the best videos you've made since then!
I've always adored gothic literature, so this vid is a winner in my book!
Northanger is a love letter. To writers, young readers, the romantic. Your video is a love letter to Austen and Radcliffe and your viewers and this one loves you right back.
After your Scooby Doo reference I was thinking the early Nancy Drews were like that with whispering statues and supernatural stuff that was explained. Tho nothing beats a water monster played by a fisherman or shall I use the gender neutral fisher, cause who says women can't both fish and impersonate an aquatic dinosaur as well as the next person. My love to you all in this awesome community this International Women's Day. Sweet dreams. 👻 👾 🦕
This video was fascinating and I learned so much! I haven’t read Northanger Abbey, but I believe I will now!
You will not regret it!
This is absolutely awesome - thank you! I love "Northanger Abbey" and this is so entertaining! 12,000 thumbs up!
Thank you so much for your videos on Jane Austin and history lessons! You create a beautiful unique atmosphere, unmatched ❤
Thank you for reminding me I have a copy of this book that I've never read. I think this is the year.
this is very interesting. i find myself doing that emotional thing often. like "I'm not being sad romantically enough" and constantly trying to live like I'm a character someone is observing. it's so bizzare.
I always love your videos
I'm thoroughly impressed by Ellie's knowledge, preparation, and delivery, and I'm very glad to have learned so much about the literature I love from such a gifted and entertaining teacher! Thank you!!
I enjoyed your vlogs, but I’m so happy to have your literature content back!
Loved your presentation and comparison of books. Never really thought about the messages hidden in Austin's novels. Please continue with more great stories that make me think.
Though it was a bit of a slog for a modern reader, I quite liked Mysteries of Udolpho. Radcliffe's imagination in her detailed descriptions of places where she had actually never been was really wonderful. Once though, I amused my husband by describing Radcliffe's natural explanations of seemingly supernatural events by comparing it to er, Scooby Doo, where the kids discover that seemingly supernatural events have rational - if often sinister - causes (sorry Ann Radcliffe, but it was an analogy that worked at the time....) You did a great job giving a summary of the book also. (oh my, next time I must make my comment after watching the whole video - as you make the same observation!)
Great video as always. Really funny, especially the parts about Udolpho. I tried to read that book twice and failed. Maybe the third time is the charm. Love Northanger Abbey - due for a reread.
You are awesome too, Ellie!
I love your analysis! There is so much depth to Jane Austen's writing and I love delving into it. Sadly, I am bad at literary analysis, but happily, you are so skilled at it. I read Northanger Abbey when need comedy/ trans-embarrassment .
I’m always amazed by your ability to draw parallels between Austen’s works and the contemporary literature, ideas, and historical context that inspired her. I’m so happy to come out of the end of all of your videos having greatly increased my knowledge and also a book added to my reading list! Thanks for the video!
I LOVE Northanger Abbey
This was an excellent and informative video! One of my favorite books of all time is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and Mrs. Radcliffe is referenced a few times within it. Until now, I’d never properly understood the reference.
I love all of your classic lit deep dives, but I must admit I look forward to your Northanger Abbey deep dives the most (cos it's my fave Austen novel and my second fave book overall.) Also, I must say I giggled so hard at the Scooby Doo mention because, when I first started reading Gothic literature when I was 12 and was explaining the prevalent tropes and themes to my dad, he was just like, "Of course you like it. It's just an adult Scooby Doo!" (I am a lifelong SD fangirl and still watch it at age 36.)
Loved the analysis and the focus on my main girl Catherine, who gets so much dirt thrown on her by casual readers of the novel. My girl is just trying her best!
Question: have you ever read the 7 "horrid novels" in NA? I've read 4 of them and am curious what other readers of traditional Gothic literature make of them.
I really liked this informative video! Thank you for putting in the time and work to make it. I learned a lot and it was fun to watch.
Ellie I feel like your style of speaking and explaining has gotten even better recently! I really love all your speaking points particularly in the video. Funny, yet chill, and still informative!
To be honest, I have many of the emotional characteristics of a Regency Heroine, and let me tell you, it's not an easy life.
Being calmer and more sensible is enviable.💛
wow I love this video 😍 The whole discussion of aesthetics- so relatable to modern interests! going to get The Mysteries of Udolpho from the library tomorrow, then maybe I will enjoy Northanger Abbey more on the second reading.
I know it's not really to modern reader's tastes but, if you can kind of push past the Mary-Sue-ness of the MC, Mysteries of Udolpho is really quite entertaining. Personally, though, I like Romance of the Forest even more.