Tuesday, August 10, 2010

General Tilney: father

This week, I have been writing about the abbey in Northanger Abbey in honor of Friday the 13th, (in August... oh, horrid day!) and Fathers Day (August 9 in Brazil). I have discovered one facet about General Tilney that I hadn't noticed before.

In chapter 22 , General Tilney praises Woodston, Henry's property, to Catherine, who he thinks is an heiress and therefore a very good match for his younger son. Excited to share his idea he describes how he would have educated his sons:
[...] Perhaps it may seem odd, that with only two younger children, I should think any profession necessary for him; and certainly there are moments when we could all wish him disengaged from every tie of business. But though I may not exactly make converts of you young ladies, I am sure your father, Miss Morland, would agree with me in thinking it expedient to give every young man some employment. The money is nothing, it is not an object, but employment is the thing. Even Frederick, my eldest son, you see, who will perhaps inherit as considerable a landed property as any private man in the county, has his profession."
General Tilney was a stern, almost tyrannical, father, but he was right in this particular subject. Well, that is my opinion. What do you think?


Robert Hardy as General Tilney in Northanger Abbey, 1987
He portrayed Sir John Middleton in Sense and Sensibility, 1995


Posted by Raquel Sallaberry, Jane Austen em Português

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