Mrs. Thorpe is a character in Northanger Abbey and the mother of Isabella and John Thorpe.
Biography[]
Mrs. Thorpe is the poor widow of the lawyer Mr. Thorpe and the mother of six children: John, Edward, William, Isabella, Maria, and Anne. Her son John attends Oxford with James Morland, Catherine Morland's brother.[2]
Before her marriage, Mrs. Thorpe was a schoolfellow to Mrs. Allen. Though they had only seen each other once since their respective marriages and that once over fifteen years prior, this slight acquaintance was renewed when they met by chance in Bath.
As a poor widow herself, Mrs. Thorpe evidently wishes her children to provide for themselves financially through advantageous marriages. The older members of the Thorpe family seemed to believe that James Morland was wealthier than he was, and Mrs. Thorpe likely pushed Isabella to pursue him. When it became news that Isabella and Morland became engaged and were waiting for Mr. Morland's consent, Mrs. Thorpe and her son exchanged significant looks that Catherine could not quite decipher at the time.[3] The Thorpe family really deceived themselves, as none of the Morlands led any of them to believe that they were wealthy.
Character traits[]
Mrs. Thorpe never could see any wrong when her children were concerned, and thought them the greatest of people. She loved to hear praise about her children, especially her two eldest, John and Isabella. She never could believe why anyone would dislike them. Mr. Allen criticized Mrs. Thorpe for being too indulgent of her children, and for letting them behave with ill manners and bad breeding.[4]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Her husband was a lawyer, which would make Mrs. Thorpe's status the same as his. This is mentioned in Chapter 25.
- ↑ Northanger Abbey, Chapter 4
- ↑ Chapter 15
- ↑ Chapter 13