Miseducation of Catherine Morland (1)

Much, but not all (a point I will return to) of Catherine's sentimental miseducation come from reading the Mysteries of Udolpho. In the first half of the book, we see her beginning with real life experiences and then rethinking them in terms she has picked up from reading Gothic novels.

Chapter 11 of bk 1 for example. Catherine is hoping that the weather will clear up so she can take a country walk with Henry and Miss Tilney:

"There, it is twenty minutes after twelve, and now I shall give it up entirely. Oh! That we had such weather here as they had at Udolpho, or at least in Tuscany and the south of France! -- the night that poor St. Aubin died! -- such beautiful weather!"

Not surprisingly, just a few pages later she is seeing her visit to Blaize Castle as a chance to experience the fictional world she has just wished for:

To feel herself slighted by them was very painful. On the other hand, the delight of exploring an edifice like Udolpho, as her fancy represented Blaize Castle to be, was such a counterpoise of good as might console her for almost anything.

When she finally does get her country walk with Henry and his sister she compares the countryside with the landscape of Udolpho:

They determined on walking round Beechen Cliff, that noble hill whose beautiful verdure and hanging coppice render it so striking an object from almost every opening in Bath.

"I never look at it," said Catherine, as they walked along the side of the river, "without thinking of the south of France."

"You have been abroad then?" said Henry, a little surprised.

"Oh! No, I only mean what I have read about. It always puts me in mind of the country that Emily and her father travelled through, in The Mysteries of Udolpho. "

Her reading is changing teh way she looks at the world.