Northanger Abbey (2007 TV Movie)

Geraldine James: The Voice of Jane Austen

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Catherine Morland : He thought I was rich?

  Henry Tilney : It was Thorpe who misled him at first. Thorpe, who hoped to marry you himself. He thought you were Mr. Allen's heiress and he exaggerated Mr. Allen's birth to my father. You were only guilty of not being as rich as you were supposed to be. For that he turned you out of the house.

  Catherine Morland : I thought you were so angry with me, you told him what you knew. Which would have justified any discourtesy.

  Henry Tilney : No! The discourtesy was all his. I-I have broken with my father, Catherine, I may never speak to him again.

  Catherine Morland : What did he say to you?

  Henry Tilney : Let me instead tell you what I said to him. I told him that I felt myself bound to you, by honor, by affection, and by a love so strong that nothing he could do could deter me from...

  Catherine Morland : From what?

  Henry Tilney : Before I go on, I should tell you there's a pretty good chance he'll disinherit me. I fear I may never be a rich man, Catherine.

  Catherine Morland : Please, go on with what you were going to say!

  Henry Tilney : Will you marry me, Catherine?

  Catherine Morland : Yes! Yes I will! Yes!

  [They kiss, and she backs him into a wall in her passion] 

  Catherine Morland : [voiceover] 

  The Voice of Jane Austen : To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of 26 and 18 is to do pretty well. Catherine and Henry were married, and in due course the joys of wedding gave way to the blessing of a christening. The bells rang and everyone smiled. No one more than so than Eleanor, whose beloved's sudden ascension to title and fortune finally allowed them to marry. I leave it to be settled whether the tendency of this story be to recommend parental tyranny or to reward filial disobedience.

• The Voice of Jane Austen : No-one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a great heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and moth, and her own disposition, were equally against her. The Morlands were, in general, very plain, and Catherine, for many years of her life, as plain as any. Neither was it very wonderful that Catherine, who had, by nature, nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket and baseball to dolls and books. But by the age of 15, appearances were mending. Catherine Morland was in training for a heroine.