True Ladies In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

The Expectation of “True Ladies” in Middle and Upper Class Societies in the 19th Century England is a theme Jane Austen is alluding to her novel Northanger Abbey.
There are many key characteristics that exemplified a true lady of European culture in the 18th and 19th century such as being attractive, but also being polite and respectful. Most of these features were taught to help the young lady on the marriage market. Catherine Morland, a blossoming young lady, is educated about the “true lady” characteristics by two female characters, Isabella Thorpe and Elinor Tilney; one character does a better job than the other.
Isabella is an example of a “true lady” only because she teaches Catherine early in her stay at Bath the importance of the superficial, vain aspects of being a female, specifically in the department of
The author demonstrates this through the immoral actions of that what was accepted of women. By setting up Isabella in situations, such as breaking the courtship rules of being alone together in a carriage ride, that were forbidden for “true ladies” prior to marriage, it is revealed that Isabella had few “true-lady” characteristics. Luckily, by this point in the novel Catherine is learning the shallow, superficiality of Isabella and catching onto her wrongful deeds. Again, Austen is highlighting that beyond supervised balls there are little social interaction between the males and females. Because breaking this taboo lead can be explained through the quote “fate worse than death,” if the woman did not become pregnant or infected with a disease, then her reputation would definitely have put her at a disadvantage on the marriage marketplace. Rightfully so, many of the characteristics of “true ladies” were to keep them safe and protect them for their