Marriage and Dancing in Northanger Abbey

                When choosing a husband or wife, one usually does so by undergoing a long courtship with a potential partner.  During this courtship, many private meetings are arranged in which one gets to converse with the other person, getting to know their most intimate selves, allowing a person to make the decision whether or not this particular partner is the one best-suited for them.  In the society which Austen depicts in Northanger Abbey, the characters are not able to have one-on-one meetings with each other.   Every opportunity for courtship is done at a public event, such as at a dance.  Thus, Austen portrays many of the pivotal scenes between Henry and Catherine while they are dancing.  While it is difficult for modern-day readers to imagine a world in which their future happiness relies on a country dance, Austen uses the character of Henry Tilney to describe how choosing a dancing partner follows the same rules as choosing a marriage partner, indicating his interest in a future relationship with Catherine. 

                Catherine, being naïve, is unaware of the significance of choosing a dancing partner when she first arrives at Bath.  It is the shallow, society-obsessed Mrs. Allen who laments Catherine’s lack of partner most.  Mrs. Allen states over and over, “I wish I had a large acquaintance here with all my heart, and then I should get you a partner.  I should be so glad to have you dance” (p. 9).  While it might seem as if all Mrs. Allen is lamenting is her young friend’s lack of a dancing partner, one could read into this statement further and discover that she feels as if, as she is her chaperone, she is in charge of finding a suitor and future-husband for her young charge.  By stating that she would be so glad to have her “dance,” she is also stating that she would be glad to have her married.  As this is Catherine’s first foray into society, and being from a small country family, this opportunity might be her only chance to meet an eligible young man and make a good marriage. 

                Being that Henry Tilney was the first man, and dancing partner, that Catherine meets in Bath, one might expect him not to be the person that Catherine chooses in the end.  However, from the start, Henry makes his interest in Catherine known to the reader.  While they are dancing their first dance, Henry dictates to Catherine what he wishes her to say about him.  He states, “I danced with a very agreeable young man, introduced by Mr. King; had a great deal of conversation with him—seems a most extraordinary genius—hope I may know more of him” (p. 12).  With this statement, Henry Tilney does what he does for most of the novel and forms Catherine’s own mind for her.  She will have trouble forgetting Mr. Tilney after he has expressly made it known to her that she should wish to see him further.  This statement ensures that this dance will not be there last.  

                After their acquaintance is furthered, Henry goes so far as to directly discuss the relationship between dancing and matrimony.  He refers to a dancing partnership as a sort of “contract” that both parties enter into, stating, “I consider a country-dance as an emblem of marriage.  Fidelity and complaisance are the principal duties of both” (p. 58).  Once a woman has given her partner her word to dance, she must keep it, just as in marriage, which is a topic of some interest for Mr. Tilney since John Thorpe tries to disturb this agreement.  Henry goes into further detail of the similarities between dancing and marriage as he states:

“You will allow, that in both, man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal; that in both, it is an engagement between man and woman, formed for the advantage of each; and that when once entered into, they belong exclusively to each other till the moment of its dissolution; that it is their duty, each to endeavour to give the other no cause for wishing that he or she had bestowed themselves elsewhere, and their best interest to keep their own imaginations from wandering towards the perfections of their neighbors, or fancying that they should have been better off with anyone else” (p. 59).

As Henry describes it, marriage and dancing are perfect mirrors of one another.  At first, Catherine cannot accept to think of them in the same way but as Henry delves into the topic further, she begins to think very strongly of the implications of dancing and marriage.   Once again, Henry begins to form Catherine’s mind.  Although Catherine has not yet realized it, Henry has chosen her as his partner in life.  As Jane Austen states, “no young lady can be justified in falling in love before the gentleman’s love is declared, it must be very improper that a young lady should dream of a gentleman before the gentleman is first known to have dreamt of her” (p.15). 

                Through their public meetings and conversations at dances, Henry and Catherine are able to discover that they are suited for matrimony.  Although they are forced to fall in love in a public setting, the similarities between marriage and dancing allow Catherine and Henry to witness the merits of the other, testing their constancy, ability to support each other, and their overall joy in the other’s company.