Northanger Abbey
Mrs. Thorpe
Isabella and John's mother
A talkative widow who brags about her children. She is Mrs. Allen's old schoolfellow and brings the Thorpes into Catherine's life.
Mrs. Thorpe is a fussy, chatty widow who is proud of her children and happy to tell everyone how well they are doing. She meets Mrs. Allen by chance in the Pump Room, where she is greeted as a dear old schoolfellow.
She is easily flattered and a little self-important. Her pride in Isabella and John is much like their own vanity and boasting, only a generation older. She is happy to boast about her family to anyone who will listen, and a little goes a long way.
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Mrs. Thorpe introduces Isabella to Catherine, and so the friendship that goes wrong begins with her. She is Mrs. Allen's friend, and her children are the first people Catherine gets to know in Bath.
She has little to do once the engagement falls apart. She is a reminder that the Thorpes' bragging runs in the family. Her grand talk about her children's prospects is mostly empty, and it adds to the sense that the Thorpes are more show than substance.
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