What are your thoughts on Isabella Thorpe?

[Hana]

Do you think she was a selfish gold digger or was she a nice person who actually liked Cathrine and James?

[Helle]

Well, no she is just set up to be a contrast to Cathrine. A character foil.

[Wendy]

In no way a nice person. Shallow, vain, self serving.

[Wendy]

In no way a nice person. Shallow, vain, self serving.

[Anna]

I think Isabella was selfish. She was a conditional friend to Catherine; she only valued the friendship when it worked for her.

[kellyjane]

I thought Isabella shallow, manipulative, and deceptive. But her brother was even worse in my opinion ...

[Paula]

I think while Isabella is shallow, vain and manipulative she is just as naïve as Catherine.
Isabella only is friends with Catherine because she wants her brother to marry Catherine, she's just a scheming girl who disgraces her family because she was naïve to think Fredrick Tilney wanted to marry her.

[Konna]

Isabella is selfish and naive and no doubt she finds the position and the fortune of Frederick Tilney so appealing that she breaks off her engagement with no second thought.

[[deleted user]]

I dislike her for she was just selfish andsheming! She was a friend to Catherine as Long as it was of use to her and let her fall when she did not need her any longer. Poor James who had truly been in love with her! And poor Catherine to whom Isabella's friendship has meant a lot!
But Isabella, though shallow and vain was not as evil as her brother!

[Nabilah]

I agree with Helle. I do think that the Thorpe siblings were set as a contrast to the two younger Tilney siblings. They are are all part of the naive Catherine's education of understanding the good and bad of the world.

[Brenda]

When I read this book, I was completely fooled by Isabella at first. I wanted a friend that would share beloved book titles however as the book progressed, it was clear that Isabella was very selfish and manipulative.

[Hermione]

Brenda wrote: "When I read this book, I was completely fooled by Isabella at first. I wanted a friend that would share beloved book titles however as the book progressed, it was clear that Isabella was very selfi..."

I had the same reaction. At the beginning, I loved her and thought she was a good friend for Catherine but I saw who she really was as the book progressed. She changed attitude as soon as she found at that the James family wasn't as rich as she thought. Her love for him just died.

[Sorrel]

I agree with Brenda and Hermione. At the start, you could see how lonely Catherine could be enthralled by Isabella, who had the liveliness and friendliness that makes you feel instantly close with someone. However, you started to see that she was affected with the cleverly written speech patterns : "Oh my dear Catherine, that arch eyebrow tells me you are not fooled for a second!" etc. And then it soon became apparrent that she wasn't going to be a good friend to Catherine (that trick with the carriage made me hate her and her brother so much) and she made a delightful character to dislike :-)