"Tabula Rasa"--Why Willow?

Willow Rosenburg. What happened? How did the sweet, clueless, well-mannered girl become so self-involved? I was very intrigued by our discussion in class today regarding Isabella Thorpe and Willow. Although I understand the point that was made regarding the less than ideal situation in which 19^th century women were placed, I have to say that nothing can excuse Isabella’s behavior. She already had bagged a nice man with means. But when she found out that her desires and expectations exceeded his means and that she would have to wait three years to get married, she continued to climb the rungs of the social ladder. What makes Isabella so terrible is that she adopts the pretense of being kind and well mannered. She acts as if Catherine is her little “pet” and that she, Isabella, is so ubiquitous and perfect that she needs to impart her knowledge onto our “blank slate” heroine. As readers, we can see right through her pretty guise. We just want to shake Catherine and implore her not to befriend Isabella. Miss Thorpe is possibly one of the most annoying characters Austen has ever written. Everyone knows an Isabella. The girl who pretends to be nice, holier than thou, but then does everything to benefit herself. I never thought Willow was that kind of girl. Sweet Willow. Willow, the only person who was brave enough, selfless enough, to opened the door for Tara when the Gentlemen were chasing her. “Tabula Rasa” razed the schema that I had previously constructed for Willow. Willow was not an Isabella, but a member of the Scooby Gang who stuck with her best friend through thick and thin. By becoming dependent on magic, Willow’s relationships with everyone but her “drug of choice” get put on the backburner and subsequently begin to suffer. Willow begins to act selfishly. Even though she says that she is doing her spell to help Buffy and Tara, she ultimately is performing it to help herself. Willow is like Isabella in this sense. Both women act purely out of self-interest, though they adopt the guise of pretending to be well meaning. However, in the end, their veils are lifted. We see who both women truly are, or in Willow’s case, have become. In the end of Northanger Abbey and “Tabula Rasa,” respectively, both Isabella and Willow’s avarice leads to their ultimate abandonment.