] It seems to me like the real gothic story of Northanger Abbey is Eleanor's story. She is the perfect heroine

This is great, Siobhan, thanks!

This is so typical of Jane Austen, isn't it? The heroines of her books are not necessarily the characters with the most dramatic story. We could make the argument that Jane Fairfax, Lydia Bennet, Louisa Musgrove, and Maria Bertram are the kinds of heroines a Radcliffe would have written of. (I leave out an S&S heroine, as I think Marianne does have the most dramatic storyline, though she is only a co-heroine. ;-) These ladies' stories are full of tragic illness, poverty, star-crossed love, secret engagements, elopements, etc. The stuff of Gothic Heroines.