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Karl marx social class theory
Discuss theme of social class in the novel Wuthering Heights
Discuss theme of social class in the novel Wuthering Heights
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Marxism represents the political, economic, and social theories created by Karl Marx and embraces the notion that the struggles between various social classes are a major factor in regards to determining history. In addition, Marx held that the laboring class would eventually overcome the aristocratic or controlling social class, ideals which he documented in his publication The Communist Manifesto. Similarly, I believe the overall motivating force and theme in Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights is one of Marxist origin in which conflict among social classes results in the majority of events. Although one can argue that the character of Nelly Dean exemplifies these Marxist ideals, I believe Heathcliff is a better personification of the struggle among social classes. The central conflict of the novel between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw is one rooted in division among social class and one that spawns numerous others, ultimately determining the fate of many of the characters. In accordance with the Marxist believe, Heathcliff also provides an example of the laboring class eventually overcoming the owning or controlling class. Furthermore, the time period in which Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights was characterized by changing relationships and turmoil among the social classes.
Wuthering Heights opens in the year 1801, one defined by the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England and its subsequent social and cultural alterations. As Emily Bronte was writing the novel during the mid 1840’s, the results of the Industrial Revolution were in full effect, creating new wealthy families, instilling a desire for prominence amongst the middle class, and forming a new definition of the gentleman ("Wuthering Heights as Socio-Eco...
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...tual partial success in overcoming the upper or controlling class. Though the climax of the novel seems to occur in the middle with numerous conflicts when Catherine dies, the ending provides a resolution to the awful occurrences of the past and a merging of the Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange manors.
Works Cited
Eagleton, Terry. "Wuthering Heights." Myths of Power: A Marxist Study of the
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Kermode, Frank. “A Modern Way with the Classic.” New Literary History 5
(1974): 415- 434.
"Wuthering Heights as Socio-Economic Novel." Emily Bronte. The City University of New York, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
Yang, Che-Ming. "A Deleuzian Reading of Wuthering Heights: The Micropolitics of Minorization." Arts and Social Sciences Journal 3.44 (2012): 1-6. OMICS
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Over a long period of time, an individual’s social status has always had a great impact on relationships between others. Relationships such as friendship, romance and even family relationships are greatly influenced by one’s social status. When people value social status to the utmost importance, it often acts as a barrier to further solidify relations with others. “Wuthering Heights” is a classic novel written by Emily Bronte which illustrates how social status gets in the way of relationships. This story (set in eighteen hundreds) displays the true nature of the people at that time because they excessive had pride. Since they had excessive pride, they often judged people based on their social class; hence changing their relationship between each other. In this novel social class was measured by observing an individual’s wealth, appearance and manners. Heathcliff happens to be the male lead character of this story that lacks social class due to his rebellious relationship with Hindley. Afterwards, Hindley degrades Heathcliff’s status this affects his connections with Catherine and Nelly. Since Heathcliff’s status diminishes, Catherine becomes reluctant to continue her affair with Heathcliff. Nelly also becomes wary of Heathcliff because his personality changes after restoring his own status. Thus, it is clearly seen that social class has an impact on the story by altering Heathcliff’s relationship between Hindley, Catherine and Nelly.
For Marx, the society history of class was a history of class conflict. He observed the successful rise of the bourgeoisie, and the essential of revolutionary violence. He says that the heightened form of class conflict securing the bourgeoisie rights that supported the capitalist economy. Marx believed that the poverty inherent in capitalism were a pre-existing form of class conflict. He assumed those wage laborers are in need to revolt to bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth and political power.
Class conflict appears in the harvest video since there is some kind of a struggle between the lower class (migrants) who would represent the workers and the upper class (farm owners) who would represent the capitalists. The conflict would primarily be the fact that migrants do not get treated fairly. They are paid extremely poorly and make less than eighteen thousand dollars a year. That, in turn causes them to have tremendously poor living conditions. The families shown in this film live in small, run down houses that are exceptionally dirty. Some of the houses that were shown in the film didn’t even have doors; instead families hung towels or sheets
... is an allusion to something elemental beyond class. Through Heathcliff and his many experiences it can be seen that nothing can trump the importance of class – not childhood, love, hate, or money. Class has an unconditional importance within the novel and cannot be outshined by any other struggle. All though, there is also Bronte’s use of a relationship of souls, an element of self that goes beyond social class. This element is seen through Catherine and Heathcliff, however, it is trumped and ruined by class. It is also seen through Cathy and Hareton, whom are not ruined by class in the end, but attempt to find a way to fix their classes in order to be happy. Thus, social class is of great importance, but, Emily Bronte suggests that it is not the only thing that is important.
Wuthering Heights seems to be a series of destructive decisions. Heathcliff and Catherine never achieve a life of happiness together; their actions cannot lead to a blissful ending. The other characters are guilty of creating their own strife, whether from personal faults or lack of wisdom. In a way, Emily Bronte’s ability to weave flaws into each person’s character lends a sense of reality or humanness to the novel; no one is seen as entirely good or bad. Without lecturing her readers, Bronte demonstrates just how regrettable succumbing to impulses can be. I realized while reading that even though their lives have an aspect of romance, I would never want to live the way that they did.
There is two stereotypical types of families, one where the children learn from their parents behavior and do the same as they grow up, and the other where they dislike – and do the opposite. In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, the characters are quite intricate and engaging. The story takes place in northern England in an isolated, rural area. The main characters of the novel reside in two opposing households: Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights is a story of a dynamic love between two people. This love transcends all boundaries, including that over life and death. The author takes parallelism to great extends. Much of the events that happen in the first half of the story correspond to events in the second half; first generation of characters is comparable to the second generation. Many may argue that the characters are duplicates of each other and that they share many traits. Although Catherine Earnshaw and Cathy Linton are mother and daughter, their personalities and lifestyles are very different. This is a great example where the child is and behaves quite different than her mother.
World Health Organization, 3 September 2007. Web. The Web. The Web. 4 Apr 2011.
Wuthering Heights is a classic in which Emily Bronte presents two opposite settings using the country setting. Country settings are often used as a place of virtue and peace or of ignorance and one of primitivism as believed by many city dwellers. But, in the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte has used Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights to depict isolation and separation. Wuthering Heights setting is wild, passionate, and strong and Thrushcross Grange and its inhabitants are calm, harshly strict, and refined and these two opposite forces struggle throughout the novel.
In every author’s life, there is an event or sequence of childhood/ early adulthood events that have shaped the author’s life and general point of view. These events often color or influence the author’s outlook and filter their way into the author’s work. In Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, this is clearly shown.
The setting used throughout the novel Wuthering Heights, helps to set the mood to describe the characters. We find two households separated by the cold, muddy, and barren moors, one by the name of Wuthering Heights, and the other Thrushcross Grange. Each house stands alone, in the mist of the dreary land, and the atmosphere creates a mood of isolation. These two places, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange differ greatly in appearance and mood. These differences reflect the universal conflict between storm and calm that Emily Bronte develops as the theme.
“Wuthering Heights is a strange, inartistic story”(Atlas, WH p. 299). “Wuthering Heights is a strange sort of book” (Douglas, WH p.301). “This is a strange book” (Examiner, WH p.302). “His work [Wuthering Heights] is strangely original” (Britannia, WH p.305). These brief quotes show that early critics of Emily Bronte’s first edition of Wuthering Heights, found the novel baffling in its meaning - they each agreed separately, that no moral existed within the story therefore it was deemed to have no real literary value. The original critical reviews had very little in the way of praise for the unknown author or the novel. The critics begrudgingly acknowledged elements of Wuthering Heights that could be considered strengths – such as, “rugged power” and “unconscious strength” (Atlas, WH p.299), “purposeless power” (Douglas, WH p.301), “evidences of considerable power” (Examiner), “power and originality” (Britannia, WH p.305). Strange and Powerful are two recurring critical interpretations of the novel. The critics did not attempt to provide in depth analysis of the work, simply because they felt that the meaning or moral of the story was either entirely absent or seriously confused.
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights can be considered a Gothic romance or an essay on the human relationship. The reader may regard the novel as a serious study of human problems such as love and hate, or revenge and jealousy. One may even consider the novel Bronte's personal interpretation of the universe. However, when all is said and done, Heathcliff and Catherine are the story. Their powerful presence permeates throughout the novel, as well as their complex personalities. Their climatic feelings towards each other and often selfish behavior often exaggerates or possibly encapsulates certain universal psychological truths humans are too afraid to express. Heathcliff and Catherine's stark backgrounds evolve respectively into dark personalities and mistaken life paths, but in the end their actions determine the course of their own relationships and lives. Their misfortunes, recklessness, willpower, and destructive passion are unable to penetrate the eternal love they share.
Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Bronte, has 323 pages. The genre of Wuthering Heights is realistic fiction, and it is a romantic novel. The book is available in the school library, but it was bought at Barnes and Nobles. The author’s purpose of writing Wuthering Heights is to describe a twisted and dark romance story. Thus, the author conveys the theme of one of life’s absolute truths: love is pain. In addition, the mood of the book is melancholy and tumultuous. Lastly, the single most important incident of the book is when Heathcliff arrives to Edgar Linton’s residence in the Granges unannounced to see Catherine’s state of health. Heathcliff’s single visit overwhelmed Catherine to the point of death.
In the novel Wuthering Heights, a story about love that has turned into obsession, Emily Bronte manipulates the desolate setting and dynamic characters to examine the self-destructive pain of compulsion. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is a novel about lives that are intertwined with one another. All the characters in this novel are commingled in their relationships with Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Bronte uses the issue of social class to focus in on how an outsider, Heathcliff, is treated when he enters in a new society with a changing class structure to show the idea that class is something that begins with ancestors and current members conform into it is present. At the time, the industrialization of England caused the levees in place to yield to allow for a new middle class. This rise of middle, working class stirs up conflict between the dominant upper class and the rising lower classes. This class conflict, the oppression against the lower classes serves as the basis for Heathcliff’s interactions, treatments, and future tyrannical actions in Wuthering Heights to show the class struggle placed on society by industrialization.