In The Editor's Preface of Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Brontё characterises the novel using its 'storm-heated and electrical atmosphere'. This preface acts as an apology to the Victorian reader for the pervasive violence in the novel. This horrified many Victorian readers due to its perversion of early Victorian distinct puritanical ideas of moral sense, which advised against violence, linking it with evil. Emily Brontё presents violence in the novel Wuthering Heights as an intrinsic facet of nature; and an omnipotent force, which both informs the actions of the parts and the metaphysical and natural aspects of the scene.
Brontё uses the transformation of Hareton in the closing chapter of the novel, in society to portray violent as consistent and inescapable. Brontё uses Lockwood’s changing descriptions of Hareton throughout the novel, from ‘bearish’ to 'respectably dressed' in order to signify Hareton's change from animalistic to the ideal Victorian gentleman. However, despite this transformation Brontё does not portray Hareton as having separated himself his previously violent nature. In 'smart slap' Brontё's use of double entendre associates Hareton's newfound education with violence, suggesting that violence is an intrinsic aspect of human nature as it is something that remains a personality trait of Hareton's despite other drastic changes.
Brontё portrays violence as an omniscient force in Wuthering Heights by associating violence with familial relationships. The large royal family led to the family unit being seen as an integral factor of Victorian life throughout the era thus its association with violence presents violence as an omnipresent force. Brontё's depicts violence as resolving the lack of equality between Earns...
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...eful act for the morally just. Brontё further employs the use of the character Nelly in order to present violence as customary. In The Editors Preface of Wuthering Heights, Nelly is described as a paragon of ‘homely fidelity', a quality prized in the ideal early domestic Victorian woman. Brontё's depiction of Nelly Dean description of her violent actions in Chapter 27 'I rush on him furiously' depicts a benevolent character unashamed of violence. Brontё uses the personal pronoun 'I' to imply the comfortable ownership of their violence 'rush' displayed by otherwise virtuous characters in Wuthering Heights.
To conclude, Brontë introduces violence as a tying force between her characters and settings in Wuthering Heights. She does not confine violent behaviour to certain characters or settings, but seems to use it as a reminder to the reader of intrinsic human nature.
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights share similarities in many aspects, perhaps most plainly seen in the plots: just as Clarissa marries Richard rather than Peter Walsh in order to secure a comfortable life for herself, Catherine chooses Edgar Linton over Heathcliff in an attempt to wrest both herself and Heathcliff from the squalid lifestyle of Wuthering Heights. However, these two novels also overlap in thematic elements in that both are concerned with the opposing forces of civilization or order and chaos or madness. The recurring image of the house is an important symbol used to illustrate both authors’ order versus chaos themes. Though Woolf and Bronte use the house as a symbol in very different ways, the existing similarities create striking resonances between the two novels at certain critical scenes.
Brontё further imposes the reader against this repressive society that emulates Heathcliff’s rejection because of his inexorable revenge. His revenge against Hindley begins to threaten the system because even with his nebulous and “gypsy” background he manages to ascend into the bourgeoisie status, reducing the unequal system to mere superstition. Arnold Kettle argues that these values represented in Wuthering Heights, which Heathcliff rebels, “reflects the specific tyranny of Victorian capitalist society” against gypsies and those with little social economic status, which Heathcliff embodies.
In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights Heathcliff is represented as a non-conformist due to his unorthodox behavior in relation to other characters. The novel gives an idealistic insight into the accepted social discourses of the era, to which Heathcliff does not comply. These unconventional heroic traits can be closely associated with that of the Byronic Hero. Heathcliff also struggles to adjust his persona to the stereotypical romance hero in his quest for love.
Charlotte Bronte uses violence in several scenes throughout the novel. The violence in the novel is not fatal to anyone, it is just used to catch the readers eye. This novel consists of many emotional aspects. For example, the violence in the scene where Mr. Mason gets attacked. The attack really upsets Jane and Mr. Rochester. In the novel Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte uses several acts of violence to create suspense, mystery, and characterization.
Seichepine, Marielle. "Childhood And Innocence In Wuthering Heights." Bronte Studies 29.3 (2004): 209-215. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
(2) Emily Bronte’s purpose in writing Wuthering Heights is to depict unfulfilled love in a tragic romance novel and hence the theme of Wuthering Heights is love is pain. Emily Bronte reveals an important life lesson that love is not sufficient for happiness and if anything, stirs up more agony. This message is important because, although it is difficult to accept, the message is devastatingly honest. In Wuthering Heights, two characters named Heathcliff and Catherine loved each other immensely. However, their pride and adamance disabled them from making any progress on their romantic relationship. In fact, Heathcliff and Catherine purposely hurt each another through reckless and cruel actions. The author is exemplifying a recurring theme in history that love is associated with pain. The message allows readers to be aware that love is not constant perfection and happiness.
Wuthering Heights is a novel which deviates from the standard of Victorian literature. The novels of the Victorian Era were often works of social criticism. They generally had a moral purpose and promoted ideals of love and brotherhood. Wuthering Heights is more of a Victorian Gothic novel; it contains passion, violence, and supernatural elements (Mitchell 119). The world of Wuthering Heights seems to be a world without morals. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë does not idealize love; she presents it realistically, with all its faults and merits. She shows that love is a powerful force which can be destructive or redemptive. Heathcliff has an all-consuming passion for Catherine. When she chooses to marry Edgar, his spurned love turns into a destructive force, motivating him to enact revenge and wreak misery. The power of Heathcliff’s destructive love is conquered by the influence of another kind of love. Young Cathy’s love for Hareton is a redemptive force. It is her love that brings an end to the reign of Heathcliff.
It is a question that has baffled readers and critics alike through generations, a question that can be endlessly pondered upon and debated over, as to why Emily Bronte chose to name her first and only novel, after the house in which a sizable part of the action chronicled takes place, despite being armed with characters of such extra-ordinary strength and passion as Heathcliff or Catherine. But on close scrutiny, a reader can perhaps discern the reason behind her choice, the fact that Wuthering Heights is at once a motif, a setting and according to a few critics, even a ‘premonitory indication’ of the tempestuous nature of things soon to occur.
Often in literature, the fictional written word mimics or mirrors the non-fictional actions of the time. These reflections may be social, historical, biographical, or a combination of these. Through setting, characters, and story line, an author can recreate in linear form on paper some of the abstract concepts and ideas from the world s/he is living in. In the case of Emily Bronte, her novel Wuthering Heights very closely mirrors her own life and the lives of her family members. Bronte's own life emerges on the pages of this novel through the setting, characters, and story line of Wuthering Heights.
Laar, Elisabeth T. M. The Inner Structure of Wuthering Heights: A Study of an Imaginative Field. The Hague: Mouton, 1969. Print.
Wuthering Heights is not just a love story, it is a window into the human soul, where one sees the loss, suffering, self discovery, and triumph of the characters in this novel. Both the Image of the Book by Robert McKibben, and Control of Sympathy in Wuthering Heights by John Hagan, strive to prove that neither Catherine nor Heathcliff are to blame for their wrong doings. Catherine and Heathcliff’s passionate nature, intolerable frustration, and overwhelming loss have ruined them, and thus stripped them of their humanities.
A multitude of feelings and sentiments can move a man to action, but in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, love and revenge are the only two passions powerful enough to compel the primary actors. There is consensus, in the academic community,1 that the primary antagonist in the novel, Heathcliff is largely motivated by a wanton lust for vengeance, and it is obvious from even a cursory reading that Edgar Linton, one of the protagonists, is mostly compelled by a his seemingly endless love for his wife, and it even seems as if this is reflected in the very nature of the characters themselves. For example, Heathcliff is described as “Black-eye[d]” [Brontë,1], “Dark skinned” [Brontë, 3] and a “dirty boy” [Brontë, 32]; obviously, black has sinister connotations, and darkness or uncleanliness in relation to the soul is a common metaphor for evil. On the converse, Edgar Linton is described as blue eyed with a perfect forehead [Brontë, 34] and “soft featured… [with] a figure almost too graceful” [Brontë, 40], which has almost angelic connotations. When these features and the actions of their possessors are taken into account, it becomes clear that Edgar and Heathcliff are not merely motivated by love and revenge as most academics suggest, but rather these two men were intended by Brontë to be love and hate incarnate.
Conflict as a result of class and gender division is a common theme seen throughout Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. Social contrasts and gender boundaries create oppression and tension amongst the characters, affecting their composure and behaviour throughout the novel.
“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.
When Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, first appeared in 1847, it was thought to be obscene and crude (Chase 19). To the common person, it was shocking and offensive, and it did not gain popularity until long after it was first published. When the piece of literature became widely read and discussed, however, Bronte was declared as a “romantic rebel against repressive conventions and a writer who made passion part of novelistic tradition” (Chase 19). Unlike earlier writers, Bronte used factors from her own life and passions that she personally held to construct her classic novel. For example, Joseph’s bible-thumper character most likely symbolizes her father, who was a minister. However, Bronte’s book is not only a breakthrough to literature in these ways. The narration of the story is also very unique and divergent because there are multiple narrators. Bronte’s character Lockwood is used to narrate the introductory and concluding sections of the novel whereas Nelly Dean narrates most of the storyline. It’s interesting that Nelly Dean is used because of her biased opinions. In addition, the structure of Wuthering Heights displays a uniqueness. Just as Elizabethan plays have five acts, Wuthering Heights is composed of two “acts,” the times before and after Catherine’s death. However, unlike stereotypical novels, Wuthering Heights has no true heroes or villains. “Although this work was written in the Romantic Period, it is not a romance. There are no true heroes or villain...