Emily Jane Bronte was a British narrator and poet. She was born on 30 July 1818 and died on 19 December 1848. Emily is known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights published in 1847 in London under her alias Ellis Bell. Her novel is a classic of English literature. Emily's character is mysterious and isolated. In addition, she has no friends outside the family. Among the literary works for Emily, the genre that is the most prominent in her writing is gothic, especially in her only novel Wuthering Heights.
Firstly, the novel of Wuthering Heights is categorized as a gothic novel and it includes gothic elements. Bronte's novel is an important part of Gothic literature because it reconnoiters darkness in human awareness. Gothic literature is described as something that explores the darker sides of humanity and it is a genre of popular writers like Faulkner, Shelley, and Poe. Wuthering Height's novel is a great example of Gothic Literature, owing in to the madness, decay, and setting. The gothic work is a combination of some of the elements. First, the castle whether was intact or destroyed or haunted or not. It plays a main role even being called a major character in the gothic novel. Second, the destroyed buildings that are evil or that excite a pleasing sadness. Third, winding stairs, labyrinths, and dark corridors.
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Fourth, the extreme landscapes such as thick forests, extreme weather, icy wastes, and rugged mountains. Fifth, the hero whose true identity is discovered by the end of the novel. The Gothic inspires feelings of suspense, gloom, and mystery and tends to be sensational and dramatic such as necrophilia, incest, nameless terrors, and diabolism. It passes the boundaries, life and death, consciousness and unconsciousness, and daylight and dark. Sometimes explicitly, covertly, it displays taboos, transgression, and fears which fear of violation of social chaos, emotional collapse, and imprisonment. The elements of the gothic made their road to mainstream writing. They are found in some novels like Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Sir Walter Scott's novels and romantic poetry such as John Keats's 'The Eve of St. AgnAgnesd Samuel Coleridge's 'Christabel.'
Secondly, we will start with the main characters in the novel.
Heathcliff is an emotional and revengeful man who Faces a harsh childhood and later desires retribution from Hindley because of his deep love for Catherine. Catherine Earnshaw is an energetic but snobbish girl. She felt sad when Heathcliff left her and finally, she married a rich man called Edgar Linton. Hindley Earnshaw is Catherine’s brother. He is jealous of Heathcliff and he kicked out Heathcliff of the house after his father died. Edgar Linton is Catherine’s modest husband. He loves his wife and patronizes her well. Nelly Dean is one of the tellers of the story and she works as a valet at Wuthering Heights.
Thirdly, Wuthering Heights is the romantic and emotional love story between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. The story is told by the narrator Mr. Lockwood, who is a guest to Wuthering Heights through Nelly Dean, the valet. Emily's novel rounds around an orphan Heathcliff, the Linton relatives, Catherine Earnshaw, and her descendants. Heathcliff was an eager gypsy child adopted by the Earnshaw family. He fell in love with Catherine Earnshaw. In addition, she loved him, but they did not get married because she chose Edgar Linton, who was a rich man and had status. Heathcliff escapes with Isabella, Edgar's sister. After that, Heathcliff becomes a wealthy and esteemed man. Heathcliff still loves Catherine throughout the story. He was buried next to his lover when he died. Emily portrays the natural powers and events clearly whilst telling the plot through Nelly Dean and Mr. Lockwood to present the relationship between the internal and external naturalist world in Wuthering Heights. According to Virginia Woolf's notices in Wuthering Heights, she thinks that Emily wants “to say something across to her characters that are not only ‘I love’ or ‘I hate,’ but ‘we, the all human race’ and ‘you, the eternal powers. Emily managed to transfer important lessons around the world by using the extreme behavior of the difference between the characters, rather than just the lives of the figures themselves. According to Barbara Benedict, explicate that Emily herself in her role as a female author is a nosiness topic, but she becomes even more nosiness in her skillful ability to make a unique truth. In addition, Woolf depicts Emily as nearly possessing magic superpowers. The novel is full of boorish and antagonistic figures that mistreat and enact violence, revenge upon each other, and endlessly betray. The characters do not stratify to any recognizable collection of social values or follow any traditional ethical rule. Although, the savage figures and the fuzzy morality of the novel, Wuthering Heights was highly popular in its time, and still has been respected in high honor through the years. Whilst the novel is so loved and continuously praised for its poetic writing style, Wuthering Heights raises uncounted questions and elucidates many interpretations. The novel transacts with immortal topics such as the thirst for vengeance, the precariousness of social classes, and obsessive love. It is an e ample of gothic fiction. In addition, a weird novel has attracted inquisitive readers for many generations.
In addition, the characters in the novel find death and destiny most of the time, which leads to a sort of intrigue that colors the novel. Wuthering Heights has become a myth through Emily’s puritanical culture and literature. On the other hand, the use of setting and nature imagery in Wuthering Heights helps to value how human beings are influenced by the environment and conflict to disagree with naturalistic influence through their internal worlds. That means that some figures such as Catherine and Heathcliff intend to repress the force of the naturalist Scene. According to Barbara M. Benedict, curiosity in English culture is ambition, an ambition that creates the shape of a perceptible violation of species and categories. The Catherine character has two goals. First, it is a metaphor for how she feels about leaving Wuthering Heights. The next, it threatens and warns of, Catherine's life after death.
Finally, there are some quotations from the novel. The first one is about suffering.
'Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!’ He dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting his eyes, howled, not like a man but like a savage beast being goaded to death with knives and spears.' (Sparknotes.com, 2019)
The analysis: Nelly clarifies to Mr. Lockwood how Heathcliff suffered after Catherine’s death. She recurs Heathcliff’s scar of sadness and then depicts his animalistic situation. Whilst both her husband and her lover bear in losing Catherine, Heathcliff’s hardship resonates in the love with Catherine. The suffering and Self-destroying still scruples haunt Heathcliff throughout the novel.
The second one is about social class.
'Catherine had kept up her acquaintance with the Lintons and she had no temptation to show her rough side in their company and had the sense to be ashamed of being rude where she experienced such invariable courtesy, she imposed unwittingly on the old lady and gentlemen gained the admiration of Isabella, and the heart and soul of her brother: acquisitions that flattered her from the first she was full of ambition and led her to adopt a double character without exactly intending to deceive anyone.' (Sparknotes.com, 2019)
The analysis: Catherine adapted to the Lintons’ higher class. Nelly depicts how Catherine developed thing of her be divided personality to earn the love of the Lintons whilst also suitable for the love of Heathcliff. Catherine aspires to move to the higher social class to enjoy and knows that the higher class will improve her life.
The last quotation is about revenge.
'I want you to be aware that I know you have treated me infernally—infernally! and if you think I can be consoled by sweet words, you are an idiot: and if you fancy I’ll suffer unrevenged, I’ll convince you of the contrary, in a very little while! Meantime, thank you for telling me your sister-in-law’s secret: I swear I’ll make the most of it.' (Sparknotes.com, 2019)
The analysis: Heathcliff talks with Catherine about his schema to vengeance and he does not forget how to mistreat him by everyone. He decided that he would use Isabella Linton who is Edgar's sister to achieve his vindictive strategies. In addition, something that has increased his design of the range is the marriage of his lover Catherine to Edgar Earnshaw. Heathcliff’s revenge became an inescapable and driving force throughout the novel.
In conclusion, the novel combines romance and realism. Some have judged her immoral and others praised her strength and authenticity. It was written by Emily Bronte, and which considered a work that combined passion and hatred. Emily's life was secret and her record was very meager because she tended to the silent and calm.
The list of references:
- Academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu. (2019). Emily Bronte Overview. [Online] Available at HYPERLINK 'http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/gothic.html' http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/gothic.html [Accessed 17 Nov. 2019].
- Aldewan, M. (2017). Wuthering Heights as a Gothic Novel. [E-book] Iraq: IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, pp. 01-05. Available at: http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.%2022%20Issue7/Version-1/A2207010105 .pdf [Accessed 4 Nov. 2019].
- Anderson, W. E. (1993). The Lyrical Form of Wuthering Heights. Major Literary Characters: Heathcliff, (Ed: H. Bloom), Chelsea: 114-133, New York.
- Sparknotes.com. (2019). Spark Notes: Wuthering Heights Quotes Supernatural Elements. [Online] Available at: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wuthering/quotes/theme/supernatural-elements/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2019].
- Anon, (2019). [Online] Available at: https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/wuthering-heights-gothic-romance-344324 [Accessed 18 Nov. 2019].
- En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Emily Bronte. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB [Accessed 17 Nov. 2019].
- Bartleby.com. (2019). Gothic and Gothic Literature: Wuthering Heights - 1194 Words | Bartleby. [Online] Available at: https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Gothic-And-Gothic-Literature-Wuthering-Heights-PKURLBVKRZKQ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].
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