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analysis of wuthering heights by emily bronte
analysis of wuthering heights by emily bronte
analysis of wuthering heights by emily bronte
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Social class plays a very significant part in my core text, ‘Wuthering Heights’ and also my partner text , ‘Sons and Lovers’ because it helps the reader determine a sense of character and plays a massive part in the reader finding the true depth of a character. Social class in both novels is determined by location and the origin of the characters, as in ‘Wuthering Heights’ we see that Heathcliff is considered as abnormal and known as having a lower social class because of the uncertainty of his origin. Also in ‘Sons and Lovers’ we see the battle and life between a refined woman of middle class aspirations to a low class hard working miner and their son who discovers a ne conflict of loyalties after many years of taking after his mother. The main female characters in the novels which are Catherine, Cathy and Gertrude have much of the focus of the novels which shows their difficult decisions based on social class, but the other women who are Isabella and Annie are in many ways unessential. The novels reflect how women were viewed in the Victorian era which was inferior to men, thus placing severe limits on women’s aspirations. The main female characters in both novels represent the frustrated, ambitious women who are forced to do and say bad things to climb the social ladder. The stories display their passion which was reviewed negatively in the Victorian era which shows how important social class was to everyone. In Victorian times social class was decided by whom people had married and the location they lived in and people were judged on what they had, this is shown in ‘Wuthering Heights; because Catherine makes a decision on whom to marry based on the men’s social status. Wuthering Heights is portrayed as a house with low ... ... middle of paper ... ...rine has just accepted Edgar’s marriage proposal and is confessing her true feelings to Nelly. ‘My love for Linton is like the foliage in the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary.’ During the conversation between Catherine and Nelly, Catherine contrasts her love for Edgar which is shown as temporal to that for Heathcliff which is shown as eternal, and when she identifies herself with Heathcliff, she ally’s herself with a different material which is rocks verses foliage and this links to the natural imagery used in the novel of Catherine and Edgar being of different essences, so her decision to marry Edgar is a shock to the reader and she only marries Edgar because it would result in her living in Thrushcross Grange which embodies her goal to become higher in the social class scale.
“My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods; time will change it… My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath... Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” This quote from Catherine explains her love for both men, even though one is stronger than the other. Her love for Edgar is superficial. Edgar Linton is made to feel helpless when Catherine falls into a catatonic depression, after she is alerted that Heathcliff and Isabella eloped. He was gullible to Catherine's love, even if it was not a full devotion to him. She needed to keep up her responsibility as Edgar's wife, and not let herself fall for Heathcliff. Similarly to what Eleanor Roosevelt said, “And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility”
To further contrast Edgar’s and Nelly’s opinion s of Catherine ways, Edgar sees Catherine as docile, calm, and loving. This side to Catherine can be attributed to when she stays at the Linton’s home. Catherine spends five with the Linton’s and while she is there she does not show her rough rude side in their company. As describe by the narrator, she took care not to act like a young ruffian and worse than a brute; comparing her to Heathcliff (her lover). While on the other hand, Nelly recognizes this calm behavior displays by Catherine as one of double standard; she being deceitful to get her own
“I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.” (Bronte 70) Emily Bronte went through a life of difficulties such as her poverty, family, relationships, and hardships. She also went through many experiences that formed her into the writer that she is today.
The complicated nature surrounding Heathcliff’s motives again adds an additional degree of ambiguity to his character. This motivation is primarily driven by Catherine’s marriage to Edgar and past rejection of Heathcliff, since he was a servant whom Hindley disapproved of. Prior to storming out of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff overhears Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (Brontë 87). The obstacles that ultimately prevent Heathcliff from marrying Catherine provide insight into Heathcliff’s desire to bring harm to Edgar and Hindley. The two men play prominent roles in the debacle, Edgar as the new husband and Hindley as the head figure who refused Heathcliff access to Catherine. Following this incident, Catherine says, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” (Brontë 87). Catherine’s sentiment indicates she truly would rather be with Heathcliff, but the actions of others have influenced her monumental decision to marry Edgar. Furthermore, Heathcliff is motivated to not only ruin Edgar’s livelihood, but also gain ownership of his estate, Thrushcross Grange. This becomes clear when Heathcliff attempts to use Isabella
“It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff, now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever or souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.” (81) Catherine is admitting that she and Heathcliff are meant to be together and not Linton because Catherine and Heathcliff’s souls have a connection while Linton’s is different from hers because Catherine describes Linton has having the complete opposite type of soul or personality. This quote relates to the motif of nature because Catherine uses metaphorical terms to compare her soul and Linton’s soul using “frost from fire” or “moonbeam from lightning”. In Wuthering Heights, when Heathcliff was younger, at one point he went off with Catherine to the moors to be together. “But it was one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in the morning and remain there all day, and the after punishment grew a mere thing to laugh at.” (46) Later in the book Catherine describes her current life if she was living in prison and wants to go back to the past in order to be back to the moors to be
Catherine Earnshaw appears to be a woman who is free spirited. However, Catherine is also quite self-centered. She clearly states that her love for Edgar Linton does not match how much she loves Heathcliff. She is saying that she does love both, and she is unwilling to give one up for the other; she wants “Heathcliff for her friend”. Catherine admits that her love for Linton is “like the foliage in the woods”; however, her love for Heathcliff “resembles the eternal rocks beneath”. She loves Heathcliff and yet she gives him up and marries Linton instead, Catherine believes that if she marries Heathcliff it would degrade and humiliate her socially.
Emily Bronte had to deal with a perpetuity of hardships, she was still able to write her
Catherine is trapped between her love of Heathcliff and her love for Edgar, setting the two men down a path of destruction, a whirlwind of anger and resentment that Catherine gets caught in the middle of. Catherine is drawn to Heathcliff because of his fiery personality, their raw attraction and one certainly gets the sense that they are drawn together on a deeper level, that perhaps they are soulmates. C. Day Lewis thought so, when he declared that Heathcliff and Catherine "represent the essential isolation of the soul...two halves of a single soul–forever sundered and struggling to unite." This certainly seems to be backed up in the novel when Catherine exclaims “Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind--not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being...” This shows clearly the struggle Catherine feels as she is drawn spiritually to Heathcliff, but also to Edgar for very different reasons. Edgar attracts Catherine predominantly because he is of the right social class. Catherine finds him "handsome, and pleasant to be with," but her feelings for him seem petty when compared to the ones she harbours...
During the first half of the book, Catherine showed different types of love for two different people. Her love for Heathcliff was her everything, it was her identity to love and live for Heathcliff but as soon as she found out how society views Heathcliff, she sacrificed their love and married Edgar Linton in the hopes of saving Heathcliff from Hindley and protecting him from the eyes of society. In her conversation with Nelly, Cathy who professed her love for Heathcliff quoted “My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself.” Catherine proved Nelly Dean that the only person who can make her feel pain and sorrow is Heathcliff. The extent of her love was uncovered when she sang her praise of “I am Heathcliff” because this was the turning point in the book that allowed the readers to truly understand and see the depth of Cathy's love for Heathcliff. On the other hand, Catherine's love for Edgar wasn't natural because it was a love that she taught herself to feel. It might have come unknowingly to Cathy but she did love Edgar as she said “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees.” Cathy knew that it was not impossible to love Edgar for he was a sweet and kind gentleman who showed her the world but unlike ...
Emily Bronte Emily Bronte was born in Thornton on July 30, 1818 and later moved with her family to Haworth, an isolated village on the Moors. Her mother, Maria Branwell Bronte died when Emily Bronte was only three years old, this left Emily and her five siblings, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Anne, and Branwell to the care of their father Patrick Bronte. The Bronte siblings lived with their father, a Reverend named Patrick Bronte, in a manse very high above the community at Haworth in Yorkshire, England ("Bronte Sisters”). The manse was amongst the largest houses in Haworth, though in comparison with the homes of other clergymen in different areas of Great Britain, it would have been thought of as relatively tiny (www.bronte.org.uk). Patrick Bronte chose the Anglican Church over other jobs because it was the only career that presented him a way out of his poor Irish background.
...ly declared their love there. As respite from the prison of Wuthering Heights the moors are a mysterious place that is liberating, and boundaryless. Catherine says, “I wish I were out of doors- I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free” (105). Once Catherine compares Linton and Heathcliff saying, “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it, I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath a source of little visible delight, but necessary” (84).
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
McKibben and Hagan take different approaches to Wuthering Heights, but both approaches work together to form one unified concept. McKibben speaks of Wuthering Heights as a whole, while Hagan concentrates on only sympathies role in the novel. McKibben and Hagan both touch on the topic of Catherine and Heathcliff’s passionate nature. To this, McKibben recalls the scene in the book when Catherine is "in the throes of her self-induced illness" (p38). When asking for her husband, she is told by Nelly Dean that Edgar is "among his books," and she cries, "What in the name of all that feels has he to do with books when I am dying." McKibben shows that while Catherine is making a scene and crying, Edgar is in the library handling Catherine’s death in the only way he knows how, in a mild mannered approach. He lacks the passionate ways in which Catherine and Heathcliff handle ordeals. During this scene Catherine’s mind strays back to childhood and she comes to realize that "the Linton’s are alien to her and exemplify a completely foreign mode of perception" (p38). Catherine discovers that she would never belong in Edgar’s society. On her journey of self-discovery, she realized that she attempted the impossible, which was to live in a world in which she did not belong. This, in the end, lead to her death. Unlike her mother, when Cathy enters The Heights, "those images of unreal security found in her books and Thrushhold Grange are confiscated, thus leading her to scream, "I feel like death!" With the help of Hareton, Cathy learns not to place her love within a self created environment, but in a real life where she will be truly happy. The character’s then reappear as reconciled, and stability and peace once more return to The Heights.
Social class is an underlying factor to which all characters run their lives. It is always a priority and influenced most, if not every part of their lives. Most of the characters in the novel respect the rules of class and are always trying to climb the social ladder. Or if they are atop this ladder, they make it a mission that they remain there. Mrs. Bennet tried very hard to have her daughters marry the most socially advanced men and in the end the daughters chose socially respectable men. Elizabeth at first preached against marriage for money, but strangely mocked herself by marrying the richest of them all.
Social class has been a central theme in many famous literary works, that it is hardy a shock for anyone to read about it. Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, Scott FitzGerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”, and Charles Dickens’s “Great Expectations” for instance are just some of the many novels centralizing social class.