I848, at the age of only 30, the sensational recognised Wuthering Heights made a monumental dramatic entrance for her career. She was a greedy woman, greedy for strong passionate words that will zap electrical shocks of emotion, irony and fear through your body. Words which both you and I cannot ever put together as she did, her name, Emily Brontë.
Emily Brontë was one of the most dignified women of her era. Although she had an eccentric, out of the ordinary way to put herself forward, like all women, at the time, without rights/privileges, women where not as free as they are today. It is thanks to people like Emily Brontë who stood up, and showed what woman can do and will do; they are capable of doing what men do. They used pen names, male names to hide their identity; her pen name, Ellis Bell, As women where not allowed to be writers during this time period, they stayed at home, got married or became governesses, but that would be the limit. Sadly as much as 1848 being a blessed year it was a mournful, sombre dark ending for Emily, her death.
Wuthering Heights is set in the Yorkshire Moors where Brontë grew up to be a psychologically troubled woman; her upbringing may have had a big impact on her behaviour correspondingly, like the difference amid Heathcliff and the Linton’s. I am going to analyse and explain how Emily Brontë creates effective use of different themes throughout her novel.
The main theme of the novel includes possession-love-hate-death and revenge. The main characters Catherine and Heathcliff reflect these themes in various styles for example, Heathcliff is possessed to Catherine, he loves not any other woman, Catherine states “I am Heathcliff”, this illustrates the obsession between them and around them Cat...
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...in the room, amongst the open windows, Emily Brontë, here shows a sign that Heathcliff went towards death, death did not catch him. He has committed suicide. He has dies happily in his mind, leaving us, the readers knowing not of what happens after, that is a mystery untold, a mystery that only Brontë knew the answer to and she taken this deep secret along with her forever and ever.
personally I thought Wuthering Heights was fanciful, some people say they witness the souls and spirits of Catherine and Heathcliff still roaming around today in the shadowy, spine-chilling areas of Haworth today. Wuthering Heights is known as “The book of hell” or “The book of Satan”. It is cursed and a powerful book to some, fatal plus noxious, a book not to be read aloud... it is as dark and horrific as your imagination could ever go beyond imagining...
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Heathcliff cried vehemently, "I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!" Emily Brontë distorts many common elements in Wuthering Heights to enhance the quality of her book. One of the distortions is Heathcliff's undying love for Catherine Earnshaw. Also, Brontë perverts the vindictive hatred that fills and runs Heathcliff's life after he loses Catherine. Finally, she prolongs death, making it even more distressing and insufferable.
Emily Bronte wrote only one novel in her life. Wuthering Heights written under her pen name, Ellis Bell, was published in 1847. Although, Wuthering Heights is said to be the most imaginative and poetic of all the Bronte's novels, Emily's book was not as popular as her older sister, Charlotte's, new release, Jane Eyre ("Bronte Sisters" 408). In looking at Bronte's writings, the major influences were her family, her isolation growing up, and her school experiences.
Shapiro, Arnold. “‘Wuthering Heights’ as a Victorian Novel.” Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 16. Eds. Joann Cerrito and Paul Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. 108-110.
The never-ending question pertaining to Emily Brontë is “how can such a sheltered child write such scandalous stories?” (The New Republic). Emily Brontë grew up in Yorkshire, England. Her mother, Maria Branwell, succumbed to cancer at the age of thirty eight, leaving Emily motherless at the age of three. Her father, Patrick Brontë, was a clergyman who secluded himself from even his family. He was even known to eat dinner in his own room. Mr. Brontë never remarried, leaving himself to raise six children on his own. This upbringing led to Emily’s lack of familiarity with the outside world (Emily Jane Brontë).
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is a novel about lives that cross paths and are intertwined with one another. Healthcliff, an orphan, is taken in by Mr. Earnshaw, the owner of Wuthering Heights. Mr. Earnshaw has two children named Catherine and Hindley. Jealousy between Hindley and Healthcliff was always a problem. Catherine loves Healthcliff, but Hindley hates the stranger for stealing his fathers affection away. Catherine meets Edgar Linton, a young gentleman who lives at Thrushcross Grange. Despite being in love with Healthcliff she marries Edgar elevating her social standing. The characters in this novel are commingled in their relationships with Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
Born to Patrick and Maria Bronte, Emily Bronte, the fifth girl out of six children, would lead a short life of isolation and unhappiness. Her father was an “industrious Irish clergyman” who had been born in Ireland on March 17, 1777. He was a teacher and graduated from Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts degree before being “ordained to curacies” (Laban). Her mother, Maria Bronte, was a Cornish merchant’s daughter.
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.
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...
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.
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. "Wuthering Heights and Milton's Satan."Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 6 Dec. 2013 .
Wuthering Heights is filled with different examples of the Romantic Movements. Heathcliff is an exceptionally difficult character to analyze because he displays numerous altered personalities. This raises the question: which Romantic Movement was most common in Wuthering Heights? An analysis of Wuthering Heights reveals the most common Romantic Movement in the text: Romanticism. Romanticism is based upon the ideas of subjectivity, inspiration and the primacy of the individual. Various examples of these from the text are when Heathcliff has Catherine’s grave excavated, the repeated possibility of supernatural beings, and the love from the past that is seen from Heathcliff and Catherine.
The supernatural is used widely throughout 'Wuthering Heights' and plays a big part in determining the outcome of the story. The Victorians were very superstitious about the supernatural. Education was already becoming commonplace in Victorian England, and education brought scepticism. The majority of people were very sceptical about the supernatural but not non-believers because of the number of ghost stories that came in this period. The age of the Victorians was an important period where people's perceptions and ghosts changed dramatically, from partially believing in ghosts, to not believing in them at all, yet still being terrified of them. This clearly explains Heathcliff's reaction to seeing the ghost of Cathy. At first, the book was seen as shocking and inappropriate by all its readers.
“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.
Set in England on the Yorkshire Moors in the 19th century, Emily Bronts novel Wuthering Heights is the story of lovers who try to withstand the separation of social classes and keep their love alive. The main characters, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff grew up in a middle class English countryside cottage called Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff was the servant and Catherine the daughter of the owner of Wuthering Heights. As children, Heathcliff and Catherine were the best of friends. They shared a friendship which turned to love with their coming of age. However, Catherine married a man of the upper class society and was forced to end her love affair with Heathcliff.