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Influence of the romantic movement
Give the biography of the novelist Emily bronte in writing
Essay on romantic movement
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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.
At one point in the text, readers picture Heathcliff’s excavation of Catherine’s grave. This scene is a vital extract in determining the most common Romantic Movement.
In the evening, I went to the churchyard. It blew bleak as winter—all round was solitary. I didn’t fear that her fool of a husband would wander up the glen so late; and no one else had business to bring them there. Being alone, and conscious two yards of loose earth was the sole barrier between us, I said to myself ‘I’ll have her in my arms again! (Brontë 297)
The scene above truly grasps the idea of Romanticism because Heathcliff is showing his emotions and individuality. His desire to be with Catherine is so powerful that he allows himself to disturb the peace and have enough space available for him to occupy after he has passed. This is very unusual because there are not any characters similar to Heathcliff in this text. This scene makes Heathcliff even more difficult to analyze but at the end we learn that the only thing he sincerely wanted throughout the text was to...
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... some point; how they reached that point was the true inspiration and splendor of this text.
Works Cited
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1921. Print.
"Introduction to Romanticism." University of Houston. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. .
Man, Paul De. The Rhetoric of Romanticism. New York: Columbia UP, 1984. Print.
Reynolds, Nicole. Building Romanticism: Literature and Architecture in Nineteenth-century Britain. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2010. Print.
"THE ROMANTIC NOVEL, ROMANTICISM, AND WUTHERING HEIGHTS." Emily Brontë. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. .
Travers, Martin. An Introduction to Modern European Literature from Romanticism to Postmodernism. New York, NY: St. Martin's, 2010. Print.
Catherine and Heathcliff have had an indisputable connection from the very beginning of the story. A special connection Catherine doesn’t want to admit to, but truly knows it’s there. From their exuberant adventures on the moors, to them making memories in the same household, and eventually Heathcliff’s desire for Catherine’s ghost to haunt him. It’s obvious they would’ve spent the rest of their waking moments together if it wasn’t for their difference in status. Otherwise, they could live the life they are supposed to live. Everything from how compatible and seemingly destined they are for each other, to the unfortunate turn of events that undoubtedly keep them apart. Their lifelong relationship plays a vital role in understanding this story and is expressed through the novel’s use of
Much of the blame for the tragic events could be placed upon Catherine. She unwisely chose to reject Heathcliff, even though “[thei]r souls…are the same” and marry Edgar Linton instead (Bronte 102). Their marriage was founded on love, but not a lasting bond. When asked to describe her relationship with Linton, Catherine says she is well aware that “time will change it…as winter changes the trees” (Bronte 104). She proves to be entirely selfish, accepting Linton’s marriage proposal with shallow motives. Linton is good-looking, affectionate, and wealthy, and even if their relationship will not be permanently fulfilling, he looks like the better choice in comparison to Heathcliff. Whatever motives convinced her to marry Linton betrayed her true feelings. I know how difficult it can be to choose between two people, especially when you don’t want to hurt either one. The decision is made even more confusing when you could picture yourself happy with each. In Catherine’s case, she was not worried about hurting their feelings as much as which one would be...
In the gothic novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, the author hides motifs within the story.The novel contains two major love stories;The wild love of Catherine, and Heathcliff juxtaposing the serene love of Cathy,and Hareton. Catherine’s and Heathcliff's love is the center of Emily Bronte’s novel ,which readers still to this day seem to remember.The characters passion, and obsession for each other seems to not have been enough ,since their love didn't get to thrive. Hareton and Cathy’s love is what got to develop. Hareton’s and Cathy’s love got to workout ,because both characters contained a characteristic that both characters from the first generation lacked: The ability to change .Bronte employs literary devices such as antithesis of ideas, and the motif of repetition to reveal the destructiveness of wild love versus a domestic love.
Catherine is the first woman that Heathcliff is introduced to. He treats her well; Heathcliff has never struck her or curse her. Throughout their childhood and adolescence, the pair are inseparable. When Catherine is injured at the Linton’s he refuses to leave her side,
Heathcliff's love for Catherine transcends the normal physical "true love" into spiritual love. He can withstand anything against him to be with her. After Hindley became the master of Wuthering Heights, he flogged Heathcliff like a slave. Although Heathcliff could have simply run away, his decision to endure the physical pains shows his unrelenting devotion to Catherine. Fortunately, Catherine feels as deeply for Heathcliff as he does for her, explaining to Nelly that "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…" Their love for each other is so passionate that they can not possibly live apart. At Catherine's death, Heathcliff hopes that she will not rest, but will haunt him until he dies. This absurdity contradicts the traditional norm that one should pray that the dead rest in peace. Near the end of the novel, we learn that Catherine has haunted Heathcliff, allowing him only fleeting glances of her. This shows that despite their physical separation, nothing can part them spiritually. When Heathcliff dies and unites with Catherine once again, the neighbors see them haunt the moors. We finally see the power of their love; Not only does this love transcend physical barriers, it transcends time as well...
Catherine and Heathcliff reveal their fervent devotion and affection for each other when the former is lying on her deathbed, and in those tender, moribund moments earnest and ardent confessions are made that signify their mutual adoration and are harbingers of Heathcliff’s adumbrative vengeance. Heathcliff suffers to see Catherine in such a ghostly state, and weeps at the idea of being without her, crying, ““Would you (Catherine) like to live with your soul in the grave?”” (151) In saying this he demonstrates not only his own pain at her imminent fate, but also their metaphorically entwined lives. He does so by connecting the departure of her soul to his own, claiming that when she dies, so too will he. Additionally, by mere fact that the normally stoic Heathcliff was found in a state of grievance over the unfortunate circumstances is indicative of the gravity and desperation that with her passing he regards. Nelly points out as much by her matter-of-fact remark, “...it seemed Heathcliff could weep on a great occasion like this.” (151) Therefore, Heathcliff’s anguish befo...
. The reader sees an extraordinary inwardness in Emily Bronte’s book Wuthering Heights. Emily has a gloomy and isolated childhood. . Says Charlotte Bronte, “ my sister’s disposition was not naturally gregarious; circumstances favored and fostered her tendency to seclusion; except to go to church, or to take a walk on the hills, she rarely crossed the threshold of home.”(Everit,24) That inwardness, that remarkable sense of the privacy of human experience, is clearly the essential vision of Wuthering Heights. Emily Bronte saw the principal human conflict as one between the individual and the dark, questioning universe, a universe symbolized, in her novel, both by man’s threatening and hardly-to-be-controlled inner nature, and by nature in its more impersonal sense, the wild lonesome mystery of the moors. The love of Heathcliff and Catherine, in its purest form, expresses itself absolutely in its own terms. These terms may seem to a typical mind, violent, and even disgusting. But having been generated by that particular love, they are the proper expressions of it. The passionately private relationship of Heathcliff and Catherine makes no reference to any social convention or situation. Only when Cathy begins to be attracted to the well-mannered ways of Thrushcross Grange, she is led, through them, to abandon her true nature.
Wuthering Heights is a symbol of the distinctive commotion, which is the overriding force in Bronte’s novel. A force that will damage, twist and harm anyone that comes across it. The actual meaning of the word ‘wuthering’ is a wind blowing strongly with a roaring sound. This picture serves as a metaphor that people, money, emotions, love etc… will be in jeopardy if not hold tight. Above all, this novel is obviously about love, a different and odd love. Emotions and love in this novel turn out to be very violent, brutal and ruthless just like wuthering.
The love and affection between the characters are what drives the characters into the actions they conduct. Heathcliff’s arrival at Wuthering Heights affected Catherine’s behaviors and actions. Nelly explains, “She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep separate from him” (42). Eventually, it brings the two great pleasure when they run away to the moors and remain there all day. While Catherine is communicating with Nelly about the marriage proposal, Heathcliff hears her comment about his social class. Heathcliff assumes that Catherine will marry Edgar Linton, so the absence of Catherine’s love results in Heathcliff’s runaway. He does not hear Catherine’s passionate remarks about him. She explains to Nelly, “…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 our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” (81). A few years later, he returns as a tall, athletic, and a well-formed man, and he is slightly richer than his former self. His refined presence brings such a jubilation to her which displays how their love never
On the face of it, it would seem that the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is self-destructive to an extreme. Due to the lovers’ precarious circumstances, passionate personalities and class divisions, it seems that fate transpires to keep them apart and therefore the hopelessness of their situation drives them to self destruction. However, although the relationship is undeniably self-destructive, there are elements within it that suggest the pain Heathcliff and Catherine put each other through is atoned for to an extent when they share their brief moments of harmony.
“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 our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and [Edgar’s] is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.” These words are spoken by Catherine Earnshaw in Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights. The complicated love triangle that exists between Catherine Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, and Heathcliff is central to the plot of Wuthering Heights. This, and other subplots about love between other characters make love the main theme of this novel.
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.
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.
In conclusion, Bronte uses the supernatural and ghosts in Wuthering Heights to emphasise the power of love between Cathy and Heathcliff and proving that love exists beyond the grave and that the quality of love is unending. Furthermore, ghosts are used to assist in the storytelling, to help in enhancing the setting and develop characterisation, particularly in the character of Heathcliff, Nelly and Lockwood. The use of the supernatural enables the reader to be intrigued by the confusing use of extraordinary beings.
Everyone knows about romance, whether it comes from films like The Notebook, songs like Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”, or innocent stories told like those of Disney Princesses. Generally, romance is about two people falling in love and overcoming obstacles to make that love happen for them. Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” doesn’t exactly follow that for Heathcliff and Catherine. An interesting twist for these two characters is that instead of breaking down obstacles to be with one another, they instead create obstacles for each other because of how much they love and want to be with each other. They recognize and measure the love they share for each other in life with souls and in death with spirits.