The Romantic period and the formative experience on the Brontes
The Romantic period had a formative experience on the Brontes. In order to examine this formative experience, we must suppose first that the Bronte sisters had been exposed to many Dark-romantic/Gothic writings that had shaped their world-views and influenced their literary products. We will need to take a look, thus, at some of the Gothic-romantic works which certainly could have impacted the different ways in which the Bronte sisters chiseled their literary characters and created their fictional worlds.
Lord Byron’s Manfred and Emily Bronte ‘creation of the morbid passion experienced by Heathcliff and Catherine.
In order to investigate Emily Bronte’s indebtedness to Byron’s works, particularly his work Manfred, I will concentrate in this part of the paper on the authoress’ s appropriation and emphasis on the Gothic elements presented in Lord Byron’s “Manfred” such as the Gothic setting(Manfred’s castle) , the spectral nature of Astarte and the supernatural aspects of Manfred’s nature.
“Manfred” is one of Lord Byron’s dramatic poems that tells the story of a man of supernatural abilities, internally tortured by some mysterious guilt. The nature of the Byronic hero's guilt is widely thought to be associated with an incestuous relationship with his sister Astarte, for whose death Manfred feels responsible. “Manfred” represents Byron's articulation of the Byronic hero, a figure so far superior to other humans that he needs not be bound by the constraints of human society. Similarly, he submits to no spiritual authority, rejecting pantheism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. He uses his mastery of language and spell-casting to summon seven spirits, from whom he see...
... middle of paper ...
...2-4). It is in this respect that many Gothic analogies exist between Lord Byron’s “Manfred” and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. It is in this respect that Emily Bronte’s literary bent of mind is highly influenced by Byron’s writings. Similarities between the two characters also align in Manfred’s first act monologue, in which the Byronic hero identifies himself with Satan:
“Half dust, half deity, alike unfit
To sink or soar, with our mixed essence make
A conflict of these elements, and breathe
The breath of degradation and of pride,
Contending with low wants and lofty will,
Till our Mortality predominates,
And men are—what they name not to themselves,
And trust not to each other.” (Lord Byron: act 1).
A parallel description is given to Heathcliff when he is called, in one instance of the Brontean text «dark almost as if [he] came from the devil” (Emily Bronte: 36)
In Stephen Dunn’s 2003 poem, “Charlotte Bronte in Leeds Point”, the famous author of Jane Eyre is placed into a modern setting of New Jersey. Although Charlotte Bronte lived in the early middle 1800’s, we find her alive and well in the present day in this poem. The poem connects itself to Bronte’s most popular novel, Jane Eyre in characters analysis and setting while speaking of common themes in the novel. Dunn also uses his poem to give Bronte’s writing purpose in modern day.
In what follows, my research paper will rely on an article by Kathy Prendergast entitled “Introduction to The Gothic Tradition”. The significance of this article resides in helping to recapitulate the various features of the Gothic tradition. In this article the authoress argues that in order to overturn the Enlightenment and realistic literary mores, many of the eighteenth century novelists had recourse to traditional Romantic conventions in their works of fiction, like the Arthurian legendary tales (Prendergast).
Analyse the methods Charlotte Brontë uses to make the reader empathise with Jane Eyre in the opening chapters. Reflect on how the novel portrays Victorian ideology and relate your analysis to the novel’s literary content.
Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, set in the countryside of England’s 1700’s, features a character named Heathcliff, who is brought into the Earnshaw family as a young boy and quickly falls into a passionate, blinding romance with the Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine. However, Heathcliff is soon crushed by this affection when his beloved chooses the company of another man rather than his own. For the remainder of the novel he exudes a harsh, aversive attitude that remains perduring until his demise that is induced by the loss of his soulmate, and in turn the bereavement of the person to whom the entirety of his being and his very own self were bound.
. 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.
Lodge, Scott. "Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Bronte's War of Earthly Elements." The Brontes: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Gregor. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970. 110-36.
...cott. "Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Bronte's War of Earthly Elements." The Brontes: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Gregor. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970. 110-36.
The presentation of childhood is a theme that runs through two generations with the novel beginning to reveal the childhood of Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, and with the arrival of the young Liverpudlian orphan, Heathcliff. In chapter four, Brontë presents Heathcliff’s bulling and abuse at the hands of Hindley as he grows increasingly jealous of Heathcliff for Mr. Earnshaw, his father, has favoured Heathcliff over his own son, “my arm, which is black to the shoulder” the pejorative modifier ‘black’ portrays dark and gothic associations but also shows the extent of the abuse that Heathcliff as a child suffered from his adopted brother. It is this abuse in childhood that shapes Heathcliff’s attitudes towards Hindley and his sadistic nature, as seen in chapter 17, “in rousing his rage a pitch above his malignity” there is hyperbole and melodrama as the cruelty that stemmed from his abuse in childhood has been passed onto Isabella in adulthood.
Nelly uses imagery combined with allusion to earlier days in order to propound the true love Catherine experienced for Heathcliff before her death. In earlier days, Heathcliff and Catherine were described as inseparable, in true love with each other, however, over time, began to separate from each other. Nelly’s statement solidifies the true love Catherine felt right to her death; gripping me, for I know that Heathcliff’s rage is soon to come. This sudden realization drives Heathcliff mad, for she took her own life while in love with him, he wishes that “‘she wake in torment!’...with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion” (Bronte 205). This sudden hatred towards Catherine shocks me, however, Nelly’s short but concrete statement, ungovernable passion, expounds Heathcliff’s uncontrollable, boundaryless love for Catherine that now drives him mad; a beautiful
Varghese, Dr. Lata Marina. "Stylistic Analysis of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights." IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 2.5 (2012): 46-50. Print.
Catherine’s revenge does not make things better for her. Her revenge on Heathcliff by blaming him for her upcoming death does not meliorate her mind. Just before she dies, she ascribes Heathcliff for her “murder.” “You have killed me, and thriven on it, I think” (Bronte 158). Catherine resembles what Oliver Goldsmith said, “When lovely woman stoops to folly, and finds too late that men betray, what charm can soothe her melancholy?
However, there are parts where Bronte has changed the typical 'Gothic novel' around. For example, at the meeting of Jane and Mr Rochester. Here it seems that Jane is the hero, and Mr Rochester is the heroine. This adds contrast and makes it seem more interesting for the reader, as they would it expect Jane to be the heroine, and Mr Rochester the hero.
Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, is not a book that can easily be viewed through one critical theory. However, by knowing the historical background of when Bronte developed her novel, readers are able to understand Jane Eyre on a deeper level. The Victorian era was a time of change, and what authors like Charlotte Bronte did was help increase the change by shedding light into problems in Victorian society. Jane Eyre touches on many of the issues in Victorian society like feminist issues, class struggles, and the relationship between Britain and its colonies. Not only can readers see how much society has changed, but also the similarities. By understanding the novel at a historical level, readers can understand the novel through the lense
Bronte's Use of Language and Setting in Wuthering Heights Between pages 15 and 18 there are identifiable ways in which 'Bronte' uses 'language and setting' to establish the characters and create a distinguishable atmosphere. In this essay, themes, genres and styles will be discussed to show how 'Bronte' establishes the characters; there will also be a discussion of the 'gothic' elements which Wuthering Heights contains. Many people would argue that the style of 'Wuthering Heights' is peculiar and complex, the power of Wuthering Heights owes much to its complex narrative structure and to the device of having two conventional people relate a very unconventional tale. Bronte importantly introduces the element of 'the supernatural' into chapter 3 which is an important technique as it grips the reader. Lockwood has come into contact with the ghost of Cathy, who died 18 years before, Some might argue that she is a product of Lockwood's imagination, and it is clear that Bronte has presented these facts in this way so that the reader can make up their own mind on the subject.
Not only did the sisters’ literary relation is revealed in the many core artistic interests they shared, their literary synergy could be displayed also in their reactions to and critiques of each others’ works. An argument that has been affirmed by Edward Chitham in his book A Life of Anne Bronte, when he writes: “Anne‘s artistic and moral challenge to the content of her sisters’ novels comes in Wildfell Hall. Until this is recognized, readers may see the book as a pale version of Wuthering Heights, when it is in some aspects a critique of it” (Chitham: 134).