Shared Elements of The Jewel in the Crown and Wuthering Heights
The Jewel in the Crown, by Paul Scott, and Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte', are romantic tragedies which share many common elements. Although written in two vastly different time periods, the shared elements reveal the continuity of romantic tragedies over time. Wuthering Heights, a 19th century realistic fiction, shares the same kind of passionate, violent and emotional characters as The Jewel in the Crown, a post colonial modernist fiction. Both stories contain a love triangle which subsequently end in death.
In both stories, Catherine and Daphne are much alike in that they are the point around which the two men in their lives dance circles around.
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108).
Heathcliff and Hari Kumar are very much alike, and yet very different. Both are dark complected, although we don't really know Heathcliff's originations. Both characters are outcasts in the society in which they live. Heathcliff is treated as a servant, given no rights or privilege which Catherine and Hindley share, "He [Hindley] drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instruction of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead" (WH, p. 36). Hari Kumar, raised in English and returned to his native India after the death of his father, does not fit the traditional Indian mold, his English mannerisms and ideologies prevent him from belonging to either the English nor the Indian world, "his father had succeeded in making him nothing, nothing in the black town, nothing in the cantonment, nothing even in England..." (JIC, p. 242).
The third members of these tragic triangles are Edgar Linton, mild mannered husband of Cathy, and Ronald Merrick, violently aggressive representative of the British raj. While these two remain somewhat on the outskirts of the real love affairs, they each close the triangle and bring about the events which lead to the eventual deaths of the protagonists.
A contrasting point here is that Ronald Merrick carried a "darkness of the mind and heart and flesh" (JIC, p. 150) much like Heathcliff, in whom a "half
The complex and furious creation of Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights is a powerful novel that fiercely combines many of the greatest themes in literature, such as love and its intricacies, revenge and the its terrible effects, and the contrasts between nature and society. One of the most prevalent themes in this celebrated work is that of crime and punishment, or sin and retribution. One character in particular, Heathcliff, stands apart as a conduit for both of these, es-pecially his sins. His past crimes, both worldly and metaphysical, coincide with his punishments.
Brontë shows how cruelty passes through generations through Hindley’s mistreatment towards Heathcliff. From the moment Mr. Earnshaw adopts Heathcliff, Hindley enters a state of melancholy and loathes that his father clearly favors Heathcliff over him. Mr. Earnshaw’s adoption of Heathcliff upsets Hindley, his father clearly favors Heathcliff over him. Consequently, Hindley reciprocates this hatred when he meets Heathcliff, comparing him to satan and wishing for his death. Heathcliff, unable to act against these cruel words, silently absorbs them. This interaction reveals traits of each character: the maliciousness of Hindley’s character, who hates on the young Heathcliff without reason; and the timidity of Heathcliff, fostered by his inability to stand up for himself. Although timid at the moment, Heathcliff assimilates this cruelty so that he can inflict it upon others, just as Hindley does the same to him. This depicts how the victim of suffering develops into the bearer of cruelty. Soon after Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Hindley assumes control of his household and unleashes even more cruelty on Heathcliff. In a fit of
The only consolation for him is the friendship and love of Catherine for him. However, when Heathcliff hears Catherine saying that ‘’it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff, he feels distracted, broken inside, because the only one who he thought loved him, betrays him. These words he heard from Catherine, turns him into a wild beast, filled with anger and resentment and he runs away and disappears for about three years after hearing that. He comes back at Wuthering Heights, now rich and well educated, only to take revenge on those who treated him ill and degraded him. His actions, starting those towards Hindley, seem to go beyond capability of a normal person. Resentment, hate and his ill-consciousness have occupied his mind and spirit. He is now transformed into an evil, whose deeds not only destroy his own soul, but also other people’s life. However, the readers, get to know through carefully analyzing the behaviors of characters, that Heathcliff does not seem to be ‘’the worst’’ among the other characters of this
Wuthering Heights’s Catherine Earnshaw is infamous for her complex character, some arguing that she is egocentric and manipulative, others sympathizing with the difficult choices she is faced with. However, there is no doubt that she is innately childish. As Catherine grows older, her character is not changed; she remains juvenile and selfish, making everything a game that revolves around her and not empathizing with other characters and their needs - subconsciously or not. In a sense, her mindset never progresses past one of a child. As Sigmund Freud wrote in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, “What makes an infant characteristically different from every other stage of human life is that the child is polymorphously perverse” - an attribute which Catherine exemplifies throughout her lifetime. Her selfishness goes beyond the "ordinary self-centeredness" (Thormahlen 5) one might encounter in a regular adult - rather, Catherine directly affects her relationships with people through her "perverse" actions, and still does not recognize the harm in doing so. She exists in an irresponsible state, not perceiving that "she cannot have, and be, everything she wants whenever she wants it” (5) - and this is reflected in every single relationship she experiences. It is Catherine’s intrinsic immaturity and inability to progress from her childhood mindset that is the main catalyst not only in her in the other character’s
Many experiences shaped Heathcliff to become the character he was, but nothing shaped him as much as Hindley’s treatment as well as Catherine’s “confession.”
In Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights, we are introduced to the mysterious and enigmatic character of Heathcliff. Throughout the novel he is hellbent on exacting his revenge on those who have caused him the most pain in his life; as the story continues, this lust for revenge pushes him closer and closer to the point of madness. Without having read the book it is easy for a reader to write this character off as a villain, however, Bronte artfully portrays his character, his backstory, and his motivations in a way that elicits echoes of sympathy.
“but where did he come from, the little dark thing, harbored by a good man to his bane” (Bronte c34) Heathcliff is a very troubled and dark man, but he did not become this way overnight. In this essay, I will be explaining how Heathcliff became who he was and how he morphed from an abandoned street urchin into a diabolical wealthy Miser. Many things or people influence Heathcliff’s life such as how he has been treated, the violence displayed to him and from him, and Catherine and the way she acts when she is with him and when she is with others. All of these factors have made Heathcliff the way he was portrayed at the end of the novel.
Catherine’s action, “How lightly she dismisses her old playmate’s troubles. I could not have imagined her to be so selfish,” (Bronte 53). In concluding her session with Lockwood in chapter seven Nelly finishes by declaring, “I have read more than you would fancy, Mr. Lockwood. You could not open a book in this library that I have not looked into, and got something out of also… However, if I am to follow my story in true gossip’s fashion, I had better go on,” (Bronte 56). Bronte’s decision to add this detail to Nelly’s character emphasizes her action to tell the story in “true gossip’s fashion.” Further, the scene also suggests that Nelly enjoys stories, and therefore, enjoys romanticizing or actively imagining ideas for her perspective of
There is a number of similarities between these novels, regardless of the time gap between them. It is evident that Victorian culture is still very present in today’s culture. Many examples are presented in these two novels alone. We are constantly surrounded by aspects of this influential time period, whether the repercussions are positive or
Perhaps the most significant factor that makes us sympathize with Heathcliff is his troubled and problematic character. Two particular incidents highlight this point very well.
(Watson 36) The love between Heathcliff and Catherine takes a swift and unpleasant turn as both parties actively try to sabotage each other. It is ironic that a social convention, such as marriage, that is meant to foster love and strengthen familial relationships, has actually destroyed a genuine love and a family connection. Most readers find this moral conflict, which was triggered by the social and financial expectations created through marriage during the time period, to be highly unsettling, regardless of their viewpoint on the
nurture,” the trauma Heathcliff experiences from Catherine’s death was clearly not the basis for his volatile personality, which his unclear familial background and inconsistent treatment by the Earnshaws may have been, but it absolutely contributed to it. His behavior gets immediately more violent after her death, when he experiences “a frightful paroxysm of ungovernable passion” and, by Nelly’s observation, acts like “a savage beast getting goaded to death.” (130) This event was a turning point in his psychological state; the language Bronte uses to describe him and his behavior is more intense than it was previously, for example - her use of the adjective “hardened” versus “savage” demonstrates this evolution. Such a depiction may have been a sort of warning to readers about the dangers of holding on to the past, amplified by Heathcliff’s
Wuthering Heights and Of Mice and Men are two novels that were written approximate hundred years apart by different authors living in different time periods. Wuthering Heights, was written by Emily Bronte who lived in England. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck who lived in California. Although they were written by different authors of different background, time, and place. One could nevertheless find similar themes between the two books.
Perhaps the most significant factor that makes us sympathize with Heathcliff is his troubled and problematic character. Two particular incidents highlight this point very well.
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