The classic works of Emily Bronte and Mary Shelley are both classified as gothic era fiction novels. Before reading them, the two novels seem to be polar opposites. While there are many differences, there are also a handful of similarities throughout both novels. Bronte and Shelley both use setting, revenge, and the role of women to highlight gothic elements of the era. The setting in both novels brings a deeper meaning to the scene. The authors use weather to create tones for the scenes. For example, storms can create a sense of anger or confusion, whereas sunlight may generate a sense of happiness. Both novels are set in a cold, dreary time, adding to the theme of isolation throughout each.
In Frankenstein, the reader is first
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The theme of revenge plays a big role in both novels. In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff seeks revenge because of other’s actions against him. However, in Frankenstein, the monster seeks revenge because of the way he looks and how others perceive him. While the characters in both novels seek revenge for different reasons, they have one thing in common. Their need for revenge ultimately stems from not being able to have what they want, leaving them alone and isolated. Revenge is one of the most prominent themes in Wuthering Heights. At times throughout the novel, it seems to overpower the theme of love. Heathcliff’s desire for revenge arises from Catherine’s betrayal. He has been in love with her for a long time, and she loves him. However, she betrays him and marries Edgar for his money. This action leaves Heathcliff alone and isolated, only to long for her love again. "I seek no revenge on you, that 's not the plan. The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don 't turn against him; they crush those beneath them" (Bronte, p. 103). This quote shows that Heathcliff is not trying to get revenge on Catherine. Although she turned against him, he cannot do the same to her. “I 'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don 't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!” (Bronte p. 54). When he cannot have the woman he loves, he turns his attention to revenging Hindley, his childhood
When authors write a story they “tell a particular story to a particular audience in a particular situation for, presumably, a particular purpose” (Phelan 4). Northanger Abbey and Frankenstein came out in the same year, were both gothic novels, and were both written by female authors. Despite these similarities, the two authors produced very different works of fiction and have very different authorial intentions for their stories. Austen and Shelley both use gothic elements to portray their purpose for their stories. The two authors create characters exhibiting powerful emotions and moralize through the usage of these emotions.
Wuthering Heights is a novel whose main character is said to have a double significance. He is said to be both the dispossessed and the dispossessor, victim of class hatred and arch – exploiter, he simultaneously occupies the roles of working class outsider and brutal capitalist. Heathcliff has all these characteristics because of his experiences. He is a character moulded by his past.
"A Hermit is simply a person to whom society has failed to adjust itself." (Will Cuppy). In the gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley we follow the life of Victor Frankenstein in 18th century Germany. Shelley displays a recurring theme of isolation and how it drives once good people to do terrible things. If civilization does not adjust itself to a creature of any kind they will be forced into isolation and ultimately self destruction.
Shelley addresses romantic conventions in Victor to convey his loss of identity. Victor is impatient and restless when constructing the creation, so much, that he does not think about it’s future repercussions. One of the great paradoxes that Shelley’s novel depicts is giving the monster more human attributes than to it’s creator [p. 6 - Interpretations]. This is true as the monster seeks an emotional bond, but Victor is terrified of it’s existence. The monster later reveals, “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurred at and kicked and trampled on [Shelley, p. 224].” Victor’s lack of compassion is rooted from the inability to cope with his reality. He distances himself from others and is induced with fainting spells [Shelley, p. 59]. From this, the nameless creature exemplifies Victor’s attempt to abandon his creation to escape his responsibilities. His creation is described as, ‘wretched devil’ and ‘abhorred monster,’ eliciting that the unobtainable, pitied identity [Shelley, p. 102]. The act of not naming the creature reveals Victor as hateful, and unnaturally disconnected to his own created victim.
John Locke is one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and is famously known for asserting that all humans have natural rights. He also believed that humans are born with clean slates, and that the environment humans grow in, especially at a young age, has massive influences on aspects of their personalities, ideals, and motivations. Shelley was most definitely influenced by this claim when writing Frankenstein. As the reader, we can see the monster that Victor Frankenstein creates grow up alone, without guidance, and be formed by the experiences it is put through while trying to survive. Its emotions and beliefs throughout the book were merely a result of its experiences as it encounters the harsh reality of the world. Mary
Heathcliff is seeking vigilante justice. In the book, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, the main, Heathcliff, takes his revenge on the people that have wronged him: Catherine, Edgar, and Hindley. Catherine betrayed Heathcliff, when she confessed that she couldn’t be with him, because of his status. Edgar, Catherine's husband, is know to Heathcliff as the man who took Catherine away from him, and drove her to her death. Hindley degraded Heathcliff to the point that Catherine believed she couldn’t love him.
In Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Heathcliff’s strong love for Catherine guides his transformation as a character. While Heathcliff enters the story as an innocent child, the abuse he receives at a young age and his heartbreak at Catherine’s choice to marry Edgar Linton bring about a change within him. Heathcliff’s adulthood is consequently marked by jealousy and greed due to his separation from Catherine, along with manipulation and a deep desire to seek revenge on Edgar. Although Heathcliff uses deceit and manipulation to his advantage throughout the novel, he is never entirely content in his current situation. As Heathcliff attempts to revenge Edgar Linton, he does not gain true fulfillment. Throughout Wuthering Heights, Brontë uses Heathcliff’s vengeful actions to convey the message that manipulative and revenge-seeking behaviors will not bring a person satisfaction.
Frankenstein is a novel that is practically devoid of any female presence, yet author Mary Shelley pens a story that is lush with portrayals of feminine ideology. Throughout the course of this novel, the audience is introduced to three different female characters. The first is Elizabeth Lavenza— Victor Frankenstein’s wife. She is presented as a passive and weak woman who embodies the traditional role of women in the 19th century. Caroline Beaufort is present in the novel, but her role is limited to the ways in which she influences Victor, as she dies early in his childhood. The one strong female voice in this novel is that of Justine Moritz. Justine lives in the Frankenstein household, and she possesses a womanly voice that she can
In Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, the creation, made from scraps of corpses, was built by Victor Frankenstein, a man fascinated and obsessed with the knowledge of life. Following the creation’s rouse, Victor immediately abandons him with no desire on keeping or teaching his new being. Because of his lack of nourishment and direction “growing up”, the creation goes through a process of self-deception. He endures a period of deceit by believing that he is a normal human being like everyone around him. But as time progresses, he learns to accept how he is alone in this world and disconnected with everyone. Because of the creation’s lack of guidance and isolation, he grows up feeling unwanted.
In both Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, suffering and love cause horrific events to occur. By observing the personality, life, and actions of the Creature and Heathcliff, there is a revealing of a great similarity. Due to these items, each are categorized as the Byronic hero, which is the center of the similarity, along with love.
Novels often use the emotion of hate to create tension and distress in the plot. Wuthering Heights uses Heathcliff’s disdain for the other characters to add conflict to the story. Wuthering Heights examines the source of Heathcliff’s hate as well as its effects on the other characters throughout the story. Heathcliff’s relationships with other characters also suggests the universal theme that breeds hatred.
Love is a strong attachment between two lovers and revenge is a strong conflict between two rivals. In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte uses setting to establish contrast, to intensify conflict, and to develop character. The people and events of Wuthering Heights share a dramatic conflict. Thus, Bronte focuses on the evil eye of Heathcliff's obsessive and perpetual love with Catherine, and his enduring revenge to those who forced him and Catherine apart. The author expresses the conflict of Wuthering Heights with great intensity. Hence, she portrays a combination of crucial issues of romance and money, hate and power, and lastly
In the novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte, Heathcliff is presented with qualities of a villain. He is cruel, brutal and vindictive, however is sympathized with from the reader with the understanding of his actions due to the abusive events that he experiences in his life. Heathcliff is treated brutally and therefore becomes the product of that abuse.
Wuthering Heights, a well know classic novel that incorporates romantic aspects, gothic horror, and tragedy to create an intense and opaque plot. Indeed, Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights, challenged the concepts of the Victorian era, by using the notion of Romantic novels. In the other hands Bronte uses overflow of senses and emotion along with the awe of nature to create an eerie novel. The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, is characterized by the use of romantic aspects to object which is a common fact of novelist in the Victorian era. Certainly, both authors incorporate romantic characteristics into their novels to show the impression of how intense each character’s emotions
Threw out the story you will see that Heathcliff has a very unhealthy passion; this is the next attribute of a Byronic Hero. This unhealthy passion is driven by revenge. As you read the book it seems that Revenge is the only thing that keeps Heathcliff going. Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights filthy rich after running away for 3 years when Catherine married Edgar. He uses some of his money to loan to Hindley’s gambling problem so that Hindley will become even more engulfed into debt. Heathcliff also wanted to seek revenge against Edgar for obvious reasons. So he