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
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.
Heathcliff is a victim of class hatred but he also manipulates situations to his advantage and becomes an arch - exploiter. For example, after the death of his wife, Hindley went insane. Heathcliff used this opportunity to take revenge and took Wuthering Heights away from Hindley. He then went further and married Edgar’s sister, not for love or monetary gain but to get back at Edgar for marrying Catherine, and treated Edgar’s sister terribly.
"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.
Every work is a product of its time. Indeed, we see that in Frankenstein, like in the world which produced its author, race, or the outward appearances on which that construct is based, determines much of the treatment received by those at all levels of its hierarchy. Within the work, Mary Shelley, its author, not only presents a racialized view of its characters, but further establishes and enforces the racial hierarchy present and known to her in her own world. For the few non-European characters, their appearance, and thus their standing in its related hierarchy, defines their entrances into the narrative. For the Creature, this occurs on the ices of the Artic, when, “atop a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a mile;” Walton and his men perceived, “a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature.” (Shelley 13) Shelley clarifies, even this early in her novel, the race of its principal Other as soon after the intrepid adventurers rescue its namesake, Victor Frankenstein, who, Shelley clarifies, “was not, as the other traveller seemed to be, a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island, but an European.” (Shelley 14) Later, closer examination of the Creature reveals a visage and figure of near unimaginable disfigurement, with a “shrivelled complexion,” and yellow skin which “scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath.” (Shelley 35) This could be contrasted directly
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.
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.
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
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.
In the novel by Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, one of the main characters, named Heathcliff Earnshaw, is in search for justice and vengeance throughout his whole life. First, Heathcliff wants justice by mistreating his brother’s son the way he mistreated when they were children. Also he searches justice by destroying his lover’s husband and taking Thrushcross Grange as his property. Furthermore, it is noticeable that Heathcliff’s perspective of “justice” is actually revenge.
As soon as Hindley’s father dies, Heathcliff is taught the true meaning of hate by Hindley. As Heathcliff ages, his hate for Hindley grows inside of him, along with a need for revenge. Heathcliff’s need for revenge allows him to formulate his diabolical plan for taking over both the Grange and the Heights, upon return from his three year sojourn. Heathcliff’s ability to gamble the Heights away from Hindley foreshadows the unyielding power of Heithcliff’s hate when fueled by revenge. Thus establishing hate as the source of Heathcliff’s revenge.
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.
The novel of Wuthering Heights involves passion, romance, and turmoil but most significantly carries cruelty as an overarching theme. Cruelty is apparent throughout the work most importantly when dealing with relationships between Heathcliff and Hindley, Heathcliff and Hareton, and even the emotional cruelty between Heathcliff and Catherine.
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
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
Introduction: Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is a book with a deep message that touches to the very heart. This message implies that the reader will not see the story only from the perspective of the narrator but also reveal numerous hidden opinions and form a personal interpretation of the novel. One of its primary statements is that no one is born a monster and a “monster” is created throughout socialization, and the process of socialization starts from the contact with the “creator”. It is Victor Frankenstein that could not take the responsibility for his creature and was not able to take care of his “child”. Pride and vanity were the qualities that directed Victor Frankenstein to his discovery of life: “...So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein-more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation”[p.47]. He could not cope with this discovery and simply ignored it. The tragedy of Victor Frankenstein and the tragedy of his creature is the same – it is the tragedy of loneliness and confronting the world, trying to find a place in it and deserve someone’s love. The creature would have never become a monster if it got the love it strived for. Victor Frankenstein would have never converted his creature into a monster if he knew how to love and take responsibility for the ones we bring to this world.