Gothic Elements In Emily Bront�'s Wuthering Heights

    As we look to the past for clues to some authors and their works we may find clues to why they may have written some of these great works of art in their own life stories. Life and questions about it may have some effect on what some wordsmiths put to paper. If careful consideration is given to the past life of Emily Bronte the novel Wuthering Heights  may be seen as somewhat of a mirror of her life. Much of her life is shrouded in mystery, but there is evidence that can and should be looked at as similar to the lives of several of the characters with this great novel.

As a consequence of Heathcliff's visit to the Grange, Edgar's sister Isabella falls in love with him, and her feelings seem to be sincere. In this one-sided love affair Heathcliff takes advantage of the innocent girl's infatuation to foster his obsession for revenge. (Isabella is her brother's heir). Catherine's reaction is very hard to interpret. It is natural that she is jealous, if she still feels the same for him as before, and that may be the reason why she dissuades Isabella from marrying Heathcliff. But the words she uses, telling her what an abominable creature Heathcliff is, are not the sort you expect to hear from someone talking of a sweetheart. Later on when her husband and Heathcliff are having a quarrel, she stops Edgar from hurting her friend . There is an excess of emotion, and her explanation to this behaviour is that she wants them both, Edgar and Heathcliff: "Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend - if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own" (109).Her love for Heathcliff has not cooled down, instead it seems to be a stronger obsession than ever considering the torments she goes through, when she becomes seriously ill.The last time Catherine and Heathcliff see each other is a very heart-rending meeting. Their love for each other is as strong as ever, and Heathcliff

One of the most dramatic scenes in the book is the death of Catherine. The first signs of her failing health physically and mentally come when she locks herself up in her room after Heathcliff and Edgar's fight. She fasts herself into a delirium, pulling out pillow stuffing and seeing faces in the mirror. Unlike ordinary death, which comes quick and painlessly, Catherine's slowly wastes her away into a ghost. About seven months later, she dies at childbirth, but returning to haunt Heathcliff. The main cause for Catherine's death is not childbirth, although it may have been the final contributor. Ironically, because of the spiritual link between Heathcliff and her, it is their separation that killed her. Brontë punishes the sinned by slow death, having the guilty put the wrath upon themselves. She also brings in the supernatural to prove that even at death, there is no peace. The precise description of the moments before Catherine's death emotionally charges and further involves the reader. Like Catherine, Heathcliff dies in a similar fashion, except his sufferings prior to death lasted eighteen years. He explains to Nelly, "What does not recall her [Catherine]? Those two [Catherine Linton and Linton Heathcliff] are the only objects which retain a distinct material appearance to me; and, that appearance causes me pain, amounting to agony." This is consistent because he has sinned the most of all

Her every need is taken care of. Later, when she is confronted by Heathcliff, she is reminded of Wuthering Heights and begins to miss the place she once was so eager to leave. Catherine begins to see the Grange as superficial and confining, and at first she is only annoyed by this, but eventually the suffocating enclosure causes Catherine to lash out at her husband and all the Grange represents. Catherine, aware of her incestuous attraction to Heathcliff, believes the Grange is destroying her, and because of her disgust of the Grange and her sense of guilt, it does. In the process, Edgar too must suffer Catherine's pain because of his love for her.

In this excerpt from Emily Brönte’s poem “How Clear She Shines” the elements of Gothicism are displayed clearly. The overall cynical mood sets the scene for a gothic style of writing; the contrasts between truth and treachery, joy and pain, peace and grief, bring out a feeling of unease that is Gothicism. Emily Bronte expounded on these themes in her novel Wuthering Heights, a classic work of gothic fiction. This novel portrays two lovers with a very unhealthy relationship in which they are very passionate but take their passion to the extreme. The lengths they go for their love can initially be classified as traditional romanticism, but love turns into obsession and quickly grows grotesque. This transformation marks the transition from Romanticism into Gothicism. Gothicism is a style of writing that is characterized by fear, horror, and death, but can also include Romantic qualities like nature, individualism, and emotion. Romanticism is known for its emphasis on emotion and imagination; Gothicism takes these themes and twists them into something dark and disturbing. In Gothicism, elements of Romanticism are taken too far to the absolute extreme, resulting in grotesque outcomes instead of the predictable plot generated by most romantic novels. Emily Brönte uses the Gothic themes of doppelgänger, sublimity, and revenge to stress the surreal and outrageous actions and thought of the main characters, Catherine and Heathcliff, in Wuthering Heights.

However, despite changes, the literary world remained predominantly male, and women writers not encouraged, or taken seriously. Consequently, to counteract this Emily Bronte published her novel Wuthering Heights, under the male pseudonym of Ellis Bell. Wuthering Heights is the story of domesticity, obsession, and elemental divided passion between the intertwined homes of the Earnshaw’s residing at the rural farmhouse Wuthering Heights, and the Linton family of the more genteel Thrushcross Grange. This essay will discuss how the language and narrative voices established a structural pattern of the novel, and how these differing voices had a dramatic effect on the interpretation of the overall story.

The curious life Emily Bronte, author of Wuthering Heights and a collection of poems, has been highly analyzed alongside those of her sisters and fellow writers, Charlotte and Anne, for decades. Born in 1818, Emily was the fifth of six children born to Patrick and Maria Bronte. Her father was curate of Haworth parsonage in Yorkshire, England, a home for local clergymen, where Emily spent nearly all of her life. The lonely parsonage offered few companions for Bronte besides her family, but included a large library which consumed her childhood. Bronte never married, and much of her later life was filled with caring for her alcoholic brother, Branwell. This solitary life and experience with Branwell seems to have heavily influenced Wuthering Heights, the only novel written by Bronte, which centers on a similar setting of isolated, lonely households and contains a heavily alcoholic character.

    Critics analyze and examine Wuthering Heights to obtain a deeper understanding of the message that Emily Bronte wants to convey. By focusing on the different literary elements of fiction used in the novel, readers are better able to understand how the author successfully uses theme, characters, and setting to create a very controversial novel in which the reader is torn between opposite conditions of love and hate, good and evil, revenge and forgiveness in  Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. There is no doubt that the use of conflictive characters such as Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Edgar, with their interactions in the two different settings creates an

There were many issues within the Victorian society, such as, social class, money, power and the science experiments. This essay will discuss those topics, how the lessons and struggles of this novel are important, and why they are related to the modern world.

Wuthering Heights was written during the Victorian Era, which was the time period ruled by Queen Victoria. This time period was seen as very “prudish, hypocritical, stuffy, and narrow- minded” (Kirschen 1). While this time period did carry some harsh and negative characteristics, they are not completely accurate. The Victorian Era was very socially strict, but there was also a strong artistic movement. Writers and artists had a lot of creative freedom during this time period and most of their works were highly sought after (Kirschen 1). Literature in this era was very connected to the Romantic period and played upon imagination, emotion, and self-reflection, but also played upon a Neo-Classical or traditional approach of what was publically acceptable (Roth 1). People were very power hungry during this portion of time (Kirschen 1). This allowed literature to create allegorical themes that represented society during this era of literature (Roth 3).

While Catherine is pregnant, Edgar and Heathcliff have a fight, causing Catherine to lock herself in her room where she leaves her window open, to have a view of the moors and Wuthering Heights that remind her of her childhood and Heathcliff, and starves herself. Finally someone gets inside her room and realizes she has become very ill. Since Catherine is so ill, her recovery isn’t expected to go smoothly. Heathcliff visits Catherine and they profess their love for each other once

Eventually Catherine and Heathcliff became friends again and fall in love with each other. Although it was obvious that Catherine loved Heathcliff, Catherine felt obligated to marry someone from the upper-class, like Edgar Linton, instead of a peasant like Heathcliff. When Catherine was with Edgar she was forced to act like a proper lady and suppressed her real personality; but with Heathcliff, Catherine acted like she always has. This depicted a Victorian woman’s struggle to hide who she really was to find a good husband.

CM: Through this quote , the reader can see how Catherine’s infatuation with Heathcliff is abusive to

This is a strange book. It is not without evidences of considerable power: but, as a whole, it is wild, confused, disjointed, and improbable; This review, from Examiner publications, 8 January 1848, was one of the first receptions to Emily Brontë's novel, and concluded with the line, It is the province of an artist to modify and in some cases refine what he beholds in the ordinary world. There never was a man whose daily life (that is to say, all his deeds and sayings, entire and without exception) constituted fit materials for a book of fiction.

The novel suggests that the building is far from civilised places, on page twenty-four, chapter two; “..On that bleak hill top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made shiver through every limb..” This says that Wuthering Heights is isolated on a bleak hill top, it is dull and miserable and the earth is “..Hard..” and contains “..Black frost..”. The use of “..Black frost..” is Gothic as it describes even the frost as evil. Normal frost is white but “..Black frost..” symbolizes evil. This is very Gothic. Emily Brontë uses a lot of imagery to create tension for the reader. For example on pages thirty-one and thirty-two, chapter three when Lockwood is shown to his chamber in Wuthering Heights by Zillah, Emily Brontë uses a lot of images to create the feeling that the room and the surrounding is coffin like. This makes the building, Wuthering Heights feel supernatural and very Gothic. The house itself is very Gothic, containing tall dark arches and gargoyle statues. There are lots of shadows. Emily Brontë chooses realistic descriptions of the building/house, Wuthering Heights; “..One or two heavy black ones (chairs) lurking in the shade..“. “..Black..” reoccurs frequently in the novel as it suggests evil. The word “..Lurking..” is interesting because it suggests that something does not belong in a place , it is mysterious, as in his case the chairs have no place in Wuthering Heights. Almost as is the chairs are alive and they have thoughts and