The Analysis of the Forming of Heathcliffs Tragic Personality in Wuthering Heights 英语专业毕业论文.doc

the analysis of the forming of heathcliffs tragic personality in wuthering heightsabstractthrough ages, human beings have always been in pursuit of love. as an eternal theme in human life, love is a seductive rose with thorn, and it brings pain though it may tastes honey. love also plays a needful role in many literary outputs, so does it in the novel wuthering heights which is called “sphinx in literature” written by emily bronte. as the sole novel in emily brontes life, wuthering heights owns a great fame in literature. the tragic love between two main characters heathcliff and catherine is the most fascinating factor in this novel and has been under dispute since the novel was published, and the factors to form heathcliffs tragic characters, which help to get a better understanding of this novel, have been a major research direction in literature since 1880s.this thesis argues that catherines choice of love is the most important factor which causes heathcliffs distortion and as a result, contributes to the formation of his tragic characters.this thesis mainly focuses on the tragic love between heathcliff and catherine and the influence of catherines choice of love made on heathcliffs distortion. it fist gives a brief introduction of heathcliffs distortion and his tragic love between catherine; then some main factors which deal with heathcliffs distortion would be mentioned and provided as supplements to further research. after that, it tries to analyze both external and internal factors which cause the tragic love between heathcliff and catherine. and the paper ends with the conclusion that catherines choice of love is the primary factor which shapes heathcliffs tragic personalities.key words: tragic love，tragic characters，heathcliff and catherine，wuthering heights table of contents1 abstract 12 table of contents23 introduction34 literature review of reasons for forming heathcliffs tragic characters .44.1 davy l roberts prototype theory 44.2 davy cecils backgrounds theory 54.3 james. c janets love theory. 6 5 heathcliff and catherines love85.1 happy time for heathcliff and catherine 85.2 heathcliffs lifea life in the crack 95.3 catherines betrayal and heathcliffs escape 105.4 heathcliffs return and irrational revenge 116 external and internal factors which cause heathcliff and catherines tragic love .127 conclusion 147.1 a summary of this thesis 14works cited 131 introductionever since the wuthering heights was published, it has been under great dispute for its tragic love and the much-criticized character heathcliff. the character heathcliff and his weird personalities has been a major research direction since 1880s.since the 80s 19th , scholars started to put their focus on the analysis of heathcliffs distortion, and the arguments could be summered up to such as the reasons that his living in others home without the care from family, the blow of the betrayed love and his miserable background and so on. but, such arguments have their limitations as they just try to analyze the factors of forming heathcliffs tragic characters in only one or two aspects or take the external factor as the primary one to cause heathcliff and catherines tragic love.as wuthering heights is a novel which deals with tragic love, the influence of love attaches importance to the tragic characters of heathcliff. in other words, as love is the soul and theme in the novel, it may have a deep relationship between heathcliffs tragic characters and his tragic love with catherine. yet many critics take sorted of factors as the primary factors which form heathcliffs tragic characters, the author of the present paper argues that the primary factor of forming heathcliffs tragic characters is related to the tragic love between heathcliff and catherine and catherines choice of love ultimately forms heathcliffs distortion. the thesis is composed of four parts. the first part makes a brief review of previous studies about wuthering heights. the second part and the third part are devoted to the analysis of heathcliff and catherines tragic love and both external and internal factors of forming their tragic love. the last part will give a summary of this thesis.13 2. literature review heathcliff, in wuthering heights, is the real dramatic center of the story. heath cliff is a coalescence of several characters and elements, one is the concept of a man whose mind of hatred is pitiless and ruthless, and another is of a man whose desire for revenge degenerates into avarice (davy cecil 1934). there are many factors to deal with heathcliffs distortion; many of the previous studies attempt to explore the reasons for heathcliffs tragedies. three major studies on this issue are most illuminating. they are respectively davy. l. roberts analysis based on prototype theory, davy cecils analysis based on backgrounds theory and james, and c janets analysis based on love theory.2.1 davy l roberts prototype theoryaccording to davy l robert, (davy, l. robert .1985) heathcliffs prototype suggests his latter sensational revenge and tragic characters. he addressed in his the prototype of heathcliff that the name “heathcliff” created by emily bronte tells the readers the mans temperament in a metaphorical way. he made a further step to point out that the name “heathcliff” could be recognized as “heath” plus “cliff”. and both of the two words suggest heathcliffs characters would be headstrong and cruel, just like the wuthering heights itself and its surroundings. davy l robert argues that the figure of heathcliff created by bronte stands for evil and revenge, and he also think that heathcliffs prototype would be the devil from hell. wuthering heights has long been considered a novel that contains gothic factors, and the gothic factors mainly relates on heathcliffs characters, behaviors and his revenge. heathcliff looks like a common person at usual times, but his temperament is just as the bad weather of wuthering heights. and just as brontes description at the very beginning of wuthering heights and its surroundings: at usual time, the wuthering heights is a beautiful place, but when the storm comes, the word “wuthering” is perfect to describe the bad weather. and the image of heathcliff relates a lot on the word “wuthering”. though davy l roberts theory of prototype is somewhat one-sided, it provides us a new way to analyzes heathcliffs characters, and that is, this character was born with tempers such as adamant, self-esteem and moody, which could explain heathcliffs reaction to any insult and his latter revenge. 2.2 davy cecils backgrounds theory according to davy cecil, (davy, cecil 1934) the backgrounds deal a lot with heathcliffs distortion. wuthering heights deals with the story of heath cliff, who is a gypsy waif, picked up by mr. earnshaw and grows up with earnshaws son and daughter, hindley and catherine. but when mr. earnshaw dies, his son hindley, who becomes the master of wuthering heights, drives him from their company to the servants and compels him to labor like any other hand on the farm, which arouses heath cliffs rebellion against hindleys tyranny. davy cecil believes that the change of class state and life experience contribute a lot to form heathcliffs distortion. before mr. earnshaw picked the kid in liverpool, he had been an orphan yet, unbending and headstrong, wild and short-tempered. the orphan received a good care from mr. earnshaw even than the wuthering heights latter owner hindley, and of course mr. earnshaws preference arouses hindleys envy and even hatred to both heathcliff and his father. after mr. earnshaws death, hindley deprives heathcliff of rights and treats him as a servant furthermore, when heath cliff falls passionately into love with catherine; hindley considers it beneath their family dignity to let his sister be married to a waif like heathcliff and forbids any meet between them. so heathcliffs state could be described as a fall from paradise to hell. before mr. earnshaws death, he was nearly the young master of wuthering heights, and later becomes a servant, being maltreated and mocked by the new master of wuthering heights. davy cecil argues that heathcliffs characters shows his rebellion and he could not accept the insult from hindley. thus, the change of his life state and his backgrounds which offer his unbending nature are quite paradoxical, and together form his distortion.heathcliffs backgrounds, born tempers and the change of class state deal a lot with his latter tragic characters and distortion. as the focus of his later revenge is always put on hindley that could be seen: his hatred towards hindley is very grave and hindleys maltreatment towards heathcliff during his childhood definitely contributes a lot to heathcliffs distortion and sensational revenge.davy cecil also makes a complement to argue for heathcliff: in emilys eyes, mans dignity could not be injured; any injury would bring a wound in the soul. when the injuring is beyond the limit, it could make bodhisattva a devil, because if the person was over-innocent and kind, he would always lose his pleasures and was filled with dark spirits under inhuman suffering of the world, and made himself a ghost in hell. we have no reasons to condemn that heathcliffs later revenge was cruel and inhuman (davy cecil 1934).2.3 james. c janets love theoryaccording to james c janets (james, c. janet.1994) on brontes wuthering heights, the relationship determines heathcliff and catherines love. their demand for love is conveyed in the process of their struggle for individual fulfillment and humanity. their love is thus formed in the rebellion against those social forces, families and classes, which restrict the ideals. their love can be realized only through their rebellion against all that would destroy the inner most needs and aspirations. it is based on the mutual faith and understanding in the struggle for love. so in this sense, heathcliff is not a separate individual but a part of catherines essence. any separation between them would be disastrous. catherine experiences the most absolute degree of devotion in her account of deep love for heathcliff and superficial love for edgar linton. after mr. earnshaws death, hindley deprives heathcliff of almost everything and the only reason for heathcliff to stick together is the understanding and affection from catherine. it is horrible for heathcliff to see that catherines new friend edgar lintons obvious love for catherine. and heathcliff feel bemused and even desperate when he thinks that catherines love towards him begins to fade away.heathcliff and catherines experience in thrushcross made a change on both the two ones. catherines stay at grange has brought about changes in her that affect the course of lives of heathcliff and her own, both present and future. some of the lintons worldliness and luxury have been rubbed on her and she is conscious of the social gulf between her and heathcliff. catherine personally thinks she can have everything that the other life can offer herfine clothes, flattery and social status as a ladyand still maintain the old relationship with heathcliff. but of course, heathcliff is not able to accept it: “i shall not stand to be laughed at, i shant bear it!”catherines new values determine her choice of edgar linton rather than heathcliff. within the long talk between catherine and nelly, catherine declares her superficial love for edgar and strong relationship with heathcliff. in spite of that, she is prepared to betray heathcliff and her own nature by accepting the values of lintons. unfortunately, the words that catherine said she would not marry heathcliff were overheard by heathcliff, which made heathcliff leave wuthering heights and return as a devil three years later. catherines understanding and affection stand for heathcliffs faith and hope, when catherine declares that she would not marry heathcliff but edgar linton, his faith and poor hope were blown away, and the storm in that night symbolizes despair and wildness of heathcliff. catherines choice of love, her fondness of wealth, position and social distinction in other words, are the primary reason for forming heathcliffs tragic characters (james c janet 1994).3 heathcliff and catherines love heathcliff and catherine love could be divided into four periods: the first period is the perfect moment when mr. earnshaw is still alive, and in this period, the love between heathcliff and catherine is pure and meets no obstacle. the second period of their love is sad and miserable. after mr. earnshaw is dead, their love faces many problems, such as hindleys interference and catherines changed values. the third period begins from the moment that heathcliff overhears the talk between nelly and catherine that catherine would not marry heathcliff but edgar and the last period is when heathcliff returns to lockwood and already becomes a devil. each period of love between heathcliff and catherine makes a great influence on heathcliff and the following part would try to analyze each of them.3.1 happy time for heathcliff and catherine.as an orphan picked by mr. earnshaw in liverpool, heathcliff owns a good time as he is treated well in wuthering heights, and mr. earnshaws preference even arouses his own son hindleys envy. heathcliffs childhood is surrounded with lovelove from the old man and catherine. solid friendship and even love is formed in this period of time and it is so called childhood sweat heart between the little boy and the little girl. it is beyond all doubt that heathcliff enjoys happiness in his childhood.the premature love between heathcliff and catherine paves the way for the later tragedy between them. class differences could divide even a nation, no to mention a premature love. (冯文坤，何颖1994) although heathcliff has mr. earnshaws favor more even than hindley; the revenge from hindley on heathcliff is inevitable as hindley would definitely be the new owner of wuthering heights.3.2 heathcliffs lifea life in the crack catherine loved heathcliff deeply and they had common characters and interest. but when catherine came back from thrushcross grange, her attitude to heathcliff changed much .she exclaimed, “why, how very black and cross you look! and how funny and grim! but thats because im used to edgar and isabella linton.” catherines feeling of edgar linton was to satisfy her vanity. edgar linton was handsome, young, and cheerful and loved her, the importance was that he would be very rich, and she would like to be the greatest woman of the neighborhood, and she shall be proud of having such a husband. it could satisfy her vanity to be a respectable lady with high social position. the importance she thought was that she could aid heathcliff to rise, and liberate him out of her brothers power. she attempted to cover her selfishness and vanity in this way. in this period of time, heathcliffs life is a mess. for social state, hindley deprives heathcliff of the right and sends him to the farm as a servant. on one hand, hindley tries his best to stand in the way between heathcliff and catherine and on another hand, catherines values have changed a lot after her one month staying in thrushcross grange and begins to betray heathcliff as edgar could bring her fame, wealth and social state.and for heathcliff, hindleys maltreatment is a disaster to his self-esteem and his only impetus to hold on is catherines understanding and affection. (王国富1984 )unfortunately, catherines nature belongs to the upper-class and she begins to blame heathcliff for his dirty, low social status and barbarism. heathcliff and catherines love meets great crisis in this period of time and heathcliffs distortion is triggered at any moment. once heathcliff feels that he losses his last life-saving strawcatherines affection, he would actually break himself down.3.3 catherines betrayal and heathcliffs escape. catherine eventually betrays heathcliff and becomes the mistress of thrushcross grange. thrushcross, which embodies the prettier, more comfortable side of bourgeois life, seduces catherine. clearly there is some social distinction between the two houses though both the earnshaw and the linton families belong to the class of gentry. two houses dont live in equal states, which could be seen in brontes descriptions of the tow houses. there are striking differences of tone and atmosphere, of custom and convention. in a word, culture separates the two houses widely. the family in wuthering heights is closer to the land and agriculture labor. the linton house stands in a deep valley surrounded by a park and has civilized luxury. and the distinction between heathcliff and catherine and the social class separation are the beginning of heathcliffs tragedy. (oneill eugene. 2004)the altered catherine could be easily found in many aspects: the changes of her manners, dress and social attitudes. her dress is suitable in the grange rather than in the heights and she has become used to a life that is centered on the inside of houses and she can do no work. she has accustomed to such a style of living: others work for her, produce for her and satisfy her needs. the distortion of catherine is inevitable and actually heathcliff is unable to meet her vanity and new values. the heart-broken feeling happening