Gothic Features in Wuthering Heights.doc

毕业论文(设计)Acknowledgements My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my advisor, Ms.Lin Lan, whose inspiring insights, generous encouragements, and enthusiastic instructions have facilitated me much throughout my thesis writing. Her penetrating and insightful comments afford me with inspiring source. She has been in constant concern about my paper, spared no pains to entertain my thesis draft. Second, I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to the Foreign Language Department of Jia Ying University as well as all my teachers for their instructive guidance and comprehensive education during the four years schooling.Finally, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my classmates who gave me their help in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis.AbstractThe Gothic tradition has very great influence on the English and American literature, and it has been inherited in novels by many writers. Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontes unique and splendid masterpiece and it is known as a Gothic novel. This thesis analyses the Gothic theory and points out the Gothic features in Wuthering Heights: the theme, the description of environment, Gothic characters, ect, which makes Wuthering Heights different from the other novels in the Victorian Age.The Gothic tradition is an important part of English literature. Its origination can be traced back to Roman Age, and there was a long period for its development. Emily came into contact with Gothic stories when she was still very young and was attested by it.There are lots of Gothic features in Wuthering Heights. First, the theme of the novel is about revenge and heirdom. Second, the novel presents the horrified environment, such as the moors, the manor and the grave. Third, there are many Gothiccharacters: the villain heroHeathcliff, the delirious heroineCatherine, the crude characterHindley and the faint, tender, and passive character, Isabella. Finally, there are some horrible plots in the novel. For instance, 18 years after Catherines death, Heathcliff opens her coffin. Heathcliff dies with eyes unclosed. By portraying the traditional Gothic characters and the terrifying ghost, strange love, horrified environment and terrible plots, Emily Bronte finds a way to express feelingsGothic. Key Words: Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte Gothic features摘 要哥特传统在英美文学中有着较大的影响,不少作家在写作中继承了这种传统。呼啸山庄是艾米莉勃朗特独特辉煌的代表作，也是公认的哥特式小说。本文论述了哥特传统和它的理论，指出呼啸山庄在主题、环境描写、人物形象、情节描写等方面都运用了哥特手法。使用哥特手法创作的呼啸山庄区别于维多利亚时代的其他小说，并影响了世界文学。哥特传统是英国文学中重要的一部分，它的由来可以追溯到罗马时代，其发展经历了很长一段时间。艾米莉勃朗特从小开始接触哥特形式的文学体裁，其写作也受一定的影响。呼啸山庄运用的哥特手法表现在以下几个方面：首先，小说的主题是关于报复和遗产继承的。第二，小说呈现恐怖的环境，草原、庄园和坟墓。第三，小说塑造了哥特式的人物：恶棍英雄-希刺克厉夫、神志不清的女主角凯瑟琳、狠角色辛德雷，还有脆弱、温和顺服的伊莎贝拉。除此以外，小说里面还有一些恐怖的情节描写，例如希刺克厉夫在凯瑟琳死了18年以后挖开了她的坟墓；还有耐莉对希刺克厉夫死不瞑目的描述。通过对魔鬼式人物和吓人的鬼魂，神秘的现象，恐怖的环境和情节的描写，艾米莉勃朗特找到了一种可以表达她自己感觉的写作手法，这就是哥特手法。关键字：呼啸山庄 艾米莉勃朗特 哥特手法ContentsAcknowledgements.iAbstract (English).iiAbstract(Chinese).iiiContents.v1. The Gothic Literature and its theory .1 2. The background of Emily.2 2.1 Emilys life experience.2 2.2 Impact of traditional ideas.4 3. The Gothic features in the novel.53.1 The theme of the novel.53.2 Bizarre and terrifying nature environment.73.3 Gothic Characters.83.3.1 Villain heroHeathcliff83.3.2 Delirious heroineCatherine.103.3.3 Barbaric characterHindley.113.3.4 Innocent heroineIsabella .123.4 Ghosts.133.5 Strange love.143.6 Gothic plots154. An improvement on traditional Gothic novels.165. Conclusion17Reference.1920 Gothic Features in Wuthering Heights1. The Gothic Literature and its theoryThe word “Gothic” came from the name of a Germanic tribeGoth which was famous for their barbaric and brave character. They invaded into Roma during the 3rd and 5th century and founded many kingdoms. After the 7th century, the Roman Empire expired, an Italian named Vassar used the word “Goth” to name a kind of architecture style in Medieval Age, which was featured by pointed arches, heavy walls, dark rooms, terrible paths, etc. During Renaissance, the word “ Gothic” was used to mean wild, barbarism, cruelty, mystery, dark times, middle age, etc.( Abrams, 2004:110)With the passing of time, Gothic was endowed with a new connotation. Around the early eighteenth century, Gothic developed into a genre in literary realm. In particular, “the term Gothic has also been extended to a type of fiction which lacks the exotic setting of the earlier romances, but develops a brooding atmosphere of gloom and terror, represents events that are uncanny or macabre or melodramatically violent, and often deals with aberrant psychological states” (Abrams, 2004:110). The Gothic novel arises in 1764 with the publication of Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto. In the next major identifiable Gothic novel, The Old English Baron (first published as The Champion of Virtue in 1777), Clara Reeve situated her work in a tradition initiated by Walpole. In the 1780s, the Gothic novel became the major fictional form in English, with the publication of Matthew Lewiss The Monk (1796), and Ann Radcliffs The Mysteries of Udolpho and her other four novels, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein.(See Carson.2000:257) .These works have always been associated with the abnormal and the absurd. The setting was often in a remote or an alien soil. Actions took place in ruined, deserted castles. Old and empty houses that once belonged to “great families” crumbled by the wayside, overgrown with creepers and grasses. Gothic novels pursue the creation of a grotesque atmosphere through the depiction of a rather bizarre and terrifying nature environment. They strove to create feelings of horror caused by terrifying transformation of human character. They dealt with the unconventional, the uncommon aspects of human nature and could help the authors to express their emotion, intuition, mystery and supernatural phenomena fully and thus let authors imagination develop freely.2. The background of EmilyAwed and horrified by what they see in Wuthering Heights, many readers are curious about what Emily Bronte is like in her real life. Some critics try to associate her life experience with her literary creation, and many fantasies are even made in order to conform to their speculations. Since this paper is intended to find out the Gothic features in Wuthering Heights, a mention should be made of the relationship of the authors life and Gothic fiction.2.1 Emilys life experienceIt is universally acknowledged that the Bronte family was among the best known in the history of English literature for the emergence of three great women writers in one family. Emily Bronte was born in 1818, two years after Charlotte and a half before her sister, Anne, who also became an author. She was the daughter of a poor clergyman in the little village of Haworth, Yorkshire, in northern England. Emilys mother, who had given birth to her youngest daughter, Anne, on 17 January 1820, died in November 1821.Emilys early experience of her school days turned out to be a great misery. When she was 6 years old she went to a boarding school run by charity, the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge, where her older sisters Maria, Elizabeth, and Charlotte were already enrolled. The school was run with the intention of punishing the pupils bodies that their souls might be saved. The students were kept hungry, cold, tired, and often ill. In 1825 Maria and Elizabeth both died of tuberculosis, the disease that was later to claim Emilys own life, and that of her younger sister Anne. Following these new bereavements, the surviving sisters Charlotte and Emily were taken home. Witnessing the unjust punishment and the subsequent deaths of her two elder sisters there, Emily hated school and often described it as a dungeon and dark prison, which would make her physically sick and bring her mental turbulence. She would never forget the terrors and the hardship of their lives at school. After the death of her mother and two elder sisters, her brother, Branwell Bronte died of the pulmonary tuberculosis. Their deaths affected Emily Brontes writing and she arranged death and illness appearing constantly. According to her experience, she reflected death in Wuthering Heights: Mr. Earnshaw, Frances Mary, Catherine, Bindley, Isabella, Edgar, Linton, and Heathcliff, died one by one. All of the deaths were described in different ways: Mr. Earnshaw of illness, Frances Mary of consumption, Catherine of madness and illness, Hindley of alcoholism, Isabella and Edgar of fever, Linton of the illness from his childhood and Heathcliff of despair. It seems that the death of Emilys family members has influenced Emilys life, and then she reflected her feeling of death in her novel (Net 1).Emily often read the Blackwoods and Frasers magazines, which had published all kinds of stories and poems that were terrible with exciting and intense plots. Whats more, her father often told the various stories which he had heard in his childhood. Emily and her sisters were fond of reading the “horror folklore”. For instance, the vampire slept in the coffin would suck peoples blood by biting their necks; the werewolf changed into a wolf in the full moon night. These stories gave Emily first understanding of horrible stories, which inspired her later creation.When Emily began to create, her works were mainly poems. Many of her poemsRemembrance and The prisoner, for example, were written for the Gondal saga and express its preoccupation with political intrigue, passionate love, rebellion, war, imprisonment, and exile. She also wrote personal lyrics unconnected with the Gondal stories, but both groups of poems share a drive to break through the constrictions of ordinary life, whether by the trans-figurative power of the imagination, by union with another, or by death itself. The speakers of her poems yearn for a freer world of spirit, transcending the forms and limits of mortal life (see Liu Bingshan, 1993: 372-375). Anyway, her early works have really been marked with the Gothic features.2.2 Impact of traditional ideas In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff suffers a lot from the western traditional ideas about marriage and religion. The impacts of these traditional ideas separate him from his soul mate Catherine forever and deprive him of the right to seek happiness and freedom. His personality is twisted and becomes demonic.Actually, Emily was attested by the Victorian Age and reflected her feeling in her creation. At that time, people held steadfastly to the belief that only men and women of the same background or social status could get married, while for those from different classes, especially when a man is of an inferior position to a woman, their marriage would become a laughingstock of the society and would be prevented by their families. This traditional idea can be best illustrated by Catherines choice of Edgar instead of Heathcliff. Catherines betrayal of Heathcliff means the loss of friendship, love, and meaningful life to him, for she is what he has in the world. Heathciffs great passion for her can never be replaced by anything else and the separation and desertion is far beyond what he can bear. His challenge against the traditional ideas and his thorough rebellion against tyranny and the unjust society seem to make him fall from a normal man living in heaven into a demon wandering in hell. 3. The Gothic features in the novelGothic features in Wuthering Heights are mainly expressed by its theme, the description of environment, of the characters and some of its horrible plots.3.1 The theme of the novelThe novels theme deals with hostility and the fight for heirdom. Heathcliff, a gipsy waif of unknown parentage, is picked up by Mr. Earnshaw in Liverpool and brought up as his own child. In Wuthering Heights, the house of Mr. Earnshaw, most of the members does not like Heathcliff and badly treats him. But Mr. Earnshaws daughter, Catherine, likes him and they often plays together. However, after Mr. Earnshaws death, his sonHindley becomes the ruler of Wuthering Heights, “he (Hindley) drove him (Heathcliff) from their company to the savants, deprives him of the instruction of the curate (their teacher), and insists that he should labor out of doors instead, compelling him to do so as hard as any hand on the farm” (Bronte, 2007:55). Though Heathcliff falls passionately in love with Catherine, Catherine thinks it would degrade her to marry him. And Catherine agrees the engagement of Edgar Linton, a “ handsome”, “pleasant to be with”, “cheerful” and “rich” man, who is also the young master of Thrushcross Grange. After knowing this, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights. Three years later, not long after Catherine marries Edgar, Heathcliff comes back with enough wealth of carries out his plan of revenge. He first makes a good impression on Edgars sister Isabella, and thus causes her to fall in love with him. After their marriage he makes every effort to abuse and torment her, and hinders her from any connection with her own family. Isabella describes him as a fiend, a monster but not a human being. Filled with hatred, he has become a ruthless savage. Meanwhile, he shows his love for Catherine violently and Catherine is brought to her grave at the birth of her daughter Cathy.At the same time he begins to provide cash for Hindley to indulge in gambling. And thus, Heathcliff becomes the master of Wuthering Heights after Hindleys death. Then he maltreats Hareton, Hindleys son. Hareton lives in his own house as a servant deprived of education. He has no friends. Heathcliff trains Hareton to be a rude and impolite guy.What is shocking to readers is that he also takes revenge on his own son Linton and Catherines daughter, Cathy. After Isabellas death, he should have taken over the task of attending to their sick son Linton. However, he shows no affection for his own son. Regardless of his sons illness and death, Heathcliff allures and forces Cathy to marry Linton in order to inherit the property of Thrushcross Grange. This speeds up the death of Edgar, Cathys father. When Edgar is dying, Heathcliff does not allow Cathy to see him. Heathcliff takes revenge on everyone who he thinks is his enemy. He tortures not only their flesh, but also their spirit. From what has been mentioned above, we can see that the theme of Wuthering Heights is about revenge and fight for heirdom, which is just typical Gothic theme.3.2 Bizarre and terrifying nature environmentBy the title, Emily Bronte presents to us the typical Gothic weather in Wuthering Heights. “Wuthering” is a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. The house is just the Gothic architecture, “ the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large, jutting stones” , “ a quantity of grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door”, “among a wilderness of crumbling griffins and shameless little boys” (Bronte,2007:6-7), caved with the date “1500”. Such kind of architecture style is the medieval Gothic style. Whats more, there are “ranks of immense pewter dishes towering row after row, on a vast oak dresser, to the very roof”, and there are “clusters of legs of beef, mutton, and harm”, “sundry villainous old guns” (Bronte, 2007:7) in the parlor. It seems that there are full of threat.The outside of Wuthering Heights is the dark moor and its station is exposed in stormy weather: “When dark night coming down prematurely, and sky and hills might lead in one bitter whirl of wind and suffocating snow” (Bronte, 2007:19). It features particularly water logged patches in which people could potentially drown. Thus, the moors serve very well as a symbol of the threat posed by nature. The Gothic weather, architecture and the moor make readers feel that Wuthering Heights is a desolate and horrible place. 3.3Gothic CharactersEmily created characters with Gothic feature in this novel, such as the villain hero-Heathcliff, the delirious heroine-Catherine, the crude Hindley and the passive Isabella. All of them are typical Gothic characters.3.3.1 Villain heroHeathcliffThe Characters described in Wuthering Heights belong to the Gothic mode. The villain hero can be traced back to Byrons poems, such as Done Juan in Child Harolds Pilgrimage, “He is a fertilizing energy and profoundly attractive, and at the same time horribly destructive to civilized in stitutionalism” (Liujia, 2006:2). It is Byron who firstly described the appearance of a villain hero: “He has dark skin, strong body, a pair of horrible eyes, his behavior is changeable and unpredicted, sometimes he is sad, but sometimes is irritable”(Liujia, 2006:2).In Gothic novels, the shaping of the characters is a commonly used vehicle for giving expression to the gothic ingredient. This is particularly true of Emilys Wuthering Heights. The first character is the her