论艾米莉的性格特征对《呼啸山庄》的影响.doc

中图分类号：i1o6.4 学号：05004101001南阳师范学院 本科毕业论文 论文题目：艾米莉的性格特征对呼啸山庄的影响 作 者： 何 红 梅 指导教师： 刘 卫 红 副教授 学 院： 外 国 语 学 院 专 业： 英 语 班 级： 2005 级 1班 二九 年 四 月 艾米莉的性格特征对 呼啸山庄的影响南阳师范学院外国语学院英语专业申请文学学士学位毕业论文作 者： 指导教师： influence of emilys unique personality on wuthering heightsa thesis submitted toenglish department,school of foreign languages,nanyang normal universityin partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree of bachelor of artsbysupervisor： acknowledgementsi have finally finished this thesis under the careful, patient, and instructive supervision of liu weihong. no words can fully express my greatest and deepest gratitude to her for her valuable hard work in the whole process of my writing this thesis. without her painstaking work, this thesis could not have come up in the present form.i am also grateful to all the rest of teaching staff in the department of foreign languages of nanyang normal university, who have spared no efforts to enrich and broaden my knowledge in the past years.besides, i would like to extend my heart-felt thanks to my family. my parents support and blessing encouraged me throughout these four years. thank you! my dear parents!摘 要本课题以艾米莉的性格特征对呼啸山庄的影响为研究对象，主要目的是探讨人物性格对其作品及整个人生的影响。本文首先对艾米莉的性格特征进行了描述，然后从其人生经历，父母，所处地理环境，人文习俗，和宗教文化五方面阐述艾米莉独特性格的根源。然后文章从三个方面论述了艾米莉的性格特征对呼啸山庄的影响，即：对呼啸山庄主题的影响，对小说的叙事结构的影响，及小说主人公性格的塑造的影响。关键词：艾米莉;呼啸山庄; 性格特征; 影响 abstractthe subject of this paper is the influence of emilys unique personality on wuthering heights, with the aim to explore the influence of ones character on ones work and ones whole life. in this paper, the characteristics of emilys character are described first, and then five factors which affect emilys character are presented, namely, life experiences, parents influence, geographical environment, humanistic custom, and religious culture. then this paper expounds the influence of emilys unique personality on wuthering heights from three aspects, which are the influence on wuthering heights theme, the influence on wuthering heights narrating structure and the influence on wuthering heights character disposition.key words: emily; wuthering heights; personality; influence contentsacknowledgements i摘要 iiabstract iiicontents iv1. introduction 12. emilys unique personality 22.1 emilys life experience 22.2 her parents impact on her character 32.3 the influence of geographical environment 52.4 the influence of religious culture 5 2.5 the influence of humanistic custom. 63. influence of emilys unique personality on wuthering heights7 3.1 the influence on wuthering heights theme 73.2 the influence on wuthering heights narrating structure 103.3 the influence on wuthering heights character disposition 154. conclusion 16bibliography18iiiinfluence of emilys unique personality on wuthering heights1. introductionemily bronte, whose father was a poor clergyman, was born in yorkshire, where she spent most of her life. that was why she had little interaction with the outside world. since wuthering heights came out, literary critics have been surprised at the reasons why this authoress who lived in a wilderness can write such a novel, david cecil said, “wuthering heights is the only novel which is not (even partially) covered by the dust of time.” this novels subject became the content that many scholars struggled to explain. for example, according to pu ruoqian, this novel reflected the traditional gothic style novel subject, and exposed the evil and dark side of human nature; liu hongye obtained from the novel narrative structure, that the novel had reflected disappearing and recovering of human nature; huang wei obtained from the novel character relations that the novel had reflected the contradictions of two kinds of tendency: people pursue the freedom and fetter themselves; ye lirong thought the novels leading characters, catherine and heathcliff had been lost, what the novel reflected was the course of tracking themselves down. although commentators were uncompromising, these comments reflected the rich substance and complex subject of this enigmatic novel. freud thought that all the arts are the performance of the subconscious, and the driving force for artistic creativity is humans repressed desires. like dream, art is the subconscious which releases in the form of fantasy, and ones own desire to present. taking emilys isolated and introverted character into account, this paper argues that emilys unique personality created such a wuthering heights.2. emilys unique personalityfollowing words and phrases can be used to describe emilys character exactly, such as, lonely, eccentric, depression, silent, low self-esteem, plain-working, diligent, tenacious perseverance, wealth to the rebellious and creative spirit. but such kind of character can not be formed by itself; the following implications contribute to this character.2.1 emilys life experienceemily was born in a poor country priests family with six siblings in 1818. when she was 2 years old, her mother suffered from cancer and soon passed away. her childhood was spent in loneness, poverty and sorrow. in july of 1824, her father sent their four sisters to a girl school. unfortunately, the two elder sisters died of infectious diseases. father had no choice but bring emily and charlotte home. since then during the following six years, emily and her siblings had to stay at home, and learn by themselves, under their father and aunts guidance. in 1831 emily had a chance to go to school with her elder sister charlotte, but she was physically weak, unable to adapt to school life, so the sisters had to go home soon. to support their life, emily worked as a governess or teacher in the villages. in order to run a school, charlotte and she went to brussels to learn teacher education curriculum and french. but the death of aunt made them rush to come again. after her aunts funeral, the sisters wanted to use the legacy their aunt left to them to operate a school, but failing to hire students. at that time, her father was about 70 years old, weak and sickly. emily had to stay at home to take care of household and father. her brother had been ill for a long time, and died on september 24, 1848. on the way home after her bothers burial, emily caught a cold and cough. by the end of october, her condition worsened, and unfortunately, died on december 19, 1848.2.2 her parents impact on her characterall the generations of emilys family have the irish quality, namely industrious and tenacious. her father was very smart, strong-minded and lofty when he was very young. he was the founder of a school when he was 16 years old. with funding from the education officer, he went to study in the st. johns university, after graduation, then a pastor. like irish, he had persevering, forthrightness and enthusiastic personality, and was good at philosophy thinking and discreet behaving. because of the drastic changes in society and the cruel reality, he developed a cold and incredibly eccentric character; however his philosophy and will had never been moved to a secular concept, but did everything according to its own principles. he was cynical, and against all the words and deeds which were contrary to the moral, ethical and religious concepts. he liked to be alone, usually walked in the wilderness alone, enjoying natures gift, immersed in meditation. he liked quiet home life, accustomed to the fun of quiet and solitude strives, and was busy with religious affairs all day long. he had unique methods in training children, especially in the aspects of personality and independent thinking. he believed that children should grow up in difficult circumstances and hoped that they could bear hardships and non-food pleasures. her mother maria was the daughter of a businessman in england. her family believed in methodist church, whose doctrine made them sincere, refined and noble. when she was 29-year-old, she visited his uncle at leeds, where she met mr. bronte and married him then. she was very strong-minded. she wrote to mr. bronte once, “over the years, no matter what decisions i made, there would not be any constraint. even on major issues, my elder sister and darling mother often had to solicit my views, they were fully confident that my views and behavior were correct”. she was tenacious, hard-working, affable and optimistic. parents personality, living style, attitude had a significant impact on the formation of her character. obviously her diligent, hard working and smart quality inherited from their parents; troubled life smelted her fortitude character. on the other hand, the hard life made her small body slimmer and weaker, and the unfortunate of her family and weak body contributed to her psychological problems and the formation of eccentric character.2.3 the influence of geographical environmentthe relation between emilys character and her geographical location must exist. her home is located in northwest england, a mountainous hilly area, whose north has north yorkshire desert; whose west is the west yorkshire desertification. affected by the north atlantic climate, it is maritime temperate climate, the cloudy rainy weather for half a year, and the cold winter temperatures. emily relocated with his father, but all in remote mountain villages. in 1820 his father moved to the village of howard adams, a remote village in the west yorkshire, england, to the west is the howard adams wilderness. the desolate and dreary wilderness gave the feeling of loneliness estrangement. this is emilys geographical location. no matter where she lived, it was a remote desolate, isolated place. in such a world to grow up, the character of poor communication and unwilling to contact with the outside world naturally would form.2.4 the influence of religious cultureemily lived in a country with a strong religious sense of family. the spirit of christ as the mainstay of western culture must be immersed in her deep awareness, and affect the formation of her character. although at some of the words and deeds emily had the tendency of treason, showing disrespect and blasphemy to the christian and god, in her personality and style, we still can see the shadow of religious culture. she treated others generously, kindly and friendly, bore hardships and worked hard, behaved herself, resigned herself to her fate and faced death unflinchingly. although emilys family was poor, with a large number of siblings, she did not disgust, but lived in harmony with her siblings. she was a busy and industrious housewife, ironing clothes and baking bread for all the family. she devoted all her love to anna. affections among sisters had gone beyond life and death. while she was ill, what she showed most were the kind of patience and obedience to the will of heaven. she accepted the consequences quietly, no matter how the illness tortured her. for life, she was lonely, unhappy and tired, full of desire to die. in her view, death is immortal and eternal, is the sublimation of the soul, and this is a reflection of the christian concept of life and death. this “immortal soul” has been fully reflected in wuthering heights, in which catherine and heathcliffs love has already gone beyond the scope of life and death, and nothing can separate their spirit, even death.2.5 the influence of humanistic customalthough emily did not have west yorkshire peoples blood, because of the subtle impact, she also had west yorkshire peoples characteristics: self-reliance, tenacity, stubbornness, and not tame. all west yorkshire people had strong and distinctive personalities. self-sufficiency is starting point; they only rely on their own, and hardly seek help from others. they do not flatter, and were informal. their discourse is often subtle humorous, sharp shrewish. it seemed rude but generous and trustworthy indeed. these characters had a deep influence on emilys character.3 influence of emilys unique personality on wuthering heights3.1 the influence on wuthering heights themewuthering heights was fabricated, but there is no need to worry that we can not find the prototype of its subject in real life. the experiences of its characters were a realistic reproduction, werent they? in emilys introverted heart, the status of natural life was contrary to the secular life status which is of oppression and prejudice. she preferred the former and disgusted the latter; even she felt the whole ordered society was filled with the shackles of oppression and prejudice, which constrained the freedom of her soul, and she became a struggler with the whole world, which also made her natural and free ideal world beyond the reality. emily loved the wilderness where she was born and brought up. there is always a place left for her in the boundless wilderness, no matter whether it was a long winter, or the cold wind was whistling, or snow was flying. she stayed far away from the hustle and bustle of this mortal life, complied with the call of what she loved, sneaked into a secluded room to seek for the spiritual and soul world, to open up her own space, to forget the sadness of real life in the arts world, and to enjoy the pleasure of hard working though suffering a lot sometimes. emilys explanation of life was much more different. poor living situation made her suffer a lot, even some unbearable, and mental stress forced her to get caught in her own space. the stress of poverty and isolation and the exploration of the true meaning of life caused her automorphic character. in her works there was love and hate, loyalty and treason, devil and angels, hell and paradise, oppression and resistance as well. her life was bumpy and ill-fated. contradictions and imbalances are temporary, and nature was harmonious eventually. the objective world, the reality of life and even the spiritual world all are a combination of yin and yang, are all in a harmonious and balanced whole. objective is eternal, and the spirit will not quench. this is not only the theme emilys works reflected, the subject of her depression and painful life, but also her understanding and conclusion of the world and life. to sum up, “deep feeling of losing nature (freedom), rebelling society, looking for nature and eager to return to nature”, are emilys life and the mentality. “wuthering heights” is the autobiography of her soul. the core idea of “wuthering heights” is “dream”, which can be presented basically as such a plot mode “ideal state (dream) displaying dream broken- revenge or looking dream - returning to and beyond a dream”. heathcliff and catherine played in fields hand in hand when they were very young, which was emilys sisters beautiful childhoods reproduction. at that time, they were not required to bear the burden of life, living a natural life not bound the secular state. all these were their shared eager and ideals, but turned to be a charming dream when they grew up. hindley and linton finished heathcliffs natural life by their power of financial oppression and the prejudice of the secular state (and the dream was broken), which are just what emily faced when they grow up, a society full of competition and communication, rules and order (contain bias and oppression), in which she lost freedom. the dilemma catherine faced when choosing whom to marry, was just a reflection of how to select her life style when emily grew up. catherines last choice showed that emily was aware soberly and sadly of her inevitable tragedy of losing liberty. the choice catherine was forced to make was just emilys pain, and both of them are deeply painful for loss of freedom. heathcliffs revenge was emilys rebellion after the loss of freedom, and that is what she wanted to do and say to the society, which was full of oppression and prejudice, and rules and order. heathcliffs revenge at the same time reflected the course of “dream” and her ardent pursuit of the ideal dream. the combination of heathcliff and catherine “afterlife”, the happy life of cathy and hareton expressed emilys extreme desire for this dream. on one hand, she realized the absolute freedom in real life did not exist; on the other hand, she still dreamed that freedom could be reborn in human society. this “rebirth” was based on “civilized nature”, which was emilys ideal “nature.” all in all, the “rebelling society and wishing back to nature” was the core of her idea, and provided subject for wuthering heights as well. as mentioned earlier, wuthering heights is the outcome of personal writing. emily, who was introverted, would not and should not expound her ideas in writing on behalf of society. she just borrowed her works to express her feeling about the status of their livelihood. but objectively, the work has clearly gone beyond the personal scope, touching the problem of nature and human civilization, which considers about peoples survival and human development, thus has a significance through time and space.3.2 the influence on wuthering heights narrating structurewhen the introverted girl felt lonely, as well as fiery repression, her real feeling and her impulse to be a writer drove her to free themselves from their loneliness, to release their emotions, to suppress their own exclusion in her novel. thus, the confusion of many readers, “why such a weak woman was able to depict such emotion like a storm?” could be solved. in fact, like volcanic eruption, it was