Analysis on the Characteristics of the Main Roles in Wuthering Heights and the Influences on Life

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1、Analysis on the Characteristics of the Main Roles in Wuthering Heights and the Influences on Life呼啸山庄中主要人物性格特征的分析以及对生活的影响Analysis on the Characteristics of the Main Roles in Wuthering Heights and the Influences on LifeContentsAbstract.1Key words.1I.Introduction.21.1Introduction to the Reputation on

2、This Novel.21.2Introduction to the Author.21.2.1 The Authors Growth and Main Works.21.2.2 The Authors Fame.31.3 Introduction about the Background Information.31.3.1 Introduction to the British Background in the Late 18th and Early19th Century: Victorian Age.31.3.2 General Information on Gothic Novel

3、s in British and American Literature.41.3.2.1 The Original Meaning of “Gothic”.41.3.2.2 The Characteristics of Gothic Architecture and Its Developmental Meaning.41.3.2.3 The Characteristics of Gothic Novel and Its Representative Novels.4II.Different Comments and My Own Viewpoints on the Novel and It

4、s Main Roles in the Novel.5III.My Tastes to the Content and the Themes in the Novel.63.1 The General Content of the Novel.63.2 The Themes 7IV.Displayment of Different Characters and Analysis of the Characteristics of the Main Characters.84.1 Brief Displayment of the Characters in the Form of Table a

5、nd Additional List.84.2 List of the Main Characters.94.3 Analysis of the Main Characters.104.4 Demonstration of the Three Levels of Conflicts of Wuthering Heights.114.4.1 Level 1: Heathcliffs Story 114.4.2 Level 2: The Tale as a Love Story 114.4.3 Level 3: The Conflict Between Nature and Civilizatio

6、n.12V.Characteristics of Destructive Relationships That Can Greatly Influence Peoples Life.125.1 Characteristics of Destructive Relationships.135.2 Influences on Our Daily Life.14VI.Conclusion.14References.16摘要： 艾米莉勃朗特的呼啸山庄是一部接近于梦魇和恐怖的浪漫主义小说，作者赋予其深刻的现实意义，有着强烈的批判精神。艾米莉勃朗特借鉴了哥特式小说的创作技巧，为作品注入了现实的内容和强烈的

7、情感。作品一反同时代小说普遍存在的感伤主义情调，以强烈的爱和狂暴的恨以及由之而起的无情的报复，取代了低沉的感伤和忧郁，字里行间充满着丰富的想象和狂飙般猛烈的情感，具有震撼人心的艺术力量。从弗洛伊德的精神分析学这一新视角对书中主人公性格进行深入的分析和详细的描述，来阐述人的性格对命运的影响。关键词：哥特式小说; 精神分析学; 狂热追求; 强烈报复; 性格; 命运Abstract: Emily Bronts Wuthering Heights, to some extent, is a romantic novel characterized with nightmare and terror.

8、This novel has a strong critical spirit by providing with a profound realistic meaning. Emily Bront learns a lot from the creative techeniques of Gothic novel. Thus, the novel is full of realistic content and intensive emotion. This work is quite diffentent from the universal style of sentimentalism

9、 that exists in the same ages. It replaces the depressed sentiment and sad feeling with the strong love, violent hatred and succeedingly the relentlessly revenge caused by these factors. There are plenty of rich imaginations and violent hurricane-like emotion between the lines and it has an exciting

10、 artistic power. With a new perspective of the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, this paper will deal with the influences of peoples characteristics on life from deep analysis and detailed description of the main roles characteristics in this novel. Key words: Gothic novel; psychoanalytic th

11、eories; crazily pursuit; voilent revenge; characteristics; life I. Introduction1.1 Introduction to the Reputation on This NovelWuthering Heights was first published in 1847. It is the only novel written by Emily Bront.At its first appearance to the readers, Wuthering Heights was not well received by

12、 the reading public. Many readers even condemned it as a sordid, vulgar, and unnatural literature work. It was not until 1850 that it attracted a wide readership with a second printing with an introduction by Emilys sister Charlotte. And from that point the reputation of the book has never looked ba

13、ck. Today it is widely recognized as one of the great novels of English literature.1.2 Introduction to the AuthorThe paper mainly deals with the characteristics of the main roles in Wuthering Heights on the influences on life. Before we discuss it, we must have a general understanding of the author.

14、 There are many factors which are undergoing before I step into the topic. Such as, the authors growth, the authors main famous works and the authors reputation, etc.1.2.1 The Authors Growth and Main WorksEmilyBront (1818-1848) together with Charlotte Bront (1816-1855), and Anne Bront (1820-1849) wa

15、s considered as the Bront sisters in English literature. They were all talented writers. However, all of them died young. For EmilyBront, she was born in a small village in northern England. Her father was a poor Irish clergyman in the little village of Haworth, Yorkshire, in northern England and he

16、r childhood was not so happy. Because she has lost her mother when she was very young. After her mothers death in 1821, four of the daughters were sent to a boarding school, a veritable prison where the poor children were cruelly treated. There the two elder sisters died of ill-treatment, and the yo

17、unger sisters contracted consumption of which they later died. So the condition for young EmilyBront was very bad. After the death of the elder sisters, Charlotte and Emily were brought home to be educated by their father. For some time, they worked in a boarding school and were subsequently governe

18、sses in rich families. Charlotte and her two younger sisters had a great fondness for literature. They often ran wild upon the moors. They were all lovers of literature, and read a great deal.After being crazy on literature, Emily Bront devoted her energy to writing. She once became a well-known poe

19、t and novelist in the literature world. However, this gifted girl died at a very young age. Her representative work was the famous single novel Wuthering Heights, which was first published in 1847.1.2.2 The Authors FameEmily Bront was generally acknowledged as the most gifted of the three Bront sist

20、ers in English literature. She was a poet and novelist. But now she is chiefly remembered as the author of Wuthering Heights, her single novel, which was one of the best novels in English literature. This novel has divided many readers. However, this novel presents many themes that are very useful f

21、or us to learn in our daily life. And her excellent writing skills and vivid descriptive styles of the main roles in novel have aroused many readers as well as many experts attention. In fact, Emily Bront was a well-known female writer in the world in various aspects.1.3 Introduction about the Backg

22、round InformationMy research about the background information mainly focuses on the following two parts: Victorian Age and Gothic Novel. In the former part, I will introduce some unique features in that period in terms of various fields. And in the later part, I will deal with the special writing st

23、yle, namely, Gothic novel, from different perspectives.1.3.1 Introduction to the British Background in the Late 18th Century and Early 19th Century: Victorian Age. The Victorian Age is considered as a period between the year 1832 and 1901. The term Victorian literally describes things and events in

24、the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), conveyed connotations of prudish repressed, and old fashioned. There are many unique features in this period. They are as follows:In science and technology, the Victorians invented the modern idea of invention, the notion that one can create solutions to prob

25、lems, that man can create new means of bettering himself and his environment. In religion, the Victorians experienced a great age of doubt, the first that called into question institutional Christianity on such a large scale. In literature and the other arts, the Victorians attempted to combine Roma

26、ntic emphases upon self, emotion, and imagination with neoclassical ones upon the public role of art and a corollary responsibility of the artist. In ideology, politics, and society, the Victorians created astonishing innovation and change: democracy, feminism, unionization of workers, socialism, Ma

27、rxism, and other modern movements took form. In fact, this age of Darwin, Marx, and Freud appeared to be not only the first that experienced modern problems but also the first that attempted modern solutions.1.3.2 General Information on Gothic Novels in British and American LiteratureIn this paper,

28、a term that must not be neglected, namely, Gothic novel has to be disscussed because it is a vitally important clue in Emily Bronts Wuthering Heights. Since it was born in the middle 18th century in Britain, the Gothic novel has gained a large amount of readers owing to its special charm and has att

29、racted many writers of different genres in different times by its particular characteristics. They used the Gothic form in their works to arrange plots, deepen themes, strengthen effects and achieved great success. Thus, a Gothic tradition came inte being, which continually developed and widely affe

30、cted peoples life.1.3.2.1 The Original Meaning of “Gothic”The word “Gothic” firstly came from the name of the Gothic tribe in the teutons. The teutons, which originally lived in the northern Europe, finally defeated the powerful empire of west Rome in the migrating course during several centuries. A

31、fter more than 1000 years of the perdition of the west Rome empire, a Italian named Vasari (1511-1574) found the word “Gothic” in the dust of history in order to refer to a kind of medieval architectural style which is disliked by the Renaissance thinkers.1.3.2.2 The Characteristics of Gothic Archit

32、ecture and Its Developmental MeaningThis kind of architectural style prevailed between the 12th century and the 16th century in Europe. It was mainly used in building churches and castles. The Saint Paulo church in Britain could be considered to be a representative one. It was featured by the aerial

33、 fastigiums, thick stone walls, narrow windows, tinct glass, somber inside and even underground charnel house. In the eyes of the thinkers of Renaissance who admired the civilization of the ancient Greece and ancient Rome, this kind of architecture, namely, Gothic architecture represented lag, barba

34、rism and darkness, which was the suitable symbol for the Dark Ages that took place of the Rome civilization. Hence, the name of the “barbarized”, “cruel”, and “sanguinary” tribe which destroyed Rome was quite suitable to refer to this architectural style. Thus, by the influence of the Renaissance th

35、inkers, the word “Gothic” was gradually endowed a meaning of barbarism, horror, lag, mystery, the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages and so on.1.3.2.3 The Characteristics of Gothic Novel and Its Representative NovelsIn the late 18th century, the word “Gothic” became the name of a kind of new novel genre.

36、 This kind of novels generally set in old castles, relics or wasterlands, the stories often happen in the past, especially in the Middle Ages. The plots of the stories are very frightening and full of murder, violence, revenge, rape and incest, even the appearance of ghosts and other super-natures.

37、The atmosphere is somber, mysterious, frightening and full of suspense. As a kind of novel genre, the Gothic novel first appeared in 1764. In that year, Horace Walpole published his famous work The Castle of Otranto. It succeeded out of every expectation and was republished in four months. Walpole a

38、dded a subhead “AGothicStory” on the second edition. From then on, this kind of novel was named gothic novel. The great success of The Castle of Otranto promoted emulations of many writers. In the 1890s, with the publications of Ann Radliffes The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), The Italian (1797), Matt

39、hew Lewiss TheMonk(1796) and many other resounding works, Gothic works not only got a position in Britain, but also deeply influenced the literary creation in other countries, especially in Germany and America. During two hundred years, in Britain and America, not only the pop writers, but also many

40、 daisy poets and writers, such as Scot, Coleridge, Keats, Dickens, the sisters of Bront, Conrad and Forster Mary Shelley in Britain; Charles Brochen Brown, Edgar Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, James, Faulkner in America, either directly wrote Gothic novels which won universal praise or used t

41、he Gothic techniques a lot in their works. In this paper, I will put much energy to analyze some techniques in Emily Bronts Wuthering Heights from the perspective of Gothic novel.II. Different Comments and My Own Viewpoints on the Novel and Its Main Roles in the NovelAs Arnold Kettle, the English cr

42、itic, said, “Wuthering Heights is an expression in theimaginativetermsofartofthestressesandtensions and conflicts,personal andspiritual, ofnineteenth-centurycapitalistsociety.”3Many critics take EmilyBront to be the most gifted of the three sisters. Ralph Fox, the revolutionary critic of England hig

43、hly comments the novel in The Novel and the People: Wuthering Heights is certainly the novel which becomes poetry, it is beyond all doubt one of the most extraordinary books which human genius has ever produced, yet it is these things only because it is a cry of despairing agony wrung from Emily by

44、life itself.P207.Robert McKibben holds that Wuthering Heights is not just a love story, but a window into the human soul, where one sees the loss, suffering, self discovery, and triumph of the characters. However, John Hagan proves that neither Catherine nor Heathcliff is to be blamed for their wron

45、g doings. It is Catherine and Heathcliffs passionate nature,intolerable frustration,and overwhelming loss that have ruined them. Many people find that the novel Wuthering Heights is extremely unpleasant. And it is a bit difficult to get into. I have to admit that point. However, I still hold that it

46、 feeds into the flow of the work in a remarkable way. It sets the stage for one of the most remarkable structures in all of literature; it presents us a story that circles upon itself in a series of repetitions as it plays out across two generations. Catherine and Heathcliff are equally remarkable,

47、both vicious and cruel, and yet never able to shed their impossible love no matter how brutally one may wound the other. It is a confusing novel, frightening, cruel, unsettling, filled with unconfined passion. Wuthering Heights is the greatnovelwritten byEmilyBront. Thoughit presents some pictures a

48、bout the character childhood fantasies, friendship, romance and revenge. III. My Tastes to the Content and the Themes in the Novel3.1 The General Content of the NovelThe novel is set between two villages. They are Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Mr. Earnshaw, a Yorkshire Farmer and owner o

49、f Wuthering Heights, brings home an orphan from Liverpool. The boy is named Heathcliff and is raised with the Earnshaw children, Hindley and Catherine. Catherine loves Heathcliff but Hindley hates him because Heathcliff has replaced him. After Mr. Earnshaws death, Hindley does what he can to destroy

50、 Heathcliff, but Catherine and Heathcliff grow up playing wildly on the moors, oblivious of anything or anyone else, until they meet the Lintons. Edgar and Isabella Linton live at Thrushcross Grange and are the complete opposites of Heathcliff and Catherine. The Lintons welcome Catherine into their

51、home but avoid Heathcliff. Being treated as an outsider , Heathcliff begins to think about revenge. When Heathcliff overhears Catherine tell Nelly that she will marry Edgar , he leaves Wuthering Heights and is gone for three years. After Catherine marries Edgar, their happiness lasts a short time be

52、cause they are from two different worlds. When Heathcliff returns, he marries Isabella, Edgars sister ,at Wuthering Heights. Soon after Heathcliffs marriage, Catherine gives birth to Edgars daughter, Cathy, and dies. In order to exact his revenge, Heathcliff must wait 17 years. Finally, he forces Ca

53、thy to marry his son, Linton. By this time he has control of the Heights and with Edgars death, he has control of the Grange. At the end of the novel, Heathcliff and Catherine are united in death, and Hareton and Cathy are going to be united in marriage.3.2 The Themes As far as I am concerned, Emily

54、 Bront shows us various aspects of themes in the novel Wuthering Heights. Some of the important themes in Wuthering Heights are: love, revenge, selfishness, responsibility and super-nature. In the following part, I will further analyze from three aspects.Major Theme The major theme of the novel is l

55、ove. This theme is developed with constant references to the special affinity that exists between Heathcliff and Catherine. It is the product of a mutual rebellion against the harsh regime of Hindley and Joseph. From another point of view, it is also the product of their rebellion against the kind o

56、f adult tyranny exercised against children in the period in which they lived. Their own strong personalities, coupled with their various mistakes and failures, compound their problems. Consequently, life keeps them apart, even though they both pledge their love and devotion to one another. As a resu

57、lt, Catherine dies an early death, and Heathcliff becomes a bitter, vengeful man. In the end, we can see clearly that it is only through death that they can be eternally united. Appropriately, after Heathcliffs death their spirits are seen wandering together on the moors. To the contrary, in order t

58、o give a more positive view of love than the troubled relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff, Emily Bront brings together a younger generation that can pursue true love. Even though young Cathy, Catherines daughter, is forced by Heathcliff to marry Edgar, his son, she rises above her problems

59、. When her husband dies, Cathy develops an attachment for Hareton and eventually marries him out of true love. At the end of the novel, they plan to leave Wuthering Heights forever to begin a fresh, new life together at Thrushcross Grange. In the end, Wuthering Heights emerges as a truly great novel

60、 that affirms loves glory, both in life and death. Minor Theme The theme of revenge is also very important to the entire novel. As an orphan child growing up at Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is abused by Hindley, who is jealous about his fathers affection for this gypsy outsider. When old Mr. Earnsh

61、aw dies, Hindleys treatment of Heathcliff grows more brutal. The only thing that makes his life bearable is the attention paid to him by Catherine, Hindleys sister. Then she betrays him and marries Edgar Linton. Thus, Heathcliff is devastated and promises to get revenge on both the Lintons and the E

62、arnshaws. He goes away for three years and amasses some wealth so that he can put his plan of revenge into motion. Upon his return to the Heights, Heathcliff becomes a cruel and unfeeling demon as he carries out his plan. In vengeance, he marries, Isabella, the simple and infatuated sister of Edgar

63、Linton. He mistreats Hareton, Hindleys son, in much the same way he has been mistreated. He takes advantage of the drunken, gambling. And then he wins Wuthering Heights from Hindley as the collateral for his gambling losses. In the end, Heathcliff is unable to fully carry out his plan of revenge against Hareton and Cathy because they remind Heathcliff so much of Catherine and himself. Therefore, he finally abandons his vengeful