Gothic Reality: A Study of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights, is a gothic novel with an innovative stance. Gothic elements permeate the story, but it is not a gothic novel in the traditional sense of the word. The fantastic tales so popular in the eighteenth century alienated the reader by creating phantasmagorical worlds. Emily Bronte, however, grounded her gothic world firmly in reality. Through an analytical approach, the author aims to show, in this article, how Emily Bronte reversed gothic conventions to create a gothic reality whose message is still relevant today. The author will show that her use of the gothic mode was an attempt to capture the real essence of life, anticipating the metaphysical theories of D. H. Lawrence, who wrote at the end of the nineteenth century. By highlighting her innate understanding of human nature , this article will focus on her affinity with Lawrence and the celebration of man’s powerful primal instincts. This article hinges on the premise that she deplored the mechanical restrictions of the society in which she lived. The author aims to show that her Gothicism is, paradoxically, synonymous with a search for life.

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HERO SEARCHING FOR IDENTITY IN THE ENGLISH LITERATURE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE WORKS BY J. S. LE FANU AND R. L. STEVENSON)

Fìlologìčnì traktati ◽

10.21272/ftrk.2019.11(3-4)-8 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 67-76

Author(s):

T. Kyrpyta

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Human Nature ◽

Victorian Literature ◽

English Literature ◽

Late Nineteenth Century ◽

Gothic Novel ◽

English Society ◽

Split Personality ◽

Xix Century ◽

Political Economic

In this article, we aim to examine how English writers of the second half of the nineteenth century attempted to answer the question of the identity of their representative, the way they saw human nature, and the nature of good and evil in a person, in what they saw the integrity of personality, from which the ideals were repelled in search of a hero of his time. Using cultural, historical, and comparative methods, we contrasted the momentous events that influenced nineteenth-century English society with such a literary phenomenon as the revival of interest in the techniques characteristic of the Gothic novel, in particular, characters' doubles, the split personality, expressed through physicality. We have considered the reasons why the idea of the dualism of human nature became relevant in this era. The political, economic and social shifts in the life of England in the second half of the nineteenth century caused the writers to rethink their own identities as representative of nation and humanity. Scientific discoveries, above all, the work of Darwin, forced a new look at the nature of man, his inner world. As a projection of Darwinism as well as the search for self-determination of the colonized peoples, there is a fear of degradation, which is reflected in the appearance of animal characters (the monkey-like ghost in Le Fanu's novel Green Tea, Hyde in the novel by R. L. Stevenson "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"). The literary hero of the late nineteenth century is a multifaceted combination of archetypal images such as Prometheus, Satan, Pygmalion, and the embodiment of the idea of the dualism of human soul, in which the divine and animal principles are combined. Such a split personality is also associated with the destruction of the image of the good patriarch as the embodiment of the English nation. Keywords: Victorian literature, double, duality, rebel hero, identity, Prometheus myth, English "Gothic" tradition.

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Emily Brontë and the Enthusiastic Tradition

Romanticism on the Net ◽

10.7202/006008ar ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 0

Author(s):

Emma Mason

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Literary Tradition ◽

Emily Bronte ◽

Woman Writer ◽

Writing Style ◽

Wuthering Heights ◽

Edward Young ◽

Religious Nature

Abstract This essay places Emily Brontë's poetry within a tradition of eighteenth-century discourses on enthusiasm of both a poetical and religious nature. The question of where Brontë's fervent writing style, most often associated with her fiery novel Wuthering Heights, originated has long been debated, and it is suggested here that one available answer is enthusiasm. Two sources of enthusiasm pertinent to Brontë are explored: Methodism, with its dislike of doctrine and pantheistic emphasis on nature; and eighteenth-century poetics, as defined through figures like John Dennis and Edward Young. Religious and poetical enthusiasm are necessarily merged for Brontë, both infused by a kind of spiritual sublimity and dependence on the idea of transport she employed within her verse. Recognizing this allows the reader to historicize this often cryptic poet and thus rescue her from more arguably tenuous claims which deem her a mystic, a Shelleyan heretic, a writer repressed by Christianity, a victim of a tragic romance or simply a very angry woman. By instead locating her within an enthusiastic literary tradition, Brontë may be seen not only as a woman writer aware of her religious environment, but as a Romantic whose poetry accords as much with the sentiment of Night Thoughts as Mont Blanc.

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Geographies of Historical Discourse

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696383.013.32 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Roberto Dainotto

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Eighteenth Century ◽

Human Nature ◽

Natural Law ◽

Historical Discourse ◽

Ancient Civilizations ◽

Different Cultures

This chapter attempts to frame European Romanticism against the background of that ‘somewhat enigmatic event’ which, between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, was said by Foucault to have begun European modernity: the discovery of ‘the historicity of knowledge’. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the monogenetic assumption that humankind was of a single Adamitic origin, created by one God, and universally attending to one divinely ordained natural law, had already fallen into disrepute under the attack of Reason; once Reason too, along with its presumption of one ‘unchanging human nature’, was relativized after the European discoveries of different cultures and ancient civilizations, a new outlook on life, which Meinecke called historismus, ‘rose’ to change once and for all European culture’s very understanding of its world.

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Reaction to Crisis in Gothic Romance: Radcliffe’s The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne

ELOPE English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries ◽

10.4312/elope.13.2.35-49 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 35-49

Author(s):

Tadej Braček

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Eighteenth Century ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Men And Women ◽

Gothic Novel ◽

Female Authors ◽

Atypical Features ◽

Physical Level ◽

Literary Characters

Gothic romances were primarily women’s domain. This is proven by the fact that from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century more than fifty female authors wrote Gothic romances. In the first part the paper depicts the emergence of romances, clarifies the notion of the Gothic and explains the theory of Gothic romances. The second part focuses on Ann Radcliffe’s first novel, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne. This section analyses in what way men and women react to crises. It concludes that reactions are primarily based not on sex but on the benevolence and malevolence of literary characters. The former react with higher intensity on the physical level (passing out, becoming ill) and the latter react vehemently in emotional sense towards their rivals. The originality of the article lies in the systematic analysis of characters’ responses to crisis and in the study of atypical features of this Gothic novel.

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Emily Brontë and Dogs: Transformation Within the Human-Dog Bond

Society and Animals ◽

10.1163/156853000511069 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 167-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Maureen Adams

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Domestic Violence ◽

Emily Bronte ◽

Professional Life ◽

Personal Life ◽

Dark Side ◽

Animal Abuse ◽

Human Relationships ◽

Wuthering Heights ◽

Caring Relationship

AbstractThis paper examines the bond between humans and dogs as demonstrated in the life and work of Emily Brontë (1818-1848). The nineteenth century author, publishing under the pseudonym, Ellis Bell, evinced, both in her personal and professional life, the complex range of emotions explicit in the human-dog bond: attachment and companionship to domination and abuse. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë portrays the dog as scapegoat, illustrating the dark side of the bond found in many cultures. Moreover, she writes with awareness of connections - unknown in the nineteenth century - between animal abuse and domestic violence. In her personal life, Brontë's early power struggles with her companion animal mastiff, Keeper, evolve into a caring relationship. In a human-dog bond transformation that survives Brontë's death, Keeper, becomes both bridge and barrier to other human relationships. A dog may, and in this case Keeper does, take on a comprehensive role in which he both mourns his own loss and comforts others in their collective grief.

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Emily Brontë and Dogs: Transformation Within the Human-Dog Bond

Society and Animals ◽

10.1163/156853000x00110 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 167-181

Author(s):

Maureen B. Adams

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Domestic Violence ◽

Emily Bronte ◽

Professional Life ◽

Personal Life ◽

Dark Side ◽

Animal Abuse ◽

Human Relationships ◽

Wuthering Heights ◽

Caring Relationship

AbstractThis paper examines the bond between humans and dogs as demonstrated in the life and work of Emily Bronte (1818-1848). The nineteenth century author, publishing under the pseudonym, Ellis Bell, evinced, both in her personal and professional life, the complex range of emotions explicit in the human-dog bond: attachment and companionship to domination and abuse. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë portrays the dog as scapegoat, illustrating the dark side of the bond found in many cultures. Moreover, she writes with awareness of connections - unknown in the nineteenth century - between animal abuse and domestic violence. In her personal life, Brontë's early power struggles with her companion animal mastiff, Keeper, evolve into a caring relationship. In a human-dog bond transformation that survives Brontë's death, Keeper, becomes both bridge and barrier to other human relationships. A dog may, and in this case Keeper does, take on a comprehensive role in which he both mourns his own loss and comforts others in their collective grief.

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Maxim Berezovsky C-dur symphony in a context of new biographical scenario of artist’s life-creativity

Scientific collections of the Lviv National Music Academy named after M V Lysenko ◽

10.33398/2310-0583.4243.13.25 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 13-25

Author(s):

Olha Shumilina

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Instrumental Music ◽

Analytical Approach ◽

Spiritual Direction ◽

Theoretical Research ◽

Orchestral Music ◽

Musical Life ◽

Analysis And Synthesis ◽

Mental Modeling ◽

Independent Work

Relevance of the study. The article studies recently found symphony of the prominent Ukrainian composer of the second half of the eighteenth century Maxim Berezovsky. He is widely known now as the author of cyclic spiritual concerts written for the Orthodox worship, and is practically unknown as a musician instrumentalist associated with the imperial theater and the court musical life. The work of M. Berezovsky as a secular musician determined the creative interest in composing instrumental music intended for secular chamber and orchestral music. Main objective of the article is a clarification of M.Berezovsky symphony as one of secular field artworks in the light of new summaries about artist’s life-creativity. Methodology. Taking into account peculiarities of the material and the analytical approach to its study, the methods of theoretical research have been chosen(abstraction, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, mental modeling, ascension from abstract to concrete, etc.). Conclusions. As a result of a study the symphony analysis in a context of new authentic statements about M.Berezovsky’s life-creativity. It was stated that this artwork was written not accidentally and detects absolute awareness of the artist in all composer’s niceties – how to build a topic and build a homophonic construction based on it, in a technique of orchestral construction, form creations of that time and etc. From the beginning of his creative career, M. Berezovsky was well aware of the possibilities of the orchestra as a performer, attached to the Italian opera and instrumental music. Symphony enriches our imagination about the works of M. Berezovsky in the field of secular instrumental and operatic music and extends the range of works of the artist beyond the spiritual direction. Some signs indicate that the Symphony was not an independent work, but an overture to the opera Demofont.

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Maxim Berezovsky C-dur symphony in a context of new biographical scenario of artist’s life-creativity

Scientific collections of the Lviv National Music Academy named after M V Lysenko ◽

10.33398/2310-0583.2018.4243.13.25 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 13-25

Author(s):

Olha Shumilina

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Instrumental Music ◽

Analytical Approach ◽

Spiritual Direction ◽

Theoretical Research ◽

Orchestral Music ◽

Musical Life ◽

Analysis And Synthesis ◽

Mental Modeling ◽

Independent Work

Relevance of the study. The article studies recently found symphony of the prominent Ukrainian composer of the second half of the eighteenth century Maxim Berezovsky. He is widely known now as the author of cyclic spiritual concerts written for the Orthodox worship, and is practically unknown as a musician instrumentalist associated with the imperial theater and the court musical life. The work of M. Berezovsky as a secular musician determined the creative interest in composing instrumental music intended for secular chamber and orchestral music. Main objective of the article is a clarification of M.Berezovsky symphony as one of secular field artworks in the light of new summaries about artist’s life-creativity. Methodology. Taking into account peculiarities of the material and the analytical approach to its study, the methods of theoretical research have been chosen(abstraction, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, mental modeling, ascension from abstract to concrete, etc.). Conclusions. As a result of a study the symphony analysis in a context of new authentic statements about M.Berezovsky’s life-creativity. It was stated that this artwork was written not accidentally and detects absolute awareness of the artist in all composer’s niceties – how to build a topic and build a homophonic construction based on it, in a technique of orchestral construction, form creations of that time and etc. From the beginning of his creative career, M. Berezovsky was well aware of the possibilities of the orchestra as a performer, attached to the Italian opera and instrumental music. Symphony enriches our imagination about the works of M. Berezovsky in the field of secular instrumental and operatic music and extends the range of works of the artist beyond the spiritual direction. Some signs indicate that the Symphony was not an independent work, but an overture to the opera Demofont.

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Historical Fragments’ Mobile Echo

Transfers ◽

10.3167/trans.2017.070209 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 115-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Susan E. Bell ◽

Kathy Davis

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

Eighteenth Century ◽

Cultural Revolution ◽

Ming Dynasty ◽

Third Century ◽

Refugee Crisis ◽

The Third ◽

Opium War ◽

The Subject

Translocation – Transformation is an ambitious contribution to the subject of mobility. Materially, it interlinks seemingly disparate objects into a surprisingly unified exhibition on mobile histories and heritages: twelve bronze zodiac heads, silk and bamboo creatures, worn life vests, pressed Pu-erh tea, thousands of broken antique teapot spouts, and an ancestral wooden temple from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) used by a tea-trading family. Historically and politically, the exhibition engages Chinese stories from the third century BCE, empires in eighteenth-century Austria and China, the Second Opium War in the nineteenth century, the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the mid-twentieth century, and today’s global refugee crisis.

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