Emily Jane Brontë’s Archetypal Motifs: a Re-Reading of Wuthering Heights by Doyin Aguoru Ph.D
Emily Jane Brontë’s Archetypal Motifs: A Re-reading of Wuthering Heights By
Doyin Aguoru Ph.D ENGLISH DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN
I Biographical writings about the Brontës life and literary influence occupy a significant portion of critical writings about their works. Most critics agree that the images, characters and themes of their poetic effusions and narratives are largely influenced by their childhood experiences. However, critical assertions about Emily Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights further emphasize the significance of this novel to the Victorian period and to literary tradition. In contemporary times, Wuthering Heights stands out as an epic particularly in its portrayal of archetypal motifs, themes, characterization, and narrative point of view; apart from typifying a writer who dared to be different and esoteric in a puritanical society where sanctimonious airs and pretences were rife. This study examines archetypal characterization and archetypal theme of death as motifs, which authenticates the piece and create for it the unique place it occupies in world literature. Of great significance to history and critical thought is the fact that Emily Jane Brontë‟s birth and death occurred within the Romantic and the Victorian periods. This apart from other social factors, is evident in Brontë‟s novel. Born July 30 1818 in Yorkshire, England, Emily Brontë‟s experiences as a child and young adult include: the death of her mother -Maria Branwell Brontëat age three, the death of two of her sisters -Elizabeth and Maria- at age six, personal bouts of depression and ill health, the death of her aunt at age twenty three, the depreciation of her father‟s health and his eventual death, and the death of her brother a few years later (Lowe-Evans 2003).
Her father, Patrick Brontë, was a clergyman, who resided in a parsonage in Haworth. Their habitation, according to Charlotte Brontë‟s account, overlooked a graveyard on one hand and the moors on the other. Patrick Brontë, we are told, exposed his children to a variety of literature:
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…they read everything from the best English literature to dreary religious tracts; they took long walks on the moors (Emily was especially fond of this past time); and they invented mythical lands which were the setting for many homemade volumes of manuscript of tale (Hornstein, 1984:73). It would not be wrong then to suggest that Emily Jane was greatly influenced by the various writings of the Romantic period, especially the Calvinistic teachings of Elizabeth Branwell, her maternal aunt. Brontë‟s works are clearly marked with certain features of the Romantic Movement, a period when:
Instead of portraying great or typical characters writers would seek out lowly and eccentric ones, instead of using an established type of lofty poetic diction…would cultivate everyday speech of actual people … instead of trying to be objective, they would revel in their own unique personalities. And they would overthrow the ideas of both conformity and decorum by openly - and rather enthusiastically dealing with taboo themes likes incest (Hornstein, 1984:457). Romance was a dominant theme in the Romantic Movement. By 1832 the Victorian Movement in English literature had begun; although there was very little or significant distinction between the two movements, it is unlikely that Emily Brontë, in her utopia, was aware of such literary development or classification. According to Hornstein (1984:460), Victorian writings portrayed „Humanitarian social ideals and a straight laced sense of decorum‟ (460). The period was remarkably marked with a puritan air, which was thought to mirror the lives of Queen Victoria and her husband.
It was a rather shocked circle of Victorian writers, critics and audience that received Emily Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights. The critics out rightly condemned the work attributing it in an instance to „...a man of uncommon talents but dogged, brutal and morose‟. In another instance, a critic had supposed that the author had a „morbid and diseased mind‟ (Hornstein, 1984:73). Gilbert John, a prominent scholar of the Brontë writings, observes that the fury of the critics‟ onslaught prompted Charlotte Brontë to „leap‟ in defence of her sister in a notice that is
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undeniably an explicatory reading of Wuthering Heights. Lord Cecil‟s opinion was at variance with the popular opinion of other prominent critics of his time. He adjudged the work to be the best Victorian novel and though most critical opinions appeared at the time to be absolute, the work slowly and persistently made its way into critical favour.
Wuthering Heights occupies a unique space in the growth and development of the English Novel tradition. Emily Jane Brontë‟s single novel contends fiercely with the literary cannons and orthodoxy which justifies the polemical critical comments spurred by the essence of the work. Noteworthy is the fact that each critical comment suggests that Wuthering Heights is unique, strange, but equally a magnificent literary achievement (Palmer,1986:67).
II „I do not believe a word of it‟, remarked an exasperated critic (Palmer,1986:67). The unwillingness of some of the critics to suspend their disbelief in the interpretation of the text made the work initially controversial and difficult to fit into the European folio. It took a Charlotte Brontë‟s re-reading of Wuthering Heights to shed more light on the work reliving most of the critics of their perplexity on the esoteric personality of Emily Jane, which strongly, reflects in her work. Charlotte, Emily‟s sister and closest associate, sympathizes with the readers who know nothing about the author, particularly her critics, who are unacquainted with the locality and the setting of the work. To these people, the inhabitants, customs, natural characteristics of Yorkshire are alien and unfamiliar, just as the language, manners, dwellings, their household customs are unintelligible and repulsive. The characters they meet in the work are people to whom rough, strong utterance, harshly manifested passions, unbridled aversions and attitudes of the unlettered are the norm. These characters who, in the real sense, inhabit the Moorlands have grown up untaught, and unchecked, except by mentors as harsh as themselves, are the heroes and heroines of Emily Brontë (Brontë, 1968:386).
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Charlotte Brontë, being a writer of different passions from her sister, identifies an innate gift, a potential that tends to outrun the writer in his/her creation of characters and portrayal of images. Discussing Emily Brontë‟s development of the characters in Wuthering Heights she writes: Heathcliff is unredeemable never once swerving in his arrow straight course to perdition…whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know. I scarcely think it is (Brontë C, 1968:387). In another vein, she states:
Her imagination, which was a spirit more sombre than sunny, more powerful than supportive found in such traits material whence it wrought creations like Heathcliff, like Earnshaw, like Catherine. Having formed these beings, she did not what she had done (387). It is important to note that Charlotte‟s observation after her re-examination of Emily‟s work suggests that the capabilities of a creative mind are inexhaustible and cannot be canonically censored. She therefore identifies this capability as the dominant influence on her sister‟s writing. In her opinion: …the writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master… at times, strangely wills and works for itself. He may lay down rules and devise principles it will perhaps for years live in subjection; then haply without any warning of revolt, there comes a time when it will no longer consent to “harrow the valleys, or be bound with a band in the furrow” … it sets to work on a statue - hewing, and you have a Pluto, or a Jove, a Tisiphone or a Psyche, a Mermaid or a Madonna as fate or inspiration direct. Be the work grim or glorious, dread or divine you have little choice left but quiescent adoption (389). When Charlotte Brontë made these points, she anticipated the psychological and archetypal theories of the „collective unconscious‟ which Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung would develop several decades after the publication of Wuthering Heights.
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III Sigmund Freud‟s study and discovery of the unconscious forces that influence man‟s daily thoughts and actions came to being sixty years after the publication of Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights. Applying Freud‟s theories to Wuthering Heights may unravel The sources and influences of Emily Jane Brontë‟ The motivation for her writing.
Furthermore, in applying Carl Jung‟s later theories which were developed from Freudian theories, one can begin to identify the sources of Emily Brontë‟s creative motifs, archetypal characters, themes and imagery. Freud claims that laymen are intensely curious to know „…from what sources that strange being, the creative writer, draws his material and how he manages to make such an impression on us with it and to arouse in us such emotions of which, perhaps, we had not even thought ourselves capable (Freud, 131: 1990).
Freud answers the first part of this question by tracing human development from the source of imaginative activity that is characteristic of a child at play. He suggests that a child at play „creates a world of his own, … rearranges things in his world in a new way which pleases him … (132). This utopia created by a child is taken seriously by him, therefore, he lavishes a great deal of emotions on it. Though he is able to differentiate his imaginary world from his reality he links „… his imagined objects and situations to the tangible and visible things of the real world!‟ (131). In Freud‟s opinion, the linking is what differentiates a child‟s playful creation from an adult‟s „phantasying‟. He advances this theory by comparing the activity of a child to that of a writer:
The creative writer does the same as a child at play. He creates a world of phantasy, which he takes very seriously - that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion- while separating it sharply from reality (132).
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Emily Brontë‟s many critics who use her biographical works as explicatory texts, tell us that she lived a solitary and secluded life. Her interest was never in the world around her „but in the interior world of her fancy, a life of reverie, a secret life, a fantastic one (Schorer,1962:183). Her siblings, we are also told, shared fantasy games. Starting with the play Young Men, a game created from Branwell‟s, their only brother‟s, box of toy soldiers. Charlotte recalls that she and her siblings wove a web of childhood fantasies, which made up the basis of their literary writings. Angira, „an imagined kingdom‟ was a creation of theirs as children. According to Schorer, they invented for it a „geography, a fabulous history, and a saga of military and political, academic and … sentimental adventure‟ (1962:184).
Some years later Emily and Jane her younger sister withdrew from their general utopia to create their own legendary kingdoms, of Gondal Legends and the affairs of the Gaaldine Kingdoms. As Charlotte made progress as a writer, she consciously withdrew from Angira. In 1839, she claimed the land unsettled her conscience and she felt „guilty over what we would today call infantile obsession‟(Guerrad,1962: 214). Emily on the other hand continuously indulged herself in her Gondal world; the decision of each of the sisters affected their literary output.
It is, however, true that studies of Angira and Gondal by experts like Fannie Ratchford prove that Emily‟s works, especially the poems, depict „lyrical reflections spoken by Gondal people on occasions of emotional intensity‟(Schorer,1962:184). Emily‟s works are rated higher because „she submitted to her Gondal, submerging herself in it , wrote out of it into her fullest maturity and made it mean revelation‟(185).
While Charlotte wrote more from a censored imagination and social convention, Emily stuck to the Gondal setting, „a northern kingdom, somber, foggy, sullen, capricious, without décor‟ and a contrast to their childhood kingdom Angira „ a magnificent kingdom of marble palaces, luxurious accoutrements, velvet and furs…‟(1962:185). Like other critics who have studied the two fantasized kingdoms, Schorer observes that the dominant feature and characteristic of Gondal is a deep emotional quality. To him: What signifies the Gondal world is not the story, let alone the moral sense, but the emotional quality that is always dark, Byronic and excessive…It‟s a world of sensibility
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unleashed from responsibility, a world in which the extreme rather than the causes of feeling are important… Gondal is a world of declaiming ghosts where passions and sufferings always overshadow motive (185). The fact that Emily Brontë portrays some familiar themes and settings that were dominant in the late Eighteenth Century and Nineteenth Century writings does not prevent her work from possessing a deliberate tempo of general somnolence. Some of these elements include portrayals of characters with uncontrollable, obstinate passions and unquantifiable pride and thematic preoccupations which reflect violence, sexual sins, imprisonment or exile and traumatic childhood experiences. Therefore, the Gondal legend gives us not so much themes or plots or even clear persons as it does an emotional quality, an atmosphere of secret value in which sexual and political power are major and one. This is the world that, for twenty years, Emily Brontë chose to live in (Schorer, 1962:185). Freud‟s assertion about writers in, Art and Literature (1990) finds real expression in Emily Brontë. Claiming that no one renounces a thing or a pleasurable activity that he/she has once experienced, he reasons that when a growing child stops playing, he starts „phantasysing‟ (Richards and Dickson, 1990:133). This activity really consists of building castles in the air; and as a child matures - as evident in the case of the Brontës - he becomes self-conscious even ashamed of his phantasies such that he hides them from other people. Emily, we are told, became more and more secretive such that by the time she was seventeen years old, she wrote her poems „… in such a small and crabbed hand that it can be regarded as nearly a protective cryptography‟ (Schorer, 1962:185). When Charlotte discovered some of these poems, Emily was „angered by the invasion of her privacy‟(Lowe-Evans,Encarta,2003). Charlotte recalls, “it took hours to reconcile the discovery I had made, and days to persuade her that such poems merited publication”(Gilbert 1968:381). According to Freud, an adult „cherishes his phantasies as his most intimate possessions, and as a rule he would rather confess his misdeeds than tell anyone his phantasies‟ (Richards and Dickson,1990:133).
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Charlotte‟s prodding perhaps brought Emily to the class of people whom Freud believes „ a stern goddess, necessity- has allotted the task of telling what they suffer or what things give them happiness.‟(Freud,1990:134) Freud‟s assertions can be taken seriously since his sources of information are derived from his interaction with his patients who have a lot in common with healthy people. It is observed that a major force that propels „phantasying‟ is an individual‟s unsatisfied wishes. These wishes are often determined by gender, character and condition of the person. However, it is when these wishes become over-luxuriant and overwhelming that the individual is classified as a neurotic or psychotic. Phantasies are also closely related to dreams and Freud in his examination of both makes a clear distinction between writers who engage ancient epics, histories and tragedies as ready-made material for their writing and writers who invent their own material. It is in this second category that Emily Brontë belongs. Her work fits Freud‟s psychoanalytic presumption which situates her in the class of people he describes as: … less pretentious authors of novels, romances and short story, who nevertheless have the widest and most eager circle of reader of both sexes. One feature above all cannot fail to strike us about the creations of these story-writers: each of them has a hero who is in the centre of interest, for whom the writer tries to win our sympathy by every possible means and whom he seems to place under the protection of a special providence (1990:137). This, to an extent, answers some critical questions raised about Emily Brontë‟s personality and writings. Amongst her critics was Thomas Moser (1962) who wondered how an odd spinster who dwelled with her strange family in a remote parsonage could have written such a book. It is evident that Emily Jane Brontë‟s „phantansies‟ shaped the choice of her literary material. Brontë is able to arouse diverse emotional effects in her creations through the archetypal motifs she generates from her material. These motifs can be identified in elements such as characterization, point of view, imagery, plot and setting. What is however striking is the unconventional approach in her writing. Leavis (1948) regards her style as an achievement that threatens to upset the European dogma about the novel in a way in which no other major novel
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does (Palmer,1986:67).The style of Emily‟s magnificent work has also had effect on other generations of writers, the mostly referred to being Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner. Carl Jung‟s archetypal theories arose from a set of recurrent themes that reappear in writings. Citing Aristotle‟s hypothesis, Jung states that an archetype is „an idea supraordinate and preexistent to all phenomena‟ (Jung, 1972:141). His postulation in 1928 claims that the collective unconscious is indicative of an „inheritance in our brains consisting of many countless typical experiences (such as birth, escape from danger, selection of mate) of our ancestors (Barnet et al, 2004:1609). Jung‟s intuitive analysis of the conscious and the unconscious, his emphasis on myth and archetypes aptly delineates what Charlotte Brontë describes as the extra force that strangely wills and works for itself which in most cases creates the characters and sets the pace for the mood of a work. This creative unconscious is the „life-energy‟ to which Bodkin (1967) attests.
Brontë delivers the contents of her fantasy and musings without going through the process of softening „the character of his\her egoistic day-dreams by altering or disguising it, and she\he bribes us by the purely formal- that is aesthetic yield of pleasure which she\he offers us in the presentation of his\her phantansies‟(Jung, 1972:141). Apparently, Emily Brontë in this work creates distinct narrative elements to unfold the story from levels such as the gothic via the interpretation of dreams, the characterization, and the setting. She employs these as tools in the creation of her distinct archetypal characters, plots, setting, imagery and allusions.
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A remarkable feature in Wuthering Heights is the creation of distinct archetypal characters, the dominant three being Heathcliff, Catherine and Joseph. Blondel, (I962:207) infers in his analysis that the reader of this work must be attentive on two levels of interpretation. The first is that of the present and ordinary humans and the second the past where traditional moral values have lost
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all validity and where all actions are justified with passion. Apparently the originality of this work lies in the opposition of these two categories. From the authorial comments, one can deduce that the reader is expected to suspend moral judgements and appreciate the world of passion where these characters inhabit. The reader is also expected to first consider the fate of the characters as being superior to their actions. These actions are after all mere reflections of their psychological experiences and natural temperaments.
Heathcliff is the bane of the life of all the characters in Wuthering Heights. Blondel describes these characters as actors, victims and witnesses. Heathcilff is a multisided personality. He is the archetypal lost soul who later transforms into an archetypal outcast and later an archetypal sadist (Cowden 2006).Old Earnshaw finds Heathcliff an abandoned child on the streets of Liverpool. He brings him home in a bid not to leave him the way he finds him and to offer him a better life. The portrayal of Heathcliff, the outcast, fits Cowden‟s following definition of one:
a sensitive being, an understanding, and tortured, secretive but brooding and unforgiving being…He is vulnerable and might be a wanderer or an outcast (Cowden 2006). In the first part of the novel, Heathcliff retains this description. His arrival into the Earnshaw‟s family upsets the entire household. Hindley Earnshaw, a fourteen year old sees him as a rival and a threat to his existence in several ways. His relationship with Hindley deteriorates into one of pure hatred. Hindley detests the stray that enjoys more privileges than the offspring of his benefactor, one who has the wherewithal to manipulate his father and sister at will. Old Earnshaw eventually sends Hindley to a boarding school because of his unruliness and increasing aggression towards Heathcliff. Catherine, Hindley‟s sister, having overcome the immediate sentiment of accepting the stray absorbs him as a playmate. She and Heathcliff share a bed as kids. Brontë early in the narrative describes the temperaments of these two children from their nurse‟s point of view. Catherine‟s nurse thinks she is unique in her ways:
She had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; and she put all of us past our patience fifty times and
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oftener in a day: from the hour she came down the stairs, till the hour she went to bed, we had not a minute security that she wouldn‟t be in mischief. Her spirits were always at highwatermark, her tongue always going singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same. A wild wicked slip she was - but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish; and after all, I believe she meant no harm… (Brontë E, 1962:20) In the nurses opinion, the child Heathcliff …seemed a sullen, patient child; hardened, perhaps from ill-treatment: he would stand Hindley‟s blows without winking or shedding a tear…he was the quietest child that ever nurse watched over, he was uncomplaining as a lamb … (Brontë E, 1962:18) Brontë thus creates the extrovert and introvert as temperaments for these forceful personalities from childhood. The two types as psychoanalytic studies suggest are bound to attract as opposites do. Catherine, we are told, is much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment she could be asked to suffer is to separate her from him and from this period in their lives onwards the „impracticability‟ of separating the two become recurrent. Catherine, in her diary, where the reader has the first contact with her, records how separating them made her weep. Old Earnshaw‟s death marks a turning point in the lives of these two children. Catherine‟s father and Heathcliff‟s benefactor signify the archetypal parent for the two. They mourn no other relative‟s death asides each other‟s in the manner in which they mourn Earnshaw, „Oh he‟s dead, Heathcliff he‟s dead! And they both set up a heartbreaking cry‟ (Brontë E, 1962:20).
The significance of this loss on the young children reflects the Freudian school of psychologists that assert that the religious life represents a re-enactment on the cosmic level feelings that arise in a child‟s relation to his parents (Bodkin,1965: 250). In this case, the children for the first and the last time express their belief or interest in Christianity, religious teachings and claims of the hypocritical Joseph about heaven and the archetypal image of paradise as a place of perfection. This idea is sharply contrasted with hell from this point onwards:
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They were calmer, and did not need me to console them. The little souls were comforting each other with better thoughts than I could have hit on; no parson ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did in their innocent talk…I could not help wishing we were there together (Brontë E, 1962:21). Hindley returns to the Heights for his father‟s funeral with a wife and an intention to fulfil, to an extent, his promise to turn Heathcliff out of doors as soon as his benefactor dies. Hindley became tyrannical…He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead, compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm (Brontë E,1962:21). Catherine continues to teach her playmate what she learns and it is in the process of comforting Heathcliff that their relationship develops into another phase. Hindley‟s negligence towards his sister and hostility to Heathcliff ensure that they become further closely knit. The two keep clear of him and indulge in running into the moors and staying there all day. They engage in daring escapades: absenteeism from church, playing at ghosts, in the graveyards, and sustaining injuries that thrill rather than sober them. The two „unfriended‟ creatures grow tougher with each punishment meted out on them for their several mischief.
On one of such ramblings, curiosity and mischief draw them to Thruscross Grange. The occupant‟s watchdog attacks Catherine. The Lintons who inhabit the Grange take responsibility for treating Catherine‟s injury. They immediately turn out Heathcliff for his poor manners and dishevelled appearance. It is at this point in the novel that the reader‟s attention is closely drawn to Heathcliff‟s debased personality, social status and unrefined manners. At the Lintons he is described as: a „frightful thing‟ that should be put away in a cellar, „a gypsy‟, „a strange acquisition‟ old Earnshaw made, „a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish
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castaway‟ (Brontë E, 1962:23); and he is summarily dismissed as a wicked boy. He is regarded unfit for a decent house; his language also shocks Mrs Linton who wishes her children would not hear it. This episode brings Hindley‟s high sense of irresponsibility to the fore, especially from the perspective of the Yorkshire folks who consider his permissiveness towards his sister as below the prevailing societal standards. Old Linton says it is „ the inculpable carelessness in him which permits him to allow Catherine grow up in absolute heathenism‟ (Brontë E, 1962:23).
Hindley is counselled about his responsibilities to the members of his household and he decides to rehabilitate Catherine. The process begins with the company she keeps and her manners. Catherine stays in the Grange for five weeks and a strategy to change her company, manners, countenance and to raise her self-esteem was put in place in her absence. Heathcliff is further debased; he becomes even more unkempt:
His clothes had seen three months service, in mire and dust, his thick uncombed hair, and the surface of his face and hands was dismally beclouded (Brontë E, 1962:25). He develops a complex borne out of the fact that his rough-headed counterpart has been transformed into a graceful damsel. Hindley‟s attempt to elevate Catherine„s status and debase Heathcliff produces a contrary effect. Heathcliff becomes defensive and self-conscious while Catherine becomes curiously disturbed. However, the archetypal significance of the theme of separation portrayed here is psychological. Catherine, we are told, cries when she discovers that Heathcliff avoids her. Heathcliff also cries; and when he is told about Catherine‟s tears says he has more reason to cry than she. In spite of Heathcliff‟s rough appearance, he is portrayed as a romantic figure. Mrs Dean, the housekeeper (who is also the dominant narrator), coaxing Heathcliff out one of his black moods suggests that he is dark and handsome, tall and broad-chested although with thick brows that always sink in gloom. She is somewhat convinced that the dark eyes that can be transformed into „confident innocent angels‟. This portrayal of Heathcliff‟s looks is elaborated upon when he returns three years later as a young man. His transformation is amazing:
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He had grown a tall, athletic, well-formed man, beside whom, my master seemed quite slender and youth-like. His upright carriage suggested the idea of his having been in the army. His countenance was much older in expression and decision of feature than Mr Linton‟s; it looked intelligent, and retained no marks of former degradation. A half-civilized ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows, and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified, quite divested of roughness though too stern for grace (Brontë E, 1962:44). Brontë‟s Heathcliff is undoubtedly an archetypal symbol of masculinity, strength and intelligence. He bears the image of the tall, dark and handsome man even in contemporary times.
Catherine, after her encounter and association with the Lintons, unconsciously slips into the hypocrisy of living in two worlds: one, of the elitist, which the Lintons live in, the other, the savage world she and Heathcliff share. Her inability to cope with the demands on her emotions leads to the tantrums she throws before Edgar Linton who has become her suitor. Brontë thus puts Catherine in a fix; she is to make the archetypal decision of mate selection. Catherine grows into the queen of the countryside, having no peer and gaining the admiration of all including Isabella Linton as well as the soul of Edgar Linton. The latter, according to the authorial comment, finds it impossible to create the type of impression Heathcliff has on her despite his air of superiority.
Catherine makes a choice that gives her nightmares. She bares her mind to Mrs Dean who at the period is an unsympathetic listener while an unfortunate Heathcliff eavesdrops on their conversation. He learns of Edgar‟s proposal and her acceptance. Catherine accepts to marry Edgar Linton because he is young, handsome, and pleasant to be with and because he will be rich and will make her the greatest woman in the neighbourhood (36). She is, however, able to distinguish between her desires and her true feelings. Therefore in the recurrent images in her subconscious, which is exemplified in her dreams, she sees her marriage with Edgar Linton as inappropriate as her being in heaven. This archetypal allusion though strange, perfectly reflects her feelings for Heathcliff:
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… if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low , I shouldn‟t have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now, so he shall never know I love him; and that, not because he‟s handsome, Nelly, but because he‟s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same and Linton‟s is as different as a moonbeam or frost from fire (Brontë E, 1962:37).
Catherine sets the stage for the next phase of separation by this speech, which transforms Heathcliff again into an archetypal quester. He leaves Yorkshire to acquire dignity, wealth, and a carriage that has disqualified him from belonging to Catherine‟s social stratum. One finds it difficult to place absolute blame on Catherine for her choice because up to the point of her accepting Edgar‟s hand in marriage, Heathcliff never asks Catherine to marry him.
He indeed shows sufficient attachment by marking out, on the calendar, the number of days she spends in his company and in the company of her sophisticated friends. On an occasion he pleads, „Don‟t turn me out for those pitiful silly friends of yours‟ (Brontë E, 1962:32). These, however, hardly reveal his feelings. We are told that from time to time he recoils with angry suspicion at Catherine‟s girlish caresses „…as if conscious there could be no gratification in lavishing such marks of affection on him‟(Brontë E, 1962:32). It is, therefore, not surprising that Catherine wonders if he has any notion of issues such as love:
I want to be convinced that Heathcliff has no notion of these things - he has not has he? He does not know what being in love is? (Brontë E, 1962:38) Her confidant presumes he should know and imagines that his lot will be unfortunate if he shares Catherine‟s feelings. What he may suffer will be the loss of a friend, and a love, and a separation that may be unbearable. Catherine‟s startling response to Mrs Dean‟s suggestion leaves Dean and many a critic dumbfounded. She vehemently states that they cannot be separated nor will she ever desert him. Her love for Heathcliff, she claims, resembles the eternal rocks beneath. This, in her opinion, would make their separation „impracticable‟. She plans to help him out of Hindley‟s trap after
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her marriage to Edgar, a feat she will not be able to accomplish without Linton‟s wealth. Brontë draws the reader‟s attention to the significance of the financial domination of the patriarchal society on the life of the Victorian woman. Heathcliff sojourns for three years after he eavesdrops on a crucial part of Catherine and Dean‟s conversation. His subsequent reunion with Catherine confirms his devastation at Catherine‟s choice of Edgar as her husband: I heard of your marriage Cathy, not long since…I meditated on this plan – just to have a glimpse of your facea stare of surprise, perhaps and pretended pleasure, afterward settle my score with Hindley; and then prevent the law by doing execution on myself. Your welcome has put these ideas out of my mind…Nay, you‟ll not drive me off again- you were really sorry for me, were you? Well there was cause. I have fought through a bitter life since I last heard your voice, and you must forgive me, for I struggled only for you! (Brontë E,1962:45) Heathcliff and Catherine‟s renewed relationship brings joy to all, albeit temporarily. Isabella Linton is infatuated by Heathcliff‟s sheer sexual force. Heathcliff, to Catherine‟s chagrin, takes advantage of this opportunity and the unpleasant development that ensued leads to the bitter confrontation between him and Catherine in the Linton‟s home. Edgar Linton is humiliated by Catherine‟s open defiance of his authority and her preference for Heathcliff. Edgar insists he has humoured her enough and insists that she chooses between Heathcilff and him. Once again Catherine discovers that she has overestimated Linton‟s love for her. Her opinion of him, prior to this time, is that she might kill him and he would not retaliate. Upon her discovery she secludes herself and starves for three days. She emerges delirious and terribly ill. In this state she tells Nelly Dean of a dream and vision that torments her in her days of seclusion: I‟ll tell you what I thought, and what has kept recurring and recurring till I feared for my reason … I was a child, my father was just buried, and my misery arose from the separation that Hindley had ordered between me and
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Heathcliff I was laid alone…I cannot say why I felt so wildly wretched (Brontë E, 1962:58). She vows that even after she dies and is buried, she will not rest until Heathcliff is with her. The last meeting between Heathcliff and Catherine brings to an end the physical relationship of these archetypal creatures. The lovers for the first time in the entire text and presumably in their lives discuss and express their true feelings, one for another. They accuse each other of actions or inactions that separate them or that could have united them. Catherine laments that Heathcliff is responsible for her dying and whips up such sentiments that the introvert in Heathcliff snaps with torture: Are you possessed with a devil, to talk in that manner to me when you are dying? Do you reflect that all those words will be branded in my memory, and eat deeper eternally after you have left me? (Brontë E, 1962:73). Heathcliff tries to hide his tears and emotional torture from her. She senses his restraint and accuses him: That is not my Heathcliff. I shall love mine yet; and take him with me - he‟s in my soul… the thing that irks me most is this shattered prison, after all. I‟m tired, tired of being enclosed here. I‟m wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there; not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart; but really with it and in it (Brontë E, 1962:74). Heathcliff accuses Catherine of suicide; he informs her that her state is one of the consequences of her marrying Edgar. He considers her choice cruel and a betrayal of her very essence and being. Catherine, in his opinion, suffers for not taking responsibility for the love she has for him: You loved me-then what right had you to leave me? What right…for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, degradation, and death, and nothing that God or satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart - you have broken it - and in breaking it, you have broken mine…Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be… would you like to live with your soul in the grave? (Brontë E, 1962:74) The emotionally stirring heart-pouring of the two ends with Catherine‟s passionate plea for forgiveness as she implores him not to leave her as she dies.
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Heathcliff yet takes up another archetypal image. At the peak of his passion he „gnashes‟ at Nelly who wonders if she is in the company of a creation of her specie. He foams like a mad dog and embraces his beloved „with greedy jealousy‟... (Brontë E, 1962:74). After Catherine‟s death, he taunts himself and prays for her to haunt him; he asks her to „take any form, drive me mad!‟ (Brontë E, 1962:77). He insists on this to ensure that she does not leave him in an abyss where he can no longer find his soul or life. Heathcliff, at this point, appears to acquire a beastly and savage personality that enables him to avenge the forces that debase him and inevitably led to his loss of Catherine (Brontë E, 1962:74). Mrs Dean, upon informing Heathcliff of Catherine‟s death, reports that she is appalled by the scene she witnesses: „He dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast getting goaded to death with knives and spears‟ (Brontë E, 1962:77). From the moment his soul mate exits the narrative he transforms into the archetypal sadist who according to Cowden‟s definition is :
The savage predator, he enjoys cruelty for its own sake. Violence and physical brutality are his games to this man. He plays those games with daring and with skill… he‟ll tear out your heart and laugh while doing it (2006). Heathcliff is portrayed as the master of the game. He works out a plan that earns him the properties and inheritances of the Earnshaws and the Lintons. He achieves this with the knowledge he acquires, about the rich. He digs a grave, bribes a sexton to play foul with the coffins in the graveyard, abducts Catherine Linton and her nurse, and enforces a marriage between her and Linton Heathcliff, his offspring. He watches his offspring and the second generation of the Earnshaws and Lintons take paths of destruction and enjoys every minute of it. Thus, Heathcliff attains his quest and his vision to regain his dignity and to avenge the people and the system that debased him and made his relationship with Catherine impossible. The creation of Joseph, the servant of the Earnshaws, is an expression of the author‟s precocity and effrontery. Brontë dares to confront the Christian religious beliefs of her time and she portrays the hypocritical attitude of some of the Victorian Christians who mostly put up
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puritanical airs. This is seen in the posture of Joseph, a servant of the Earnshaws. Blondel (1962) shrewdly observes that Joseph is „an aggressive moralist‟. One observes that he is really quite irrelevant to the plot structure of the novel but he somewhat parasitically attaches himself to the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights.
Brontë portrays him as a satirical and humorous representation of a Christian who is a sadist and one who lives in hatred. His name also has biblical significance, an allusion to the faithful and loyal servant in the Old Testament. He presents two faces in the conflicting roles he plays „one lends itself to satire of religious fanaticism such as Emily Brontë had known and the other abruptly opens us to the depths of evil that destroys the souls of Wuthering Heights’ (Blondel, 1962:209).
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Brontë explores the theme of death from two perspectives. The first motif is the inevitability of death, especially at middle age during the Victorian period. This could have been as a result of the low expectancy of life span in Europe then. The deaths of these characters are occasioned by sickness most of which were incurable at the time. Emily Brontë‟s personal experience may count here, having lost her mother, sisters, aunt, brother and father to various ailments and diseases that culminated in their premature deaths. Emily also dies of consumption (tuberculosis) shortly after Wuthering Heights is completed.
Brontë in Wuthering Heights naturally depicts occurrences of death as a recurrent theme. Her characters exit the stage in this order: Mrs Earnshaw 1777, Frances Hindley-Earnshaw 1778, and Mr and Mrs Linton in 1780. Having so disposed of the first generation and Hindley‟s wife, Brontë decidedly portrays the second generation as being dispersed by premature deaths: Catherine at 19 years in March 1784, Hindley at 27 in September 1784, Isabella Linton at 32 in June 1797, Edgar Linton at 39 in September 1801, Linton at 17years in October 1801and Heathcliff at 38 in May 1802.
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The nature of Catherine‟s death typifies the second dimension of the death motif in Wuthering Heights. Her death-craving is different from the death of Frances who resists the thought of dying till she draws her last breath. Several times in the narrative Catherine states „Oh I will; die … since no one cares anything about me.‟ (Brontë E, 1962:56), „If I were only sure it would kill him … I‟d kill my self directly.‟(Brontë E, 1962:56), I wish I could hold you… till we were both dead!‟, Heathcliff, I shall die! I shall die!‟ (Brontë E, 1962:73). These desperate but definite death wishes are expressed by Catherine. From Bodkin‟s theory of archetypal death syndromes, death-craving appears to be a primary tendency that is not considered objectively as normal people do. Normal people we know, perceive death as „the end of life, an event with social moral and legal implications (Bodkin, 1967:66) which is quite contrary to the opinion of the writer, his audience or the neurotic, who consider „in this image of his own life and death, not at all their legal implications, but in accordance with a deep organic need for release from conflict and tension‟ (Bodkin, 1967:66).
Brontë creates an archetypal setting using expressive imagery. The title of the work and the habitation of the Earnshaws, Wuthering Heights, is descriptive of the „atmospheric tumult‟ within which the work is set. This picture is perfectly captured in „Wuthering Heights‟ a portrait painting by fine artist Fritz Eichenberg (this is used as the cover page and illustration of the setting on the 1962 edition of Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights).
Stormy weather, whirlwind bustling around the house, roaring fires and frosty air all have underlying archetypal effects. These archetypal images are employed in the creation of mood. The overall effect is the pace setting for insurmountable suspense which runs through the plot. „Eternal rocks‟, „Milo‟, and „oak in a flowerpot‟ are some of the images used to buttress the esoteric nature of the work. Mysticism and Biblical allusions are consistently used to enhance archetypal settings and phenomena. Allusions to supernatural beings and places like God, devils, demons, angels, heaven, and hell are recreated images, personifications and similes drawn by Brontë to suit the purpose of her work.
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VI
Emily Jane Brontë „s significance to the Victorian period and to the English novel tradition lies in her many archetypal creations. First is the creation of a prime example of a classical Gothic Romanticism. The form, from a feminist perspective, examines issues that borders on social stratification, gender relations and mysticism. Brontë‟s greatest success is in creating from her unconscious archetypal personalities, thematic thrusts, images and symbols. She establishes an uncommon narrative technique and points of views which appear implausible but that are effective and deeply convincing.
This psychoanalytic study of the writer, the mythical characters and other literary elements she creates, validates Brontë‟s unparalleled creation of archetypal motifs. She establishes a fundamental archetypal formula and pattern (conflict-death-resolution). Furthermore, a close scrutiny reveals that her creations are essentially products of her fantasies and meditations. Without doubt Emily Jane Brontë was a strong personality, a woman of strange and unique perspectives whose influence in literary writing survives the millennium within which she wrote. Her ability to confront universal issues with unusual boldness and perception can be further appreciated in the many tributes her sister, Charlotte Brontë, pays her. The most auspicious and propitious is on her struggle with death; she writes:
Never in all her life had she lingered over any task that lay before her, and she did not linger now, she sank rapidly. She made haste to leave us. Yet, while physically she perished, mentally she grew stronger than we had yet known her. Day by day, when I saw with what front she met suffering I looked on her with an anguish of wonder and love. I have never seen her parallel in anything. Stronger than a man, simpler than a child, her nature stood alone. The awful point was that while full of ruth for others, on herself she had no pity; the spirit was inexorable to the flesh…( Charlotte Brontë, 1968:384).
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This study has taken cognizance of E.M Forster‟s critical ideology, it lays aside the singular vision commonly employed by critics for literary enquiry and adopting a completely different set of tools and a multidimensional approach to reading Brontë and her archetypal motifs. One has found this study rewarding as it reveals several aspects of the writing of Brontë, particularly archetypal characterization and themes amongst which is the archetypal death motif, which other critical writings on Wuthering Heights have neglected.
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Works Cited Barnet, Sylvan et al .(ed)(2004) An Introduction to Literature. Thirteenth ed. New York : Pearson Longman. Blonde, Jacques. (1962 )„The Minor Characters and Eros‟ Two excerpts from Blondel Jacques‟s Emily Brontë Experience Spirituelle et Creation Poetique In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Bodkin, Maud. (1967) Archetypal Patterns in Poetry. Oxford University Press, London. Brontë ,Charlotte.( 1968) Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell In Gilbert John ed Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre,Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books. London. ---------------- (1968)Editor‟s Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights In Gilbert John ed Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books, London. Brontë, Emily. (1962) Wuthering Heights In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Cowden, Tami. ( 2006) Heroes and Heroines ; Sixteen Master Archetypes in tami @tamiCowden. htm Forster, E.M. (1962) „ Prophesy in Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York.
Gilbert, John. (ed) (1968) Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books. London. Guerrad, Albert .J. (1962) „Preface to Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Hornstein, L.H et al. (1984) The Reader‟s Companion To World Literature Second Edition. Mentor Books U.S.A . Jung, Carl. (1972) Four Archetypes . Routledge and Kegan. London Louis, James. (2006) The Victorian Novel. Malden, Blackwell Publishing,U.S.A . Lowe-Evans, Mary (2003) „Emily Brontë‟ In Beecham „s Guide to Literature For Young Adults. Microsoft Encarta (Deluxe 2003) Moser, Thomas .C.(1962) What is the Matter With Emily Jane? In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York.
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Palmer, Eustace.(1986) „Wuthering Heights‟ In Studies on the English Novel, African University Press, Ibadan. Richards, Angela and Albert, Dickson (ed). (1990) Sigmund Freud Art and Literature Vol14 Penguin Books, London. Schorer, Mark. (1962) „Introduction to Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Sigmund, Freud.(1990) „Writers and Day-Dreaming‟ In Richards Angela and Albert Dickson ed (1990) Sigmund Freud Art and Literature Vol.14 Penguin Books, London. Winnifrith, Tom. (1983) „ Wuthering Heights, One Volume or Two?‟ In Edward Chitham and Tom Winnifrith. Brontë Facts and Brontë Problems : Macmillan press, London.
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Cited: Barnet, Sylvan et al .(ed)(2004) An Introduction to Literature. Thirteenth ed. New York : Pearson Longman. Blonde, Jacques. (1962 )„The Minor Characters and Eros‟ Two excerpts from Blondel Jacques‟s Emily Brontë Experience Spirituelle et Creation Poetique In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Bodkin, Maud. (1967) Archetypal Patterns in Poetry. Oxford University Press, London. Brontë ,Charlotte.( 1968) Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell In Gilbert John ed Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre,Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books. London. ---------------- (1968)Editor‟s Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights In Gilbert John ed Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books, London. Brontë, Emily. (1962) Wuthering Heights In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Cowden, Tami. ( 2006) Heroes and Heroines ; Sixteen Master Archetypes in tami @tamiCowden. htm Forster, E.M. (1962) „ Prophesy in Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Gilbert, John. (ed) (1968) Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books. London. Guerrad, Albert .J. (1962) „Preface to Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Hornstein, L.H et al. (1984) The Reader‟s Companion To World Literature Second Edition. Mentor Books U.S.A . Jung, Carl. (1972) Four Archetypes . Routledge and Kegan. London Louis, James. (2006) The Victorian Novel. Malden, Blackwell Publishing,U.S.A . Lowe-Evans, Mary (2003) „Emily Brontë‟ In Beecham „s Guide to Literature For Young Adults. Microsoft Encarta (Deluxe 2003) Moser, Thomas .C.(1962) What is the Matter With Emily Jane? In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. 23 Palmer, Eustace.(1986) „Wuthering Heights‟ In Studies on the English Novel, African University Press, Ibadan. Richards, Angela and Albert, Dickson (ed). (1990) Sigmund Freud Art and Literature Vol14 Penguin Books, London. Schorer, Mark. (1962) „Introduction to Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Sigmund, Freud.(1990) „Writers and Day-Dreaming‟ In Richards Angela and Albert Dickson ed (1990) Sigmund Freud Art and Literature Vol.14 Penguin Books, London. Winnifrith, Tom. (1983) „ Wuthering Heights, One Volume or Two?‟ In Edward Chitham and Tom Winnifrith. Brontë Facts and Brontë Problems : Macmillan press, London. 24
Doyin Aguoru Ph.D ENGLISH DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN
I Biographical writings about the Brontës life and literary influence occupy a significant portion of critical writings about their works. Most critics agree that the images, characters and themes of their poetic effusions and narratives are largely influenced by their childhood experiences. However, critical assertions about Emily Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights further emphasize the significance of this novel to the Victorian period and to literary tradition. In contemporary times, Wuthering Heights stands out as an epic particularly in its portrayal of archetypal motifs, themes, characterization, and narrative point of view; apart from typifying a writer who dared to be different and esoteric in a puritanical society where sanctimonious airs and pretences were rife. This study examines archetypal characterization and archetypal theme of death as motifs, which authenticates the piece and create for it the unique place it occupies in world literature. Of great significance to history and critical thought is the fact that Emily Jane Brontë‟s birth and death occurred within the Romantic and the Victorian periods. This apart from other social factors, is evident in Brontë‟s novel. Born July 30 1818 in Yorkshire, England, Emily Brontë‟s experiences as a child and young adult include: the death of her mother -Maria Branwell Brontëat age three, the death of two of her sisters -Elizabeth and Maria- at age six, personal bouts of depression and ill health, the death of her aunt at age twenty three, the depreciation of her father‟s health and his eventual death, and the death of her brother a few years later (Lowe-Evans 2003).
Her father, Patrick Brontë, was a clergyman, who resided in a parsonage in Haworth. Their habitation, according to Charlotte Brontë‟s account, overlooked a graveyard on one hand and the moors on the other. Patrick Brontë, we are told, exposed his children to a variety of literature:
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…they read everything from the best English literature to dreary religious tracts; they took long walks on the moors (Emily was especially fond of this past time); and they invented mythical lands which were the setting for many homemade volumes of manuscript of tale (Hornstein, 1984:73). It would not be wrong then to suggest that Emily Jane was greatly influenced by the various writings of the Romantic period, especially the Calvinistic teachings of Elizabeth Branwell, her maternal aunt. Brontë‟s works are clearly marked with certain features of the Romantic Movement, a period when:
Instead of portraying great or typical characters writers would seek out lowly and eccentric ones, instead of using an established type of lofty poetic diction…would cultivate everyday speech of actual people … instead of trying to be objective, they would revel in their own unique personalities. And they would overthrow the ideas of both conformity and decorum by openly - and rather enthusiastically dealing with taboo themes likes incest (Hornstein, 1984:457). Romance was a dominant theme in the Romantic Movement. By 1832 the Victorian Movement in English literature had begun; although there was very little or significant distinction between the two movements, it is unlikely that Emily Brontë, in her utopia, was aware of such literary development or classification. According to Hornstein (1984:460), Victorian writings portrayed „Humanitarian social ideals and a straight laced sense of decorum‟ (460). The period was remarkably marked with a puritan air, which was thought to mirror the lives of Queen Victoria and her husband.
It was a rather shocked circle of Victorian writers, critics and audience that received Emily Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights. The critics out rightly condemned the work attributing it in an instance to „...a man of uncommon talents but dogged, brutal and morose‟. In another instance, a critic had supposed that the author had a „morbid and diseased mind‟ (Hornstein, 1984:73). Gilbert John, a prominent scholar of the Brontë writings, observes that the fury of the critics‟ onslaught prompted Charlotte Brontë to „leap‟ in defence of her sister in a notice that is
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undeniably an explicatory reading of Wuthering Heights. Lord Cecil‟s opinion was at variance with the popular opinion of other prominent critics of his time. He adjudged the work to be the best Victorian novel and though most critical opinions appeared at the time to be absolute, the work slowly and persistently made its way into critical favour.
Wuthering Heights occupies a unique space in the growth and development of the English Novel tradition. Emily Jane Brontë‟s single novel contends fiercely with the literary cannons and orthodoxy which justifies the polemical critical comments spurred by the essence of the work. Noteworthy is the fact that each critical comment suggests that Wuthering Heights is unique, strange, but equally a magnificent literary achievement (Palmer,1986:67).
II „I do not believe a word of it‟, remarked an exasperated critic (Palmer,1986:67). The unwillingness of some of the critics to suspend their disbelief in the interpretation of the text made the work initially controversial and difficult to fit into the European folio. It took a Charlotte Brontë‟s re-reading of Wuthering Heights to shed more light on the work reliving most of the critics of their perplexity on the esoteric personality of Emily Jane, which strongly, reflects in her work. Charlotte, Emily‟s sister and closest associate, sympathizes with the readers who know nothing about the author, particularly her critics, who are unacquainted with the locality and the setting of the work. To these people, the inhabitants, customs, natural characteristics of Yorkshire are alien and unfamiliar, just as the language, manners, dwellings, their household customs are unintelligible and repulsive. The characters they meet in the work are people to whom rough, strong utterance, harshly manifested passions, unbridled aversions and attitudes of the unlettered are the norm. These characters who, in the real sense, inhabit the Moorlands have grown up untaught, and unchecked, except by mentors as harsh as themselves, are the heroes and heroines of Emily Brontë (Brontë, 1968:386).
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Charlotte Brontë, being a writer of different passions from her sister, identifies an innate gift, a potential that tends to outrun the writer in his/her creation of characters and portrayal of images. Discussing Emily Brontë‟s development of the characters in Wuthering Heights she writes: Heathcliff is unredeemable never once swerving in his arrow straight course to perdition…whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know. I scarcely think it is (Brontë C, 1968:387). In another vein, she states:
Her imagination, which was a spirit more sombre than sunny, more powerful than supportive found in such traits material whence it wrought creations like Heathcliff, like Earnshaw, like Catherine. Having formed these beings, she did not what she had done (387). It is important to note that Charlotte‟s observation after her re-examination of Emily‟s work suggests that the capabilities of a creative mind are inexhaustible and cannot be canonically censored. She therefore identifies this capability as the dominant influence on her sister‟s writing. In her opinion: …the writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master… at times, strangely wills and works for itself. He may lay down rules and devise principles it will perhaps for years live in subjection; then haply without any warning of revolt, there comes a time when it will no longer consent to “harrow the valleys, or be bound with a band in the furrow” … it sets to work on a statue - hewing, and you have a Pluto, or a Jove, a Tisiphone or a Psyche, a Mermaid or a Madonna as fate or inspiration direct. Be the work grim or glorious, dread or divine you have little choice left but quiescent adoption (389). When Charlotte Brontë made these points, she anticipated the psychological and archetypal theories of the „collective unconscious‟ which Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung would develop several decades after the publication of Wuthering Heights.
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III Sigmund Freud‟s study and discovery of the unconscious forces that influence man‟s daily thoughts and actions came to being sixty years after the publication of Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights. Applying Freud‟s theories to Wuthering Heights may unravel The sources and influences of Emily Jane Brontë‟ The motivation for her writing.
Furthermore, in applying Carl Jung‟s later theories which were developed from Freudian theories, one can begin to identify the sources of Emily Brontë‟s creative motifs, archetypal characters, themes and imagery. Freud claims that laymen are intensely curious to know „…from what sources that strange being, the creative writer, draws his material and how he manages to make such an impression on us with it and to arouse in us such emotions of which, perhaps, we had not even thought ourselves capable (Freud, 131: 1990).
Freud answers the first part of this question by tracing human development from the source of imaginative activity that is characteristic of a child at play. He suggests that a child at play „creates a world of his own, … rearranges things in his world in a new way which pleases him … (132). This utopia created by a child is taken seriously by him, therefore, he lavishes a great deal of emotions on it. Though he is able to differentiate his imaginary world from his reality he links „… his imagined objects and situations to the tangible and visible things of the real world!‟ (131). In Freud‟s opinion, the linking is what differentiates a child‟s playful creation from an adult‟s „phantasying‟. He advances this theory by comparing the activity of a child to that of a writer:
The creative writer does the same as a child at play. He creates a world of phantasy, which he takes very seriously - that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion- while separating it sharply from reality (132).
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Emily Brontë‟s many critics who use her biographical works as explicatory texts, tell us that she lived a solitary and secluded life. Her interest was never in the world around her „but in the interior world of her fancy, a life of reverie, a secret life, a fantastic one (Schorer,1962:183). Her siblings, we are also told, shared fantasy games. Starting with the play Young Men, a game created from Branwell‟s, their only brother‟s, box of toy soldiers. Charlotte recalls that she and her siblings wove a web of childhood fantasies, which made up the basis of their literary writings. Angira, „an imagined kingdom‟ was a creation of theirs as children. According to Schorer, they invented for it a „geography, a fabulous history, and a saga of military and political, academic and … sentimental adventure‟ (1962:184).
Some years later Emily and Jane her younger sister withdrew from their general utopia to create their own legendary kingdoms, of Gondal Legends and the affairs of the Gaaldine Kingdoms. As Charlotte made progress as a writer, she consciously withdrew from Angira. In 1839, she claimed the land unsettled her conscience and she felt „guilty over what we would today call infantile obsession‟(Guerrad,1962: 214). Emily on the other hand continuously indulged herself in her Gondal world; the decision of each of the sisters affected their literary output.
It is, however, true that studies of Angira and Gondal by experts like Fannie Ratchford prove that Emily‟s works, especially the poems, depict „lyrical reflections spoken by Gondal people on occasions of emotional intensity‟(Schorer,1962:184). Emily‟s works are rated higher because „she submitted to her Gondal, submerging herself in it , wrote out of it into her fullest maturity and made it mean revelation‟(185).
While Charlotte wrote more from a censored imagination and social convention, Emily stuck to the Gondal setting, „a northern kingdom, somber, foggy, sullen, capricious, without décor‟ and a contrast to their childhood kingdom Angira „ a magnificent kingdom of marble palaces, luxurious accoutrements, velvet and furs…‟(1962:185). Like other critics who have studied the two fantasized kingdoms, Schorer observes that the dominant feature and characteristic of Gondal is a deep emotional quality. To him: What signifies the Gondal world is not the story, let alone the moral sense, but the emotional quality that is always dark, Byronic and excessive…It‟s a world of sensibility
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unleashed from responsibility, a world in which the extreme rather than the causes of feeling are important… Gondal is a world of declaiming ghosts where passions and sufferings always overshadow motive (185). The fact that Emily Brontë portrays some familiar themes and settings that were dominant in the late Eighteenth Century and Nineteenth Century writings does not prevent her work from possessing a deliberate tempo of general somnolence. Some of these elements include portrayals of characters with uncontrollable, obstinate passions and unquantifiable pride and thematic preoccupations which reflect violence, sexual sins, imprisonment or exile and traumatic childhood experiences. Therefore, the Gondal legend gives us not so much themes or plots or even clear persons as it does an emotional quality, an atmosphere of secret value in which sexual and political power are major and one. This is the world that, for twenty years, Emily Brontë chose to live in (Schorer, 1962:185). Freud‟s assertion about writers in, Art and Literature (1990) finds real expression in Emily Brontë. Claiming that no one renounces a thing or a pleasurable activity that he/she has once experienced, he reasons that when a growing child stops playing, he starts „phantasysing‟ (Richards and Dickson, 1990:133). This activity really consists of building castles in the air; and as a child matures - as evident in the case of the Brontës - he becomes self-conscious even ashamed of his phantasies such that he hides them from other people. Emily, we are told, became more and more secretive such that by the time she was seventeen years old, she wrote her poems „… in such a small and crabbed hand that it can be regarded as nearly a protective cryptography‟ (Schorer, 1962:185). When Charlotte discovered some of these poems, Emily was „angered by the invasion of her privacy‟(Lowe-Evans,Encarta,2003). Charlotte recalls, “it took hours to reconcile the discovery I had made, and days to persuade her that such poems merited publication”(Gilbert 1968:381). According to Freud, an adult „cherishes his phantasies as his most intimate possessions, and as a rule he would rather confess his misdeeds than tell anyone his phantasies‟ (Richards and Dickson,1990:133).
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Charlotte‟s prodding perhaps brought Emily to the class of people whom Freud believes „ a stern goddess, necessity- has allotted the task of telling what they suffer or what things give them happiness.‟(Freud,1990:134) Freud‟s assertions can be taken seriously since his sources of information are derived from his interaction with his patients who have a lot in common with healthy people. It is observed that a major force that propels „phantasying‟ is an individual‟s unsatisfied wishes. These wishes are often determined by gender, character and condition of the person. However, it is when these wishes become over-luxuriant and overwhelming that the individual is classified as a neurotic or psychotic. Phantasies are also closely related to dreams and Freud in his examination of both makes a clear distinction between writers who engage ancient epics, histories and tragedies as ready-made material for their writing and writers who invent their own material. It is in this second category that Emily Brontë belongs. Her work fits Freud‟s psychoanalytic presumption which situates her in the class of people he describes as: … less pretentious authors of novels, romances and short story, who nevertheless have the widest and most eager circle of reader of both sexes. One feature above all cannot fail to strike us about the creations of these story-writers: each of them has a hero who is in the centre of interest, for whom the writer tries to win our sympathy by every possible means and whom he seems to place under the protection of a special providence (1990:137). This, to an extent, answers some critical questions raised about Emily Brontë‟s personality and writings. Amongst her critics was Thomas Moser (1962) who wondered how an odd spinster who dwelled with her strange family in a remote parsonage could have written such a book. It is evident that Emily Jane Brontë‟s „phantansies‟ shaped the choice of her literary material. Brontë is able to arouse diverse emotional effects in her creations through the archetypal motifs she generates from her material. These motifs can be identified in elements such as characterization, point of view, imagery, plot and setting. What is however striking is the unconventional approach in her writing. Leavis (1948) regards her style as an achievement that threatens to upset the European dogma about the novel in a way in which no other major novel
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does (Palmer,1986:67).The style of Emily‟s magnificent work has also had effect on other generations of writers, the mostly referred to being Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner. Carl Jung‟s archetypal theories arose from a set of recurrent themes that reappear in writings. Citing Aristotle‟s hypothesis, Jung states that an archetype is „an idea supraordinate and preexistent to all phenomena‟ (Jung, 1972:141). His postulation in 1928 claims that the collective unconscious is indicative of an „inheritance in our brains consisting of many countless typical experiences (such as birth, escape from danger, selection of mate) of our ancestors (Barnet et al, 2004:1609). Jung‟s intuitive analysis of the conscious and the unconscious, his emphasis on myth and archetypes aptly delineates what Charlotte Brontë describes as the extra force that strangely wills and works for itself which in most cases creates the characters and sets the pace for the mood of a work. This creative unconscious is the „life-energy‟ to which Bodkin (1967) attests.
Brontë delivers the contents of her fantasy and musings without going through the process of softening „the character of his\her egoistic day-dreams by altering or disguising it, and she\he bribes us by the purely formal- that is aesthetic yield of pleasure which she\he offers us in the presentation of his\her phantansies‟(Jung, 1972:141). Apparently, Emily Brontë in this work creates distinct narrative elements to unfold the story from levels such as the gothic via the interpretation of dreams, the characterization, and the setting. She employs these as tools in the creation of her distinct archetypal characters, plots, setting, imagery and allusions.
lV
A remarkable feature in Wuthering Heights is the creation of distinct archetypal characters, the dominant three being Heathcliff, Catherine and Joseph. Blondel, (I962:207) infers in his analysis that the reader of this work must be attentive on two levels of interpretation. The first is that of the present and ordinary humans and the second the past where traditional moral values have lost
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all validity and where all actions are justified with passion. Apparently the originality of this work lies in the opposition of these two categories. From the authorial comments, one can deduce that the reader is expected to suspend moral judgements and appreciate the world of passion where these characters inhabit. The reader is also expected to first consider the fate of the characters as being superior to their actions. These actions are after all mere reflections of their psychological experiences and natural temperaments.
Heathcliff is the bane of the life of all the characters in Wuthering Heights. Blondel describes these characters as actors, victims and witnesses. Heathcilff is a multisided personality. He is the archetypal lost soul who later transforms into an archetypal outcast and later an archetypal sadist (Cowden 2006).Old Earnshaw finds Heathcliff an abandoned child on the streets of Liverpool. He brings him home in a bid not to leave him the way he finds him and to offer him a better life. The portrayal of Heathcliff, the outcast, fits Cowden‟s following definition of one:
a sensitive being, an understanding, and tortured, secretive but brooding and unforgiving being…He is vulnerable and might be a wanderer or an outcast (Cowden 2006). In the first part of the novel, Heathcliff retains this description. His arrival into the Earnshaw‟s family upsets the entire household. Hindley Earnshaw, a fourteen year old sees him as a rival and a threat to his existence in several ways. His relationship with Hindley deteriorates into one of pure hatred. Hindley detests the stray that enjoys more privileges than the offspring of his benefactor, one who has the wherewithal to manipulate his father and sister at will. Old Earnshaw eventually sends Hindley to a boarding school because of his unruliness and increasing aggression towards Heathcliff. Catherine, Hindley‟s sister, having overcome the immediate sentiment of accepting the stray absorbs him as a playmate. She and Heathcliff share a bed as kids. Brontë early in the narrative describes the temperaments of these two children from their nurse‟s point of view. Catherine‟s nurse thinks she is unique in her ways:
She had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; and she put all of us past our patience fifty times and
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oftener in a day: from the hour she came down the stairs, till the hour she went to bed, we had not a minute security that she wouldn‟t be in mischief. Her spirits were always at highwatermark, her tongue always going singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same. A wild wicked slip she was - but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish; and after all, I believe she meant no harm… (Brontë E, 1962:20) In the nurses opinion, the child Heathcliff …seemed a sullen, patient child; hardened, perhaps from ill-treatment: he would stand Hindley‟s blows without winking or shedding a tear…he was the quietest child that ever nurse watched over, he was uncomplaining as a lamb … (Brontë E, 1962:18) Brontë thus creates the extrovert and introvert as temperaments for these forceful personalities from childhood. The two types as psychoanalytic studies suggest are bound to attract as opposites do. Catherine, we are told, is much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment she could be asked to suffer is to separate her from him and from this period in their lives onwards the „impracticability‟ of separating the two become recurrent. Catherine, in her diary, where the reader has the first contact with her, records how separating them made her weep. Old Earnshaw‟s death marks a turning point in the lives of these two children. Catherine‟s father and Heathcliff‟s benefactor signify the archetypal parent for the two. They mourn no other relative‟s death asides each other‟s in the manner in which they mourn Earnshaw, „Oh he‟s dead, Heathcliff he‟s dead! And they both set up a heartbreaking cry‟ (Brontë E, 1962:20).
The significance of this loss on the young children reflects the Freudian school of psychologists that assert that the religious life represents a re-enactment on the cosmic level feelings that arise in a child‟s relation to his parents (Bodkin,1965: 250). In this case, the children for the first and the last time express their belief or interest in Christianity, religious teachings and claims of the hypocritical Joseph about heaven and the archetypal image of paradise as a place of perfection. This idea is sharply contrasted with hell from this point onwards:
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They were calmer, and did not need me to console them. The little souls were comforting each other with better thoughts than I could have hit on; no parson ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did in their innocent talk…I could not help wishing we were there together (Brontë E, 1962:21). Hindley returns to the Heights for his father‟s funeral with a wife and an intention to fulfil, to an extent, his promise to turn Heathcliff out of doors as soon as his benefactor dies. Hindley became tyrannical…He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead, compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm (Brontë E,1962:21). Catherine continues to teach her playmate what she learns and it is in the process of comforting Heathcliff that their relationship develops into another phase. Hindley‟s negligence towards his sister and hostility to Heathcliff ensure that they become further closely knit. The two keep clear of him and indulge in running into the moors and staying there all day. They engage in daring escapades: absenteeism from church, playing at ghosts, in the graveyards, and sustaining injuries that thrill rather than sober them. The two „unfriended‟ creatures grow tougher with each punishment meted out on them for their several mischief.
On one of such ramblings, curiosity and mischief draw them to Thruscross Grange. The occupant‟s watchdog attacks Catherine. The Lintons who inhabit the Grange take responsibility for treating Catherine‟s injury. They immediately turn out Heathcliff for his poor manners and dishevelled appearance. It is at this point in the novel that the reader‟s attention is closely drawn to Heathcliff‟s debased personality, social status and unrefined manners. At the Lintons he is described as: a „frightful thing‟ that should be put away in a cellar, „a gypsy‟, „a strange acquisition‟ old Earnshaw made, „a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish
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castaway‟ (Brontë E, 1962:23); and he is summarily dismissed as a wicked boy. He is regarded unfit for a decent house; his language also shocks Mrs Linton who wishes her children would not hear it. This episode brings Hindley‟s high sense of irresponsibility to the fore, especially from the perspective of the Yorkshire folks who consider his permissiveness towards his sister as below the prevailing societal standards. Old Linton says it is „ the inculpable carelessness in him which permits him to allow Catherine grow up in absolute heathenism‟ (Brontë E, 1962:23).
Hindley is counselled about his responsibilities to the members of his household and he decides to rehabilitate Catherine. The process begins with the company she keeps and her manners. Catherine stays in the Grange for five weeks and a strategy to change her company, manners, countenance and to raise her self-esteem was put in place in her absence. Heathcliff is further debased; he becomes even more unkempt:
His clothes had seen three months service, in mire and dust, his thick uncombed hair, and the surface of his face and hands was dismally beclouded (Brontë E, 1962:25). He develops a complex borne out of the fact that his rough-headed counterpart has been transformed into a graceful damsel. Hindley‟s attempt to elevate Catherine„s status and debase Heathcliff produces a contrary effect. Heathcliff becomes defensive and self-conscious while Catherine becomes curiously disturbed. However, the archetypal significance of the theme of separation portrayed here is psychological. Catherine, we are told, cries when she discovers that Heathcliff avoids her. Heathcliff also cries; and when he is told about Catherine‟s tears says he has more reason to cry than she. In spite of Heathcliff‟s rough appearance, he is portrayed as a romantic figure. Mrs Dean, the housekeeper (who is also the dominant narrator), coaxing Heathcliff out one of his black moods suggests that he is dark and handsome, tall and broad-chested although with thick brows that always sink in gloom. She is somewhat convinced that the dark eyes that can be transformed into „confident innocent angels‟. This portrayal of Heathcliff‟s looks is elaborated upon when he returns three years later as a young man. His transformation is amazing:
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He had grown a tall, athletic, well-formed man, beside whom, my master seemed quite slender and youth-like. His upright carriage suggested the idea of his having been in the army. His countenance was much older in expression and decision of feature than Mr Linton‟s; it looked intelligent, and retained no marks of former degradation. A half-civilized ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows, and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified, quite divested of roughness though too stern for grace (Brontë E, 1962:44). Brontë‟s Heathcliff is undoubtedly an archetypal symbol of masculinity, strength and intelligence. He bears the image of the tall, dark and handsome man even in contemporary times.
Catherine, after her encounter and association with the Lintons, unconsciously slips into the hypocrisy of living in two worlds: one, of the elitist, which the Lintons live in, the other, the savage world she and Heathcliff share. Her inability to cope with the demands on her emotions leads to the tantrums she throws before Edgar Linton who has become her suitor. Brontë thus puts Catherine in a fix; she is to make the archetypal decision of mate selection. Catherine grows into the queen of the countryside, having no peer and gaining the admiration of all including Isabella Linton as well as the soul of Edgar Linton. The latter, according to the authorial comment, finds it impossible to create the type of impression Heathcliff has on her despite his air of superiority.
Catherine makes a choice that gives her nightmares. She bares her mind to Mrs Dean who at the period is an unsympathetic listener while an unfortunate Heathcliff eavesdrops on their conversation. He learns of Edgar‟s proposal and her acceptance. Catherine accepts to marry Edgar Linton because he is young, handsome, and pleasant to be with and because he will be rich and will make her the greatest woman in the neighbourhood (36). She is, however, able to distinguish between her desires and her true feelings. Therefore in the recurrent images in her subconscious, which is exemplified in her dreams, she sees her marriage with Edgar Linton as inappropriate as her being in heaven. This archetypal allusion though strange, perfectly reflects her feelings for Heathcliff:
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… if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low , I shouldn‟t have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now, so he shall never know I love him; and that, not because he‟s handsome, Nelly, but because he‟s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same and Linton‟s is as different as a moonbeam or frost from fire (Brontë E, 1962:37).
Catherine sets the stage for the next phase of separation by this speech, which transforms Heathcliff again into an archetypal quester. He leaves Yorkshire to acquire dignity, wealth, and a carriage that has disqualified him from belonging to Catherine‟s social stratum. One finds it difficult to place absolute blame on Catherine for her choice because up to the point of her accepting Edgar‟s hand in marriage, Heathcliff never asks Catherine to marry him.
He indeed shows sufficient attachment by marking out, on the calendar, the number of days she spends in his company and in the company of her sophisticated friends. On an occasion he pleads, „Don‟t turn me out for those pitiful silly friends of yours‟ (Brontë E, 1962:32). These, however, hardly reveal his feelings. We are told that from time to time he recoils with angry suspicion at Catherine‟s girlish caresses „…as if conscious there could be no gratification in lavishing such marks of affection on him‟(Brontë E, 1962:32). It is, therefore, not surprising that Catherine wonders if he has any notion of issues such as love:
I want to be convinced that Heathcliff has no notion of these things - he has not has he? He does not know what being in love is? (Brontë E, 1962:38) Her confidant presumes he should know and imagines that his lot will be unfortunate if he shares Catherine‟s feelings. What he may suffer will be the loss of a friend, and a love, and a separation that may be unbearable. Catherine‟s startling response to Mrs Dean‟s suggestion leaves Dean and many a critic dumbfounded. She vehemently states that they cannot be separated nor will she ever desert him. Her love for Heathcliff, she claims, resembles the eternal rocks beneath. This, in her opinion, would make their separation „impracticable‟. She plans to help him out of Hindley‟s trap after
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her marriage to Edgar, a feat she will not be able to accomplish without Linton‟s wealth. Brontë draws the reader‟s attention to the significance of the financial domination of the patriarchal society on the life of the Victorian woman. Heathcliff sojourns for three years after he eavesdrops on a crucial part of Catherine and Dean‟s conversation. His subsequent reunion with Catherine confirms his devastation at Catherine‟s choice of Edgar as her husband: I heard of your marriage Cathy, not long since…I meditated on this plan – just to have a glimpse of your facea stare of surprise, perhaps and pretended pleasure, afterward settle my score with Hindley; and then prevent the law by doing execution on myself. Your welcome has put these ideas out of my mind…Nay, you‟ll not drive me off again- you were really sorry for me, were you? Well there was cause. I have fought through a bitter life since I last heard your voice, and you must forgive me, for I struggled only for you! (Brontë E,1962:45) Heathcliff and Catherine‟s renewed relationship brings joy to all, albeit temporarily. Isabella Linton is infatuated by Heathcliff‟s sheer sexual force. Heathcliff, to Catherine‟s chagrin, takes advantage of this opportunity and the unpleasant development that ensued leads to the bitter confrontation between him and Catherine in the Linton‟s home. Edgar Linton is humiliated by Catherine‟s open defiance of his authority and her preference for Heathcliff. Edgar insists he has humoured her enough and insists that she chooses between Heathcilff and him. Once again Catherine discovers that she has overestimated Linton‟s love for her. Her opinion of him, prior to this time, is that she might kill him and he would not retaliate. Upon her discovery she secludes herself and starves for three days. She emerges delirious and terribly ill. In this state she tells Nelly Dean of a dream and vision that torments her in her days of seclusion: I‟ll tell you what I thought, and what has kept recurring and recurring till I feared for my reason … I was a child, my father was just buried, and my misery arose from the separation that Hindley had ordered between me and
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Heathcliff I was laid alone…I cannot say why I felt so wildly wretched (Brontë E, 1962:58). She vows that even after she dies and is buried, she will not rest until Heathcliff is with her. The last meeting between Heathcliff and Catherine brings to an end the physical relationship of these archetypal creatures. The lovers for the first time in the entire text and presumably in their lives discuss and express their true feelings, one for another. They accuse each other of actions or inactions that separate them or that could have united them. Catherine laments that Heathcliff is responsible for her dying and whips up such sentiments that the introvert in Heathcliff snaps with torture: Are you possessed with a devil, to talk in that manner to me when you are dying? Do you reflect that all those words will be branded in my memory, and eat deeper eternally after you have left me? (Brontë E, 1962:73). Heathcliff tries to hide his tears and emotional torture from her. She senses his restraint and accuses him: That is not my Heathcliff. I shall love mine yet; and take him with me - he‟s in my soul… the thing that irks me most is this shattered prison, after all. I‟m tired, tired of being enclosed here. I‟m wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there; not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart; but really with it and in it (Brontë E, 1962:74). Heathcliff accuses Catherine of suicide; he informs her that her state is one of the consequences of her marrying Edgar. He considers her choice cruel and a betrayal of her very essence and being. Catherine, in his opinion, suffers for not taking responsibility for the love she has for him: You loved me-then what right had you to leave me? What right…for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, degradation, and death, and nothing that God or satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart - you have broken it - and in breaking it, you have broken mine…Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be… would you like to live with your soul in the grave? (Brontë E, 1962:74) The emotionally stirring heart-pouring of the two ends with Catherine‟s passionate plea for forgiveness as she implores him not to leave her as she dies.
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Heathcliff yet takes up another archetypal image. At the peak of his passion he „gnashes‟ at Nelly who wonders if she is in the company of a creation of her specie. He foams like a mad dog and embraces his beloved „with greedy jealousy‟... (Brontë E, 1962:74). After Catherine‟s death, he taunts himself and prays for her to haunt him; he asks her to „take any form, drive me mad!‟ (Brontë E, 1962:77). He insists on this to ensure that she does not leave him in an abyss where he can no longer find his soul or life. Heathcliff, at this point, appears to acquire a beastly and savage personality that enables him to avenge the forces that debase him and inevitably led to his loss of Catherine (Brontë E, 1962:74). Mrs Dean, upon informing Heathcliff of Catherine‟s death, reports that she is appalled by the scene she witnesses: „He dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast getting goaded to death with knives and spears‟ (Brontë E, 1962:77). From the moment his soul mate exits the narrative he transforms into the archetypal sadist who according to Cowden‟s definition is :
The savage predator, he enjoys cruelty for its own sake. Violence and physical brutality are his games to this man. He plays those games with daring and with skill… he‟ll tear out your heart and laugh while doing it (2006). Heathcliff is portrayed as the master of the game. He works out a plan that earns him the properties and inheritances of the Earnshaws and the Lintons. He achieves this with the knowledge he acquires, about the rich. He digs a grave, bribes a sexton to play foul with the coffins in the graveyard, abducts Catherine Linton and her nurse, and enforces a marriage between her and Linton Heathcliff, his offspring. He watches his offspring and the second generation of the Earnshaws and Lintons take paths of destruction and enjoys every minute of it. Thus, Heathcliff attains his quest and his vision to regain his dignity and to avenge the people and the system that debased him and made his relationship with Catherine impossible. The creation of Joseph, the servant of the Earnshaws, is an expression of the author‟s precocity and effrontery. Brontë dares to confront the Christian religious beliefs of her time and she portrays the hypocritical attitude of some of the Victorian Christians who mostly put up
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puritanical airs. This is seen in the posture of Joseph, a servant of the Earnshaws. Blondel (1962) shrewdly observes that Joseph is „an aggressive moralist‟. One observes that he is really quite irrelevant to the plot structure of the novel but he somewhat parasitically attaches himself to the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights.
Brontë portrays him as a satirical and humorous representation of a Christian who is a sadist and one who lives in hatred. His name also has biblical significance, an allusion to the faithful and loyal servant in the Old Testament. He presents two faces in the conflicting roles he plays „one lends itself to satire of religious fanaticism such as Emily Brontë had known and the other abruptly opens us to the depths of evil that destroys the souls of Wuthering Heights’ (Blondel, 1962:209).
V
Brontë explores the theme of death from two perspectives. The first motif is the inevitability of death, especially at middle age during the Victorian period. This could have been as a result of the low expectancy of life span in Europe then. The deaths of these characters are occasioned by sickness most of which were incurable at the time. Emily Brontë‟s personal experience may count here, having lost her mother, sisters, aunt, brother and father to various ailments and diseases that culminated in their premature deaths. Emily also dies of consumption (tuberculosis) shortly after Wuthering Heights is completed.
Brontë in Wuthering Heights naturally depicts occurrences of death as a recurrent theme. Her characters exit the stage in this order: Mrs Earnshaw 1777, Frances Hindley-Earnshaw 1778, and Mr and Mrs Linton in 1780. Having so disposed of the first generation and Hindley‟s wife, Brontë decidedly portrays the second generation as being dispersed by premature deaths: Catherine at 19 years in March 1784, Hindley at 27 in September 1784, Isabella Linton at 32 in June 1797, Edgar Linton at 39 in September 1801, Linton at 17years in October 1801and Heathcliff at 38 in May 1802.
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The nature of Catherine‟s death typifies the second dimension of the death motif in Wuthering Heights. Her death-craving is different from the death of Frances who resists the thought of dying till she draws her last breath. Several times in the narrative Catherine states „Oh I will; die … since no one cares anything about me.‟ (Brontë E, 1962:56), „If I were only sure it would kill him … I‟d kill my self directly.‟(Brontë E, 1962:56), I wish I could hold you… till we were both dead!‟, Heathcliff, I shall die! I shall die!‟ (Brontë E, 1962:73). These desperate but definite death wishes are expressed by Catherine. From Bodkin‟s theory of archetypal death syndromes, death-craving appears to be a primary tendency that is not considered objectively as normal people do. Normal people we know, perceive death as „the end of life, an event with social moral and legal implications (Bodkin, 1967:66) which is quite contrary to the opinion of the writer, his audience or the neurotic, who consider „in this image of his own life and death, not at all their legal implications, but in accordance with a deep organic need for release from conflict and tension‟ (Bodkin, 1967:66).
Brontë creates an archetypal setting using expressive imagery. The title of the work and the habitation of the Earnshaws, Wuthering Heights, is descriptive of the „atmospheric tumult‟ within which the work is set. This picture is perfectly captured in „Wuthering Heights‟ a portrait painting by fine artist Fritz Eichenberg (this is used as the cover page and illustration of the setting on the 1962 edition of Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights).
Stormy weather, whirlwind bustling around the house, roaring fires and frosty air all have underlying archetypal effects. These archetypal images are employed in the creation of mood. The overall effect is the pace setting for insurmountable suspense which runs through the plot. „Eternal rocks‟, „Milo‟, and „oak in a flowerpot‟ are some of the images used to buttress the esoteric nature of the work. Mysticism and Biblical allusions are consistently used to enhance archetypal settings and phenomena. Allusions to supernatural beings and places like God, devils, demons, angels, heaven, and hell are recreated images, personifications and similes drawn by Brontë to suit the purpose of her work.
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VI
Emily Jane Brontë „s significance to the Victorian period and to the English novel tradition lies in her many archetypal creations. First is the creation of a prime example of a classical Gothic Romanticism. The form, from a feminist perspective, examines issues that borders on social stratification, gender relations and mysticism. Brontë‟s greatest success is in creating from her unconscious archetypal personalities, thematic thrusts, images and symbols. She establishes an uncommon narrative technique and points of views which appear implausible but that are effective and deeply convincing.
This psychoanalytic study of the writer, the mythical characters and other literary elements she creates, validates Brontë‟s unparalleled creation of archetypal motifs. She establishes a fundamental archetypal formula and pattern (conflict-death-resolution). Furthermore, a close scrutiny reveals that her creations are essentially products of her fantasies and meditations. Without doubt Emily Jane Brontë was a strong personality, a woman of strange and unique perspectives whose influence in literary writing survives the millennium within which she wrote. Her ability to confront universal issues with unusual boldness and perception can be further appreciated in the many tributes her sister, Charlotte Brontë, pays her. The most auspicious and propitious is on her struggle with death; she writes:
Never in all her life had she lingered over any task that lay before her, and she did not linger now, she sank rapidly. She made haste to leave us. Yet, while physically she perished, mentally she grew stronger than we had yet known her. Day by day, when I saw with what front she met suffering I looked on her with an anguish of wonder and love. I have never seen her parallel in anything. Stronger than a man, simpler than a child, her nature stood alone. The awful point was that while full of ruth for others, on herself she had no pity; the spirit was inexorable to the flesh…( Charlotte Brontë, 1968:384).
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This study has taken cognizance of E.M Forster‟s critical ideology, it lays aside the singular vision commonly employed by critics for literary enquiry and adopting a completely different set of tools and a multidimensional approach to reading Brontë and her archetypal motifs. One has found this study rewarding as it reveals several aspects of the writing of Brontë, particularly archetypal characterization and themes amongst which is the archetypal death motif, which other critical writings on Wuthering Heights have neglected.
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Works Cited Barnet, Sylvan et al .(ed)(2004) An Introduction to Literature. Thirteenth ed. New York : Pearson Longman. Blonde, Jacques. (1962 )„The Minor Characters and Eros‟ Two excerpts from Blondel Jacques‟s Emily Brontë Experience Spirituelle et Creation Poetique In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Bodkin, Maud. (1967) Archetypal Patterns in Poetry. Oxford University Press, London. Brontë ,Charlotte.( 1968) Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell In Gilbert John ed Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre,Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books. London. ---------------- (1968)Editor‟s Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights In Gilbert John ed Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books, London. Brontë, Emily. (1962) Wuthering Heights In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Cowden, Tami. ( 2006) Heroes and Heroines ; Sixteen Master Archetypes in tami @tamiCowden. htm Forster, E.M. (1962) „ Prophesy in Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York.
Gilbert, John. (ed) (1968) Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books. London. Guerrad, Albert .J. (1962) „Preface to Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Hornstein, L.H et al. (1984) The Reader‟s Companion To World Literature Second Edition. Mentor Books U.S.A . Jung, Carl. (1972) Four Archetypes . Routledge and Kegan. London Louis, James. (2006) The Victorian Novel. Malden, Blackwell Publishing,U.S.A . Lowe-Evans, Mary (2003) „Emily Brontë‟ In Beecham „s Guide to Literature For Young Adults. Microsoft Encarta (Deluxe 2003) Moser, Thomas .C.(1962) What is the Matter With Emily Jane? In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York.
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Palmer, Eustace.(1986) „Wuthering Heights‟ In Studies on the English Novel, African University Press, Ibadan. Richards, Angela and Albert, Dickson (ed). (1990) Sigmund Freud Art and Literature Vol14 Penguin Books, London. Schorer, Mark. (1962) „Introduction to Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Sigmund, Freud.(1990) „Writers and Day-Dreaming‟ In Richards Angela and Albert Dickson ed (1990) Sigmund Freud Art and Literature Vol.14 Penguin Books, London. Winnifrith, Tom. (1983) „ Wuthering Heights, One Volume or Two?‟ In Edward Chitham and Tom Winnifrith. Brontë Facts and Brontë Problems : Macmillan press, London.
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Cited: Barnet, Sylvan et al .(ed)(2004) An Introduction to Literature. Thirteenth ed. New York : Pearson Longman. Blonde, Jacques. (1962 )„The Minor Characters and Eros‟ Two excerpts from Blondel Jacques‟s Emily Brontë Experience Spirituelle et Creation Poetique In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Bodkin, Maud. (1967) Archetypal Patterns in Poetry. Oxford University Press, London. Brontë ,Charlotte.( 1968) Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell In Gilbert John ed Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre,Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books. London. ---------------- (1968)Editor‟s Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights In Gilbert John ed Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books, London. Brontë, Emily. (1962) Wuthering Heights In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Cowden, Tami. ( 2006) Heroes and Heroines ; Sixteen Master Archetypes in tami @tamiCowden. htm Forster, E.M. (1962) „ Prophesy in Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Gilbert, John. (ed) (1968) Four Novels, The Brontë Sisters, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, Villete. Spring Books. London. Guerrad, Albert .J. (1962) „Preface to Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Hornstein, L.H et al. (1984) The Reader‟s Companion To World Literature Second Edition. Mentor Books U.S.A . Jung, Carl. (1972) Four Archetypes . Routledge and Kegan. London Louis, James. (2006) The Victorian Novel. Malden, Blackwell Publishing,U.S.A . Lowe-Evans, Mary (2003) „Emily Brontë‟ In Beecham „s Guide to Literature For Young Adults. Microsoft Encarta (Deluxe 2003) Moser, Thomas .C.(1962) What is the Matter With Emily Jane? In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. 23 Palmer, Eustace.(1986) „Wuthering Heights‟ In Studies on the English Novel, African University Press, Ibadan. Richards, Angela and Albert, Dickson (ed). (1990) Sigmund Freud Art and Literature Vol14 Penguin Books, London. Schorer, Mark. (1962) „Introduction to Wuthering Heights‟ In Moser T. Wuthering Heights Text, Sources and Criticism. Harcourt Brace and World Inc. New York. Sigmund, Freud.(1990) „Writers and Day-Dreaming‟ In Richards Angela and Albert Dickson ed (1990) Sigmund Freud Art and Literature Vol.14 Penguin Books, London. Winnifrith, Tom. (1983) „ Wuthering Heights, One Volume or Two?‟ In Edward Chitham and Tom Winnifrith. Brontë Facts and Brontë Problems : Macmillan press, London. 24
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