Romeo and Juliet vs Wuthering Heights
How is love portrayed in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Wuthering Heights” and how do settings affect and reflect the characters?
William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” are widely considered to be two of the most influential and popular romances in English literature. The way setting is used to reflect the mood of the scene, using variations of light and dark as well as weather and nature, is very stimulating to the imaginations of the audience. This essay will discuss how Shakespeare and Brontë portray love through intelligent language and how the setting can deeply influence our perception of the characters.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines love as a warm affection or fondness. It can be shown in many different ways from many different perspectives, but never has it been so intensely portrayed as in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Wuthering Heights”. In many ways, the storylines are remarkably similar, but at the same time complete contrasts to each other, much like the characters. In “Wuthering Heights” the plot is very complex, with twists and turns at each chapter, and is spread out over the course of forty six years. It is told in a very fresh and unusual way, being from the perspective of different characters at different parts of the novel, though mainly told by Nelly the maid servant. “Romeo and Juliet” however is surprisingly simple, being told in both third person and soliloquy, but still by the same primary characters throughout the play. The entire storyline, though spoke of as being a long lasting feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, is in fact stretched out over a very short time period of a mere week.
Both novels, particularly “Wuthering Heights”, show the semantic field of Gothicism. As an audience, our first impression of Wuthering Heights comes from the briefly appearing Mr Lockwood, who describes the terrain surrounding the house as “…the north wind, blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of
William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” are widely considered to be two of the most influential and popular romances in English literature. The way setting is used to reflect the mood of the scene, using variations of light and dark as well as weather and nature, is very stimulating to the imaginations of the audience. This essay will discuss how Shakespeare and Brontë portray love through intelligent language and how the setting can deeply influence our perception of the characters.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines love as a warm affection or fondness. It can be shown in many different ways from many different perspectives, but never has it been so intensely portrayed as in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Wuthering Heights”. In many ways, the storylines are remarkably similar, but at the same time complete contrasts to each other, much like the characters. In “Wuthering Heights” the plot is very complex, with twists and turns at each chapter, and is spread out over the course of forty six years. It is told in a very fresh and unusual way, being from the perspective of different characters at different parts of the novel, though mainly told by Nelly the maid servant. “Romeo and Juliet” however is surprisingly simple, being told in both third person and soliloquy, but still by the same primary characters throughout the play. The entire storyline, though spoke of as being a long lasting feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, is in fact stretched out over a very short time period of a mere week.
Both novels, particularly “Wuthering Heights”, show the semantic field of Gothicism. As an audience, our first impression of Wuthering Heights comes from the briefly appearing Mr Lockwood, who describes the terrain surrounding the house as “…the north wind, blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of