Wuthering Heights
‘Fiction of this period is dominated by the characters’ need to escape from walls, boundaries and ideological restrictions.’ How far do you agree with this interpretation of Wuthering Heights and your partner text?
In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte emphasises the ways in which characters are literally trapped, emotionally repressed, socially oppressed and intellectually guarded. Bronte portrays her character as determined to break free from their shackles and explores the theme in three key ways. Bronte satirises the church’s vain attempts to control the characters’ lives and curb their instincts. Written in the 1840’s but set between 1770 and 1802, the novel also reveals the ways in which the industrial revolution was allowing people to undermine and overcome hitherto rigid class boundaries. Finally, Bronte depicts the ways in which women are challenging their traditional roles. Throughout the novels Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte countless comparisons can be made. Both novels are stories of love and how this powerful emotion was able to overcome countless obstacles. These obstacles were lengthy struggles that characters within each novel were faced with and went through immense pain all for love.
In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte portrays Christian morality and causes characters to feel claustrophobic with her frequent reiteration of religious ideas. The character of Joseph is a devout Christian and so symbolises all that is good about a characters morality, this is evident when Lockwood describes Joseph as having ‘ransacked’ the Bible for his entire life. Whereas the character of Hindley for example conveys the opposite viewpoint and all that is bad about Christian morality when he orders Joseph to work ‘out of doors’ with the peasants. These religious ideas are highlighted in only the second chapter when Lockwood compares his first impressions of Wuthering Heights to a religious home and how he possibly feels
In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte emphasises the ways in which characters are literally trapped, emotionally repressed, socially oppressed and intellectually guarded. Bronte portrays her character as determined to break free from their shackles and explores the theme in three key ways. Bronte satirises the church’s vain attempts to control the characters’ lives and curb their instincts. Written in the 1840’s but set between 1770 and 1802, the novel also reveals the ways in which the industrial revolution was allowing people to undermine and overcome hitherto rigid class boundaries. Finally, Bronte depicts the ways in which women are challenging their traditional roles. Throughout the novels Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte countless comparisons can be made. Both novels are stories of love and how this powerful emotion was able to overcome countless obstacles. These obstacles were lengthy struggles that characters within each novel were faced with and went through immense pain all for love.
In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte portrays Christian morality and causes characters to feel claustrophobic with her frequent reiteration of religious ideas. The character of Joseph is a devout Christian and so symbolises all that is good about a characters morality, this is evident when Lockwood describes Joseph as having ‘ransacked’ the Bible for his entire life. Whereas the character of Hindley for example conveys the opposite viewpoint and all that is bad about Christian morality when he orders Joseph to work ‘out of doors’ with the peasants. These religious ideas are highlighted in only the second chapter when Lockwood compares his first impressions of Wuthering Heights to a religious home and how he possibly feels