An analysis of Heathcliffs personality degeneration in Wuthering Heights–Social hierarchy leads to the personality alienation文献综述

 2022-09-08 12:03:20

Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, contemporary reviews for the novel were deeply polarised; it was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti referred to it as 'A fiend of a book – an incredible monster ... The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there.'

At the beginning, Wuthering Heights suffered a violent criticism from the critic and some of the comments showed the prejudice and suspicion of the novel . This novel had been misunderstood until the late nineteenth century .But in the 20th century especially after 1930. Lots of critics regarded Emily Bronte as the greatest novelist among her sisters,and there appeared lots of articles to comment on the writer , such as R.crump, charlotte and Emily Bronte.Maugham: This Worldrsquo;s ten Greatest Novels. And there were lots of comments on this novel such as wuthering Heights : a casebook, and Rod mengham:wutheringHeights(penguin critical studies ,1998).At the begunning Wuthering Heights was described as a gloomy, unmoral and full of abnormal state novel. Some critics even said this was a horror and sacking novel and the title should be withering Heights instead of WUthering Heights . In addition , the characters of Heathcliff and his extreme love ,hate and the violent revenge were not understood by the common people at that time , so it was regarded as a poorly written novel . But now it is often considered as a rarer artistic product even than Jane Eyre. Wuthering Heights is noted for its intense psychological description.And the last meeting between Heathcliff and Catherine is the climax of the novel . It is regarded as the harshest and most touching”.this work is also noted for its poetic quality. The recognition of the protagonist is different in those comments. The socialists try to understand the novel by analysis of the oppression of the social class. The psychologists try to understand the novel by analysis of the oppression of the social class. The psychologists try to find the answer through the writerrsquo;s mentality and personality. This novel has been studied, analyzes and discussed from every critical perspective , and while the novelrsquo;s symbolism, themes, structure, and language will encourage people to explore it , and the popularity may rest on its unforgettable characters . The doomed love between the fiercely passionate Catherina and Heathcliff becomes one of the most haunting love stories in all of literature . In one word , the understanding of the hero are different. Through this we can see that the research to the Wuthering Heights is continuing and understanding of this novel is more and more profound .

Revenge, as one of the main themes of the work, has always caused a great deal of universal attention. Readers held their own opinions respectively about Heathcliffrsquo;s revenge but there exist many similarities. Ya Wang , Gang Xing and Meihua Deng all point out that though Heathcliffrsquo;s revenge is completely finished, he is not happy, without much joy or sense of success. His tortures to others also torture himself. Othersrsquo; sufferings afflicted by him are not less than his sufferings at the same time. The end of revenge is that Heathcliff dies lonely in the extreme missing of his love. Min Zhao says “Emily Bronte proves there is no peace in eternal revenge, and in the end self-injury involved in the serving revengersquo;s purposes will be more damaging than the original wrong”. Meanwhile, Xiaoying Xu mentions that, “yet it is common for every social beings to pursue love and happiness, thus, from this aspect, we can understand why the two heroes (including Heathcliff) revenge”.

In the end he feels Catherinersquo;s ghost coming, in his dead bed, he says to Nelly, “It is a poor conclusion, is it not?” when he sees Cathy and Hareton go along in harmony, just like he and Catherine when they were young, he says, “It is far from being the case: I have lost the faculty to enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing”. Yuan Yuanpoints out that Heathcliff does not destroy little Cathy and Hareton, for their eyes are like Catherinersquo;s so “this reflects that love is the hatredrsquo;s home that one finally returns to”.

Zhao Ying(赵颖2009：19) considers that the reasons for Heathcliffrsquo;s revenge include Heathcliffrsquo;s low social status, the bullying and insulting of Hindley, betrayal of love of Catherine and his low rank and lack of money which are both emphasized by the society at that time. Besides these, many people pointed out the Lintonsrsquo; relentlessness to Heathcliff, especially Edgarrsquo;s marriage with Catherine is also one of the main reasons. Minjia Weng (翁敏佳 2011) sums that, the target of his revenge is not really people around but that cruel world, for it is that world, singing high of materials and money that deserts him.

What Heathcliff has experienced during his former life, including his loss of Catherine, has twisted his characters and human natures so much as to make him horrible, irritable, fickle, violent and savage. His physical and psychological suffering has led to his seemingly ill inclination to exercising violence to his foes as well as their next generation, Zhenfeng Chen (陈振峰 2008：193) expresses. The hidden reasons behind Heathcliffrsquo;s revenge is from the society, where first, he was deserted as a little kid, with no money nor social status, which then leads to his being abused and despised, cracking down his dignity as well as honor. Many papers also have expressed that Heathcliffrsquo;s revenge and violence should be understood.

Through lots of studies and analyses of recent 30 years papers about Wuthering Heights, we can see former readers have made numerous explanations of the theme, the love and the hatred, the plot, the characters, the reflected religious attitudes, the applied technics, etc. from various perspectives respectively and provided later readers with a comprehensive understanding of the fantastic story. However, as time goes by, conceptions or thoughts are developed and some of former thoughts may go out of date. Many opinions need further and deeper investigating.

As for the revenge, many papers held that Heathcliff has sound reasons to revenge his foes due to what he has suffered; revenge is common to human beings. However, few have questioned whether we, human beings, can forgive others who have offended us in our daily life and in what degree, can we lay these offences down？Were we Heathcliff, would we follow the same savage and vicious paths of revenging or just follow our natural destines and swallow down all sufferings? Were we Catherine, would we marry wealthy Edga in consideration of earthly value of materialism or follow our natural heart and choose Heathcliff? Such questions are in wants of further discussions so as to make full understanding of this marvelous work.

资料编号：[285468]

剩余内容已隐藏，您需要先支付 10元 才能查看该篇文章全部内容！立即支付

以上是毕业论文文献综述，课题毕业论文、任务书、外文翻译、程序设计、图纸设计等资料可联系客服协助查找。

您可能感兴趣的文章