呼啸山庄论文
Abstract In Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, based on love, on the other side, demonstrates the collision between humanity and culture. The humanity is very complex. Accordingly, this novel has the haunting plot. This novel reveals the humanity’s complexity and profundity, because it implies the love and resentment, furthermore, the humanity has impacted on the temporal social culture. This paper explores the love and hate ——producing from the collision between humanity and culture. And try to illustrate the undying love between Catherine and Heathcliff through humanity and culture and how to face their love. Under the social culture, when love turns to hate , hate twists humanity. Thereby, humanity’s love is as tragedy through
culture. Because they missed the beautiful time for love ,when humanity arises again.
Key words: Humanity Culture Love Revenge
摘要 艾米莉.勃朗特在《呼啸山庄》中，以爱情为主题，从一个侧面展现了人性与社会文明的冲突，展示了人性是多么复杂的东西，而使这部小说有了令人难以忘怀的地方。本文揭示了人性的复杂与深刻，在于它所蕴含的爱与恨，而左右着人性的又是当时的社会文明。本文探讨了小说中的人性与文明的冲突的产物——爱与恨，而凯瑟琳和希刺克利夫在人性与文明的影响下又怎样面对他们的爱情。在社会文明的影响下，当爱情产生了恨，而恨往往把人性扭曲了，而有了一场社会文明下的悲剧人性爱情故事，因为当人性再度重现，已错过了一段美丽的爱情。
关键词： 人性 文明 爱 报复
Humanity ? Culture ?——Wuthering Heighets’love
Introduction
In Wuthering Heights, the topic is love, deduces us a world-shaking undying love. They are not only have the lingering love, but also a deeply ingrained hate between them. Catherine and Heathcliff’s love has both humanity and social culture and which bind with them. The humanity has made their love unchanged and undying, but culture destroys this love, and causes hate, Catherine betrays him. Therefore Heathcliff’s hate is quite incisive and vivid, but still comes back to the love.
In the novel by Emily Bronte, the two main characters have the natural style and primitive nature—— naivete, truculence, frankness, firmness, a flush of sentiment, behavior is crazy. They love very desperately, they hate is regardless of whatever. As a result, the characters’ love quite strong, shaking-heart. “Unchanged as the mount, ferocity as the lighting” (song p7).Hence, Wuthering Heights becomes the most magnificent love epic in the world.
The social culture and humanity 呼啸山庄论文
In the nineteenth century, the Victorian period the nobleman is enormously proud of their success, full of the temporal rank concept. Status is first, money is God. People’s spirits suffer from the intense oppression. Humanity is twisted without mercy. The Earnshows hold a precarious place within the hierarchy. Although the gentry, possessed servants and often large estates, they nonetheless hold a fragile social position. The Lintons are relatively firm in their gentry’s status, but the Earnshows are on much shakier ground social. Catherine wants to marry Edgar so that she will be “the greatest woman of the neighborhood”. Above all, this is the social culture and humanity on that time.
But Catherine and Heathcliff‘s character is governed by their passions, not by reflection or ideals of civility. Also the house where they live comes to symbolize the humanity, but Thrushcross Grange represents culture, convention, refinement. When Catherine left for Thrushcross Grange the first time, she has impacted on this culture and finds herself deeply attracted by it. Therefore, for love her heart so ambivalent. Owning to Catherine’s changing, Heathcliff begins to resent the society that is responsible, “when he acquires power and returns to Wuthering Heights with money and the trappings of a gentleman he becomes a villain”. Humanity was dispelled in a corner; social culture was filled in civic brain.
Catherine’s love under the social culture
The heroine—Catherine is very ambivalent in her love .Due to human nature, she loves Heathcliff deeply with childlike passion, and her soul can’t live without him. But the social culture made her betray the love in order to satisfy her yearning for fame and wealth. She chooses Linton, hereby her love becomes a tragedy.
Catherine is crazy about Heath cliff. Their love is rooted in their childhood and is marked by the refusal to change and embrace those differences. Moreover, their love is based on their shared perception that they are identical, even their souls are shared by one. Catherine declares, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same”. (Gao p103) “I am Heathcliff!”(Gao p105) When she first comes back from Thrushcross Grange, she immediately realizes the impact that the social culture has had in her. Her heart becomes more complex and ambivalent. Catherine looks for Heathcliff, to embrace and kiss him, at the same time she is afraid about Heathcliff’s dirty clothe against her clean dress. She also treats her marriage like this. If she marries Heathcliff she will be a beggar. Even if she is well aware that without Heathcliff she can’t live, but the cruel reality helps her realize that marrying Linton will make her become the greatest woman in the area. The temptation of material benefit and the bourgeois culture society, made her betray her love .But her betrayal is not thorough. Although, she dares to break free from the low class culture. She is still crazy about Heathcliff even without property, status. As Catherine says “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now ………but because he is more myself than I am.” (Gao p102) But humanity’s love never let Catherine give up Heathcliff .Catherine said “My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary……..but as my own being.”(Gao p105) Her choice about marriage made her betray her humanity and Heath cliff, forcing Heathcliff to leave .Despite her childlike nature to love him very deeply with fierce passion. Social culture wins humanity in Catherine, but she was never happy at the civilized Thrushcross Grange, and found herself feeling empty without soul. And for the next seven years, Catherine coasted through life, living only in the past .Her soul so eager to meet Heathcliff’s soul. Ultimately, she is torn between her wild passion for Heath cliff and her social ambition. But the primitive love exceeds the cultural love, causes her miss the Wuthering Heights in sick. And before she dies, go into the bosom of Heathcliff. After she dies, her lonely ghost thirsts for coming back Wuthering Heights. She uses the melancholy voice sobs “Let me in —Let me in!”(Song p28)
Heathcliff’s love and hate
Heathcliff’s love is pure in intention and never changes. Like Catherine, he loves to run around on the moor. His love just has the human nature’s emotion without rank, culture .Heathcliff never says “love”, but his love stronger than hurricane, compare with cloudburst. He is filled with uncontrollable passion. In chapter third, he hears some sounds in Catherine’s room, “his agitation was so extreme, that he could hardly pick it up.”(Gao p30) Upon arriving at the bedroom, as Lockwood[the renter of Thrushcross Grange] flees from it, Heath cliff cries out to Catherine begging her to return.. “ ‘Come in ! Come in!’He sobbed ‘Cathy, do come .Oh do –once more! Oh! My heart’s darling; hear me this time. Catherine, at last!’ ”(Gao p33) this shows how Heathcliff tastes the bitterness of his lost love. His love for Catherine is expressed simple, honestly brevity but full of fervid love. In chapter sixteenth, he curses Catherine for the pain. She has caused him and pleads with her spirit to haunt him for the rest of his life. She may take any form, he says, and even drives me mad as long as I am living. He goes on to say “may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you ---haunt me, then!” “Be with me always---take any form ---drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I can’t find you!”(Gao p218)Although in this chapter, there are no definite words to represent Heathcliff’s love, it is nonetheless known and deeply rooted in their hearts, never losing their passion. Because of the strength of his love for Catherine, Heathcliff undertakes his wicked and vengeful revenge against those deems responsible for his misery
Heathcliff comes from the lower class and because of this, the Linton family makes him feels unworthy of her. Catherine seeks a more genteel life therefore betraying their love. When Heathcliff heard that “It would degrade me to marry Heath cliff now”(Gao p102). He withdraws in a rage of shame, humiliation, and despair. Three years later, Heathcliff comes back with power and money, he is longing for meeting Catherine, at this time he begins to do an elaborate plan for revenge. But his cruel and harmful behavior comes from the pain of his love .He becomes a fiend, a demon, toward every person around him .He ruins Hindley [Catherine’s brother] by tricking him and therefore, taking possession of Wuthering Heights. He also ends Hareton’s [Hindley’s son] education after Hindley died, and then elopes with Isabella [Lintion’s sister], after she is ill-treated by him. Likewise, Heathcliff uses Isabella to revenge Edgar. “His malevolence proves so great and long—lasting that it can’t be adequately explained even as a desire for revenge”(Liu p34) Without Catherine , he lost his sense of life , revenge replaces love , and become the driving force behind his actions. However, who strips his love? What does twist his humanity? But the deep-rooted love didn’t disappear at all. Heathcliff tries to recapture the spirit of Catherine in his desire to rejoin her. He even opens her coffin, Heathcliff says “I saw her face again”. The many signs of Catherine show that “she did exist” but that “I have lost her”.
When Heathcliff fulfills his revenge, he finds that the primary pleasure is no longer within him. He begins to give up his revenge, wanting only to be with Catherine. The humanity of his love arises again, love for Catherine eroding his lust for revenge. In Heathcliff’s life, he sees Catherine’s shadow everywhere. He is bound to Catherine. They shared one soul, longing to become one unit. Heath cliff becomes more and more obsessed with the memories of Catherine, begins to talking with her ghost .Remembering his climactic night on the moors , he feels so happy and anticipates a reunion with her ghost .Two opened souls become one .Heathcliff’s feeling of revenge for his lost love ,eventually ,return to the original source. In the end, Humanity’s love wins driving his life from this point onward.
Conclusion
“Inevitably , the unbridgeable gab in Catherine’s and Heath cliff’s social positions renders their fervent romance unrealizable on any practical level ”.（Liu p77）Catherine’s actions are so stringing driven by her social ambitions , that she betrays her humanity, and consequently Heathcliff’s love turns top the hate. Heathcliff becomes a so-called genteel man, returns to Wuthering Heights and carrying out all the cruel acts of revenge. Nevertheless, this love is natural, primitive, inner, and spiritual one. On account of their soul has been the unit can’t separate from each other, no more than two bodies. The emotion can’t use the culture to explain and alter it. The temporal social culture compares with the delicate humanity, thereby resulting in a painful ending to this love story. When love turns to hate, hate twists the humanity .This profound avatar is shown through Heathcliff and Catherine. The author shows for us the struggle between humanity’s love and social culture. In light if this ideal, today, how do we choose our love when faced it?
Works cited
Jihai Gao, Wuthering Heights, YILI Yili people’s press. 2003.6
Jianxi Liu, Wuthering Heights, Tianjing Tianjing technology translation publishing house 2003.9
Zhaolin Song, Wuthering Heights prolusion, Peking pekingyanshan press 1999.9