Conclusion 14

References 15

Introduction

Wuthering Heights is a passionate romantic love story written by Emily Bronte。 She is a genius woman writer in the nineteenth century, known as "sphinx" in the history of English literature。 Her only novel Wuthering Heights establishes her status in literature。 Emily Bronte expresses the genuine and passionate elements of love and hate in this extraordinary novel。 Key to this process of expression is the protagonist Heathcliff whose soul is torn by love and hate。 Emily Bronte develops the story through Heathcliff, a gipsy waif with unknown parentage, picked up by Mr。 Earnshaw and brought up with his children。  论文网

The novel is a true reflection of her life and her life experience has a great impact on her creation of the work and the protagonist Heathcliff。 In the opinion of Ralph Fox, a revolutionary critic of England, Wuthering Heights is one of the most prominent works which human genius has ever produced “because it is a cry of despairing agony wrung from Emily by life itself” (quoted in Liu Bingshan, 2007。 p。 313)。 Emily Bronte was born in a poor family in 1818。 The Brontes lived in a remote desolate countryside and the house was exposed in vast moors which became the setting of Wuthering Heights。 Her mother died when she was three years old。 Because of the early loss of her mother's love and her father's strict and apathy attitude, Emily was self-abased, timid and introverted。 She was eager for love and understanding, but she could not gain love and be understood。 Therefore, when she could not refrain from strong emotional impulses, creative writing became the only way for her to express the emotional loneliness。 Her childhood had a great influence on the creation of Heathcliff's deep loneliness and sense of inferiority。 Long-term struggle with harsh environment gave her an independent character。 According to her sister Charlotte Bronte’s description, Emily is “stronger than a man, simpler than a child, her nature stood alone” (310)。 She is a woman who has special attachment for freedom and nature, fully taking use of her life experience and puts all of those elements into her work Wuthering Heights。 Heathcliff peruses freedom passionately just like his creator Emily。

In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff exhibits his rebellious spirit, his passionate love, and his ruthless revenge。 The characteristics of Heathcliff are consistent with the features of a Byronic hero。 The term "Byronic Hero" derives from a series of rebellious heroes in the works of Byron。 Peter L。 Thorslev has mentioned that the Byronic Hero is the most popular phenomenon of the English Romantic Movement and it has the most far-reaching consequences for nineteenth century Western literatures (3)。 The primary critics who connect Heathcliff with the concept of Byronic hero are Thorsley who argues that Heathcliff is an antiheroic Byronic hero, and Walter Reed, who claims that Heathcliff is a Romantic hero (Selvik, Randi Eline, 2016)。 And some scholars analyzed the Byronic hero in Wuthering Heights with the reference of romantic novel and gothic novel。 Ceron Cristina (2010) analyzed the character of Heathcliff as a Byronic hero with putting the emphasis on investigating Bronte’s reading of Byron’s works, and made a comparison between Manfred and Heathcliff。 Besides, Ecaterina Oana Brindas (2014) also studied the similarities between the iconic character of Byron’s hero represented in Byron’s work and Heathcliff。 He placed emphasis on the Byronic hero's major traits presented in Childe Harold, Manfred and Cain and analyzed the same traits reflected in the characteristics of Heathcliff。文献综述

The domestic researches on Wuthering Heights mainly focus on themes, narrations art and characters。 And scholars analyzed the characters in the novel based on different themes on Wuthering Heights including the tragic theme, self-identification and the regression of humanity, revenge and the Gothic theme。 Gao Yonghong (2007) stated that Heathcliff was an extreme Byronic hero in Wuthering Heights。 His human nature was stifled by his revenge fire, and his revenge resulted in an abnormal psychology。 In her research, she mainly focused on the innovation of the author’s writing style。 She only analyzed Heathcliff as the Byronic hero from the aspect of Gothic elements in Wuthering Heights。 And there was no specific analysis of the Heathcliff’s character that matched with the concept of Byronic hero。 Wu Haiming (2009) mentioned Heathcliff, characterized as a Villain hero or Byronic hero who was flagrant and fragrant in Wuthering Heights。 In his research, he concentrated on Emily's inheritance and improvement of the Gothic novel in the character creation。 Wuthering Heights is a story of love and hate。 So in his description, Heathcliff is an avenger, which was the traditional theme of Gothic novel。