Narcissism In Wuthering Heights

According to Freudian psychoanalytic theory of narcissism Emily Bronte suffers some traumas in the period of self-development which lead to her narcissistic inclination. Her only novel, Wuthering Heights, does reveal this inclination of hers.In her early childhood Emily loses her mother, which severely hinders her self-development, affects her self-consciousness, and leads to her strong self-preservation and self-love. Haworth, the place she lives in, is another contributing factor. Its wild moors are secluded from other parts of the country, in which Emily finds as an outlet for her intense passion for nature. In such an environment Emily discovers her heaven and takes it as her unseparated part of her life. That's why she always suffers nostalgia when leaving Haworth. Another factor we can't neglect is her masculine character that fortifies her strong self-preservation and self-love. All these facts show Emily does have some narcissistic inclination, which is shown evidently in her masterpiece, Wuthering Heights.In Wuthering Heights Emily creates two passionate characters of narcissism, Catherine and Heathcliff. Catherine's suffering from narcissism is mainly shown in three symptoms: her self-consciousness, her hysteria and her "homesickness". Catherine's self-consciousness chiefly results from her self-centered character, which is owing to the lack of positive guidance of her family. Her hysteria is associated with her failure in remaining true to herself, while her "homesickness" is caused by her longing to be with Heathcliff again back in Wuthering Heights, which she takes as her mother's uterus, her original home. Heathcliff's narcissism is revealed in two ways: Firstly, he, an outcast, is deserted by society and in isolation he yields to self-love. Secondly the two kinds of contradictive perversion of narcissism— sadism and masochism, work together in him. According to the Greek myth of the primitives, the two characters, a pair of divided selves, share some characteristics of narcissism: they, both as passionate outcasts of the society, take each other as the other half, the "ideal imago", and are always on their way to seek for unity. Through death they do succeed in achieving their unity.