On The Modernity Of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

As Emily Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights has been controversial since its publication. It's not a book to be liked at first sight due to its ambiguous theme, its odd story, its usage of symbolism and its narrative techniques. Once being dimmed by the dust of time, nobody will deny that the author of the extraordinary novel is a creative genius and Wuthering Heights, said by many, to be the most outstanding novel in the English language. Different schools of critics have interpreted it in different ways. Though many critics have noticed the modernity of the novel, they are likely to focus their attention on only one or another aspect of the modernity. The present writer is to make every effort to analyze Wuthering Heights'modernity from different angles in a more detailed way. The body of this thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter one begins with the literary review, the assumptions and the methodologies.Chapter two is a general consideration of modernist fictions. In this chapter, four modernist features are pointed out. They are the theme of distortion and alienation of humanity, using a set of symbols, depicting the complexity of human psychology and ingenious narrative method.Chapter three makes an introduction of Wuthering Heights and its author, Emily Bronte, including her life history, her personality and her closeness to nature. Having suffered much misery firsthand during her lifetime, Emily Bronte is an expert on the subject of being"alienated"and"outcast". Taciturn, unsociable and eccentric as she is, Emily Bronte demonstrates a rare ability of survey and audacity. She stands aside the main current of 19th century fictions and sets out to disclose the mysterious profound aspect of human nature. Her closeness to nature inspires her to think more about the tight relationship between nature and human beings and further influences her writing.Chapter four is the main body of the thesis.The first modernist feature in Wuthering Heights is the exploration of the theme of distortion and alienation of humanity. Catherine's decision to marry Edgar, the young master of Thrushcross Grange, betrays not only herself but also Heathcliff's love to her. Her betrayal of Heathcliff is the distortion of her personality and also self-betrayal, which decides her tragedy finally. Meanwhile, Heathcliff's mad revenge also leads to the self-alienation of his humanity. But Heathcliff never finds peace through his revenge and he at last realizes his regression of humanitySecondly, by psychoanalyzing the characters in the light of modern psychological theory, we can better understand the personalities of the characters and the mystery of human nature. In their childhood, Heathcliff and Catherine are analogous to the"id"that is as primitive as a savage, seeking pleasure and behaving spontaneously and naturally. They are not used to suppressing their id and their love is mostly governed by their unconsciousness instead of reason. As Catherine reaches maturity, she attempts to separate herself from the"id"to become a part of the"ego"- ideal in the external world. She acquires a dual personality who tests id's impulse and tries to control it. On the contrary, Edgar personifies cultural ideals as the"superego"that represents the rules of proper behavior and morality.Thirdly, we can find many symbolic techniques of expressions in Wuthering Heights, which is another modernist factor. To understand the symbolism in the novel will help us grasp the modernistic theme of the novel. The two households Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are the very symbols of the characters that live in. The"window"symbol represents freedom and reunion. The"storm"symbol foreshadowers the characters'tragedy and other scenic symbols show the complicated inner world of charactersLast, the foremost modernity of Wuthering Heights lies in its ingenious narrative method. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte rejects the traditional Victorian pattern of fiction and experiments with new techniques of writing. Wuthering Heights breaks through the common narrative methods in the sequence of time. And"double narration"is used, from which we can see the complexity of the text and the modernity in this area of narration.Chapter Five is conclusion. Emily Bronte, the outstanding and creative genius, has gone to the frontline of her age. Many modernistic features can be easily discovered in her only masterpiece Wuthering Heights.