The Female Status And Growth Of Female Consciousness

Emily Bronte, an English woman writer of superb talent in the nineteenth century, was well known for her only novel Wuthering Heights, which is viewed as one of the greatest English literary works. Since its publication in 1847, Wuthering Heights has attracted much academic attention, but the research results are a little monotonous. Most studies have centered upon the powerful love between Heathcliff and Catherine, the analysis of the characters and its Gothic features. For a long time, most critics tend to think that Heathcliff is the focus and the key of the novel, while women of this book are, to some extent, considered insignificant. With the rise of the feminist movement and feminist literary criticism, feminist critics begin to challenge the traditional view by focusing on the role of women in the novel. However, they somewhat over-exaggerate women's importance.Wuthering Heights mainly tells the story of love and revenge between two families and an outsider who lived in the bleak Yorkshire in northern England. This novel is the reflection of women's true living conditions of the Victorian Age. The insightful account of living conditions of women in Wuthering Heights reflects that Emily Bronte was aware that women's status was low and they couldn't get the equal rights with men in law and marriage. By depicting the leading female characters, the author bravely put forward her view that the soft phrases, delicacy of sentiment and requirement of taste were the synonym for women's weakness, which challenged the traditional conception the society imposed on women. Therefore, she created the new women images in her novel Wuthering Heights to encourage women to rebel against the patriarchy to get their financial independence, enjoy their equality with men in the society and family, which lays the foundation for the western feminism.From the perspective of feminism, through analyzing the female social status under the control of the patriarchal tradition based on the author's life experience and the social background, this paper attempts to discuss women's status and growth of female consciousness in British Victorian Age as seen in Wuthering Heights. By analyzing the living conditions of the female characters in the novel, the study is to reveal how women in the Victorian Age began to challenge and fight against the traditional ideology. The paper holds that women's low status is caused by the oppression of the patriarchy. Due to the development of society, some women have got some rights in education. They began to fight against the oppression of patriarchy to get their equality with men in finance, the social status in the society and family by rejecting their domestic roles assigned by male-dominated society. Only when women are not submissive to men and become financially independent, can they change their inferior status, thus completely liberating themselves.The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter One briefly introduces the writer and the novel, presents relevant literature review, provides the research objective, approach, central argument as well as the overview of the paper.Chapter Two focuses on the social background, women's plight and the growth of female consciousness in the Victorian Age. Oppressed by patriarchy, women couldn't enjoy equal right with men in the areas of education, occupation and marriage. Due to the development of society, some women began to think about their problems and fight for their rights. Women writers, including Emily Bronte, revealed women's plight in their works and tried to find a way to improve women's status.Chapter Three analyzes the living conditions and the status of the traditional women in the Victorian Age. The society assigned the role of "the angel in the house" to women. Under the pressure of this traditional conception, women lost their identity as an individual, only playing the roles of daughters, wives and mothers, so they were reduced to men's dependants. On the other hand, those who were not content with their low status and not submissive to men were labeled as "Syren" or "Dangerous Women". The living conditions of the female characters in Wuthering Heights reveal women's low social status, their dependency on men and their inequality in marriage.Chapter Four discusses the growth of female consciousness in Wuthering Heights. Women were not content with their inferior status and began to fight for their rights by rejecting their socially-assigned roles. Catherine's killing herself in protest, Isabella's running away from home twice and Little Cathy's persistent fighting show that Emily Bronte encouraged women to rebel against patriarchy to change their status and fight for freedom and equality with men. The paper believes that only if women become independent physically and psychologically, can they get their equality and freedom in the truest sense of the words.Chapter Five comes to a conclusion that Wuthering Heights reflects women's true living conditions of the Victorian Age. She realized women's low status and encouraged women to change it. By describing the female status and growth of female consciousness, the author believed that women could get their freedom and equality in the future through their efforts, which is not only meaningful for Victorian society but also promotes the development of western feminism from the late 19th century. Though it reflects the adversity women faced in the 19th century, the novel is of a positive value in helping us to study the female problems in the new era.