简析《呼啸山庄》中男女主人公爱情悲剧的原因-文学学士毕业论文.doc

摘 要

《呼啸山庄》是由艾米丽·布朗特所创的世界上最伟大的小说之一。艾米丽在小说中成功的塑造了爱与恨为主题的爱情悲剧故事。自该小说诞生以来，国内外学者对于《呼啸山庄》主题的研究从未停止。本文选取希斯克利夫和凯瑟琳爱情故事原因的角度进行探究，致力通过对男女主人公所处的阶级，受到的教育，各自成长环境的变化，及各自性格原因，来分析男女主人公的爱情悲剧。通过本次研究，能够使读者对希斯克利夫和凯瑟琳的爱情悲剧有更清晰的理解和认识。
关键词： 爱；恨；凯瑟琳；西斯克里夫；呼啸山庄

Contents

Abstract i
摘要 ii
1．Introduction. 1
1.1 Introduction of Emily Bronte and her Wuthering Heights 1
1.2 Introduction of the tragic love story 1
1.3 The structure of this paper 2
2．Literature Review 4
2.1 Review on the oversea studies 4
2.2 Review on the domestic studies 4
3．The External Reasons for the Tragedy 6
3.1 The class barrier 6
3.2 The educational reasons 7
3.2.1The family education for Heathcliff and Catherine 7
3.2.2Education conducted by European upper class 7
4．The Internal Reasons for the Tragedy 9
4.1 Catherine’s own reasons 9
4.1.1 Catherine’s growing environment 9
4.1.2 Catherine’s dual personality 9
4.1.3 Catherine’s betrayal 10
4.2 Heathcliff’s own reasons 10
4.2.1 Heathcliff’s growing environment 11
4.2.2 Heathcliff’s extreme personality 11
4.2.3 Heathcliff’s revenge 12
5．Conclusion 14
References 15
Acknowledgements 16

1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction of Emily Bronte and her Wuthering Heights
Emily Jane Bronte (July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848) was a great British novelist and pet in the 19th century and one of the extraordinary women writers in the literary history of England, and she is also best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, which is now an acknledged classic of English literature.
Emily was born at Thornton in Yorkshire. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Bronte, and the fifth of six children. It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by her family that led her and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish jointly a book of poems entitled Poems by Currer, Ellis and Action Bell in 1846. To evade contemporary prejudice against female writers, all three used male pseudonyms, Emily's being "Ellis Bell". She wrote many poems of her own and some of these during her short life, in the form of powerful lyrics. These lyrics have been esteemed highly as passionate utterances of the author’s innermost feelings and thoughts.
She subsequently published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, in 1847, a powerful, poetic work, but whose innovative structure somewhat puzzled critics. Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book subsequently became an English literary classic.
Wuthering heights depicts the foundling boy Heathcliff after the adoption by the Earnshaw. He lived with Mr. Earnshaw’s son Hindley and daughter Catherine. Hindley treat Heathcliff badly.He insulted and maltreated Heathcliff in veery possible way afther Mr.Earnshaw’s death. At the same time, peculiar emotion occurred between Catherine and Heathcliff. Because of her vanity and ignorance, Catherine decided to marry Linton. Heathcliff left with anger. Three years later, Heathcliff returned to revenge. He succeeded in annexing all the property of Hindley’s and the Linton’s. However, Catherine’s ghost pestered him all the time and he died in the dream with Catherine.
1.2 Introduction of the tragic love story
Wuthering Heights shows us the life scenes in a deformity society through a tragic love story, outlines all kinds of the terrible events caused by the human nature in the distorted society. The title of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors of the story (as an adjective, Wuthering is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather). The narrative tale centers on the all-encompassing, passionate, but ultimately doomed love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and the people around them.The plot of story is actually spread gradually through four stages.
The first stage describes the childhood life of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw who the two children spend hours on the moors together and hate every moment; the special feeling between a homeless gypsy boy and an honored, upper-class lady in the unique environment, and their rebel against the tyranny of Catherine’s brother Hindley.
The second stage focuses on describing Catherine as a common lady who pursues the traditional “human love” and denies Heathcliff’s love; at last she married to Layton, a young and rich, educated gentleman, and becomes the mistress of Thrushcross Grange. She admitted Nelly that she loves Layton, because he is young, handsome, and rich and loves her, and the most important one is that he can make her become the most respected woman. While Catherine patted on her forehead and chest said: “In my soul my heart, I know I was wrong.” She also loves Heathcliff, but here love for Heathcliff is derived form “he and I are the same piece of material”. Love, from the pursuit of happiness to the pursuit of oneself, has become just “super-human love”.
In the third stage, the novel, by using a lot of words, describes how Heathcliff who is filled with hatred and despair makes all kinds of actions on his revenge. This part is the main theme of the whole story. With the death of Catherine, Edgar, Isabella, Heathcliff’s son and himself, Heathcliff achieves his revenge on those who treated him badly.
At last, the novel only narrates the death of Heathcliff, but reveals a brand new change of his minds when he found that Hareton and Cathy fell in love with each other. His minds changes from love, hatred, and revenge to the recovery of human nature, which reveals a light of hope in this tragic love which is full of horror color.
In the novel, Heathcliff and Catherine later grow close, and their love becomes the central theme of the first volume; his revenge and its consequences are the main theme of the second volume. Therefore, his minds change from love, hatred, revenge to the revival of human nature, is not only the essence of the novel, but also the theme throughout the whole novel. The author layouts and arranges the changed scene unpredictably according to this theme, sometimes full of dark clouds, wail like ghosts and howl like wolves in the wilderness, and sometimes like the storms blow hard, or in a dark courtyard. The tragic love story is always surrounded in a mysterious and terrible atmosphere.
1.3 The structure of this paper
Wuthering Heights is the most unusual novel in the history of English Literature.By describing Catherine and Heathcliff's love; it shows the variation of deformity society, and the distorted humanistic. This article analyzes the book from the reasons of the tradgic love Catherine and Heathcliff. The first chapter is introduction; it gives a brief introduction on Emily Bronte and the Wuthering Heights. The second chapter is literature review, in this part it introduces the studies of this novel on the oversea and domestic .The third chapter is the external reasons for the tragedy. The fourth is the internal reasons for the tragedy. The last, chapter five, is the conclusion of this paper.

2. Literature Review
Today considered as a classic of English literature, Wuthering Heights was met with mixed reviews when it first appeared, mainly because of mental and physical cruelty of the narrative's stark depiction. Although Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre was generally considered the best of the Brontë sisters' works during most of the nineteenth century, many subsequent critics of Wuthering Heights argued that it was a superior achievement.
The novel has been studied, analyzed, and discussed from every imaginable critical perspective and from every aspect, yet it remains unexhausted. Most of them are focused on the character of the hero or the complicated love between the characters. Catherine, the heroine of the Wuthering Heights, is a typical tragic role in Western literature. Caterine’s emotional has different changes with different environment.(Chen le,2007). Heathcliff, in Wuthering Heights, is the real dramatic center of the story. Heathcliff is a coalescence of several characters and elements, one is the concept of a man whose mind of hatred is pitiless and ruthless, and another is of a man whose desire for revenge degenerates into avarice (Davy Cecil, 1934). There are many factors to deal with Heathcliff’s distortion; many of the previous studies attempt to explore the reasons for Heathcliff’s tragedies. In aboard, they are respectively Davy. L. Robert’s analysis based on prototype theory, Davy Cecil’s analysis based on backgrounds theory and James. C. Janet’s analysis based on love theory.
2.1 Review on the oversea studies
According to Davy L Robert(1985)，The Prototype of Heathcliff suggests the sensational revenge and tragic characters. He addressed in his The Prototype of Heathcliff that Emily Bronte created the name “Heathcliff” to tell the readers the man’s temperament in a metaphorical way. Davy L Robert argues that the figure of Heathcliff created by Bronte stands for evil and revenge, and he also thinks that Heathcliff’s prototype would be the devil from hell. According to James C Janet’s (2009) On Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, the relationship determines Heathcliff and Catherine’s love. Their love is thus formed in the rebellion against those social forces, families and classes, which restrict the ideals. Catherine’s choice of love, her choice fondness of wealth, position and social distinction in other words, are the primary reasons for forming Heathcliff’s tragic characters (James C. Janet, 2009). According to Davy Cecil the backgrounds deal a lot with Heathcliff’s distortion. Davy Cecil believes that the change of class state and life experience contribute a lot to form Heathcliff’s distortion.
2.2 Review on the domestic studies
In China, many scholars combine characteristics and the fate of life experience of character types in Wuthering Heights with author’s personality and characteristic, such as Tang Zheng(2009) believed that, to a certain extent, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights is just the author’s true portraiture. In recent years, there are many scholars wrote many articles to discuss the hero Heathcliff. Zhao Yunmei(2009) wrote: Heathcliff’s wild and intractable personality, his strong love, lonely character and the violent perverse revenge figure, reflect the characteristics of Byron effect. After the rise in symbolism, many scholars also do research in this aspect, such as the Wang Zhe(2011) thought, Emily in her" the one and only " novel used a large number of symbolic description, through images shaping, turns out the understanding to the deep and mystical philosophy of life.

3. The External Reasons for the Tragedy
3.1 The class barrier reasons for the tragedy
In England, the 18th Century, is an age of the bourgeoisie. The old aristocratic class was fast losing its power politically and economically to the rising urban middle class or bourgeoisie who worked hard, economized and accumulated great wealth and became the mainstream of the nation; the social and economic values were changing and land ownership did not always the man make, it is a world of patriarchal values. Along with the emergence of this "industrial revolution" came a class- conscious society. The new London would benefit the wealthy and the middle class but exploit and oppress the working and poor classes. The social changes taking place in England between 1801 and1847 provides context for an appreciation of Wuthering Heights. As industrialization spread, a growing middle class challenged the position of landed gentry. The Earnshaws and Heathcliff represent this moment. Heathcliff’s rise from an orphaned urchin to landholder in Wuthering Heights is a paradigm for the origins of capitalism within society.
Heathcliff was a fatherless child when he was brought into Catherine’s family. He has some wildness and strength in his bones. Belonging to a lower class, he tries to get his rights by opposing the upper class. He must do what he wants to do and follows his nature but does not care about others’ attitude. His action shows his capricious and resistant character. The influence of Heathcliff and Edgar leads to Catherine’s complex personality---strength, brawniness, a little wildness, dignity and vanity. At the beginning, due to Heathcliff’s influence, Catherine keeps her strength and brawniness.
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 learns dignity and vanity through contacting with Edgar. Edgar who is proud of his social status is a well-educated gentleman, so his action follows traditional manners. Besides, he is proud of his social status. She wants to marry Edgar to satisfy her vanity, so she is nearer to the social class to which Edgar belongs. In brief, Heathcliff makes Catherine keep her nature, while Edgar guides her into true middle class.
Catherine’s utilitarian treatment of marriage is entirely caused by the social environment. The world was full of patriarchal values. Women's status was unequal in politics and economics. Their values can only be reflected in their marriage. As to Catherine, she does not overcome her vanity and weakness. The love can not escape from the times. They ruined their best things in this era. Because of this, their love must be a tragic love.
In 19th century of England, economy, society, and politics had a great change. At that time, the prosperity of the middle and upper classes and the wrenched condition of the poor differed greatly. People of the underclass hardly had right in law, and destined to be abused by upper classes. Undoubtedly, cruel social environment and fierce class origin are regarded as root for their tragic love. Heathcliff is on behalf of these poor ones. He begins his life as a foundling boy adopted by Mr.Earnshaw. Uncared for and unloved, he lives in a hostile and frightening world in himself, which is caused by the real society. Heathcilff owned almost the love of Mr. Earnshaw, but he is badly treated by young Hindley, whose behaviors even make him distorted humanity. It is the injury inflicted on him during his childhood results in the tragedy later. Even when coming back years after Catherine’s marriage with great possessions, Heathcliff does not belong to the upper class because of his poor origin. That is to say, for a person from the lower, no matter how rich one is now, he is always what he is. The discrimination from others make they lose whatever they are longing for, including love, and dignity. The only thing left is to retaliate the world to balance the pain of the loss. More pains, more retaliations.