An Analysis of the Causes for the Tragic Love of Heathcliff and Catherine in
Wuthering Heights
BY
XXX
Prof. XXX , Tutor
A Thesis
Submitted to the Foreign Languages Institute in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts at
XXXXUniversity
May 5th, XXXX
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Abstract
Wuthering Heights was the only novel of the British female writer, Emily Bronte. When the novel was first published, it was not highly valued by critics and readers. But it still deeply attracted the readers for it was a unique love masterpiece. Half a century later, Wuthering Heights became popular and highly praised. Because the tragic love it had described was linked to the reality closely, and it always set people thinking.
Wuthering Heights was about a story of tragic love and crazy revenge. When he was a child, Heathcliff, the protagonist, was brought up by Wuthering Heights’ old master, Mr. Earnshaw. And he fell in love with Earnshaw’s daughter Catherine. But for wealth and status Catherine wanted to marry Linton from Thrushcross Grange. It enraged Heathcliff. He left Wuthering Heights for three years. When he came back, Heathcliff became an avenger who had wealth as well as cruel means. In the revenge, Catherine and Linton died one after the other. Heathcliff and Catherine's love ended with a tragedy, and he finally passed away in deep grief.
This thesis aims to analyze the causes of the tragic love between Heathcliff and Catherine in three chapters. The first chapter is about the root cause which is the social reality; the second chapter analyzes the historical background, which includes the Industrial Revolution and the conflict of social classes brought by it; and the third chapter analyzes the internal reasons, namely, the complicated personalities of Heathcliff and Catherine.
Keywords love tragedy cause background
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摘 要
《呼啸山庄》是英国女作家艾米莉·勃朗特唯一的一部小说。小说面世之初，并不被评论界和读者所看好，但它仍以其独特的爱情绝唱深深吸引着观众。半个世纪之后，《呼啸山庄》受到人们的热捧和好评。它所描绘的悲剧爱情和现实背景紧密结合，发人深省。
《呼啸山庄》讲述了一个关于悲剧爱情和疯狂报复的故事。男主角希斯克利夫小时被呼啸山庄的老主人恩萧先生所收养，并与其女儿凯瑟琳陷入爱河。但是凯瑟琳为了地位和财富想要嫁给了画眉山庄的林顿。这激怒了希斯克利夫，他出走三年回来，变成一个财富与手段兼备的复仇者。在复仇中凯瑟琳和林顿先后死去，希斯克利夫与凯瑟琳的爱情以悲剧收场，他最后也在深深的痛苦中离世。
本论文旨在通过三个章节对 《呼啸山庄》 中希斯克利夫与凯瑟琳的爱情悲剧进行原因分析。第一章分析悲剧爱情的根本原因，即社会现实；第二章分析历史背景，即工业革命及其所带来的阶级对立；第三章分析内在原因，即男女主人公各自的复杂性格。
关键词 爱情 悲剧 原因 背景
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Table of Contents
Introduction·······························································1 Chapter I. The Root Cause: the Social Reality···································4 A. The Secular Values about Wealth as Well as Family Status······················4 B. The Low Status of Women················································6 Chapter II. The Special Historical Background: the Opposite Social Classes Brought by the Industrial Revolution················································8 A. The Industrial Revolution Reflected in Wuthering Heights·······················8 B. The Emerging Bourgeoisie Represented by Successful Heathcliff·················10 C. The Feudal Landlord Class Represented by Linton····························10 Chapter III. The Internal Reasons: the Complicated Personalities of Both Heathcliff and Catherine···························································12 A. The Complicated Personality of Heathcliff···································12 B. The Complicated Personality of Catherine···································15 Conclusion·······························································20 Notes····································································22 Bibliography······························································23
Introduction
Wuthering Heights was written by an England female writer, Emily Bronte, and it was the only novel of her. Emily Bronte only wrote this novel and some poems in her whole life. It was published in 1848, which had not attracted much attention at that time. The tragic love of misery and terror gave people a strange impression. Even the great shock caused by the plot and characters in the book were also considered to be a kind of disgusting horror. Some critics denounced Wuthering Heights as a frightful, ridiculous and meaningless work for it was full of horror and heresy.
Wuthering Heights partly inherited the description of terror, violence and ghosts from the Gothic tradition, but it was remarkable and beyond the Gothic novel. The novel was also very different from the romantic novels of the Victorian age. When people finally realized all the value, it had been nearly half a century later. In the arts of description and the themes of love and humanity, Wuthering Heights showed the author’s extraordinary ability of creation. The fierce senses of love and hatred as well as the ruthless means of revenge deeply attracted the readers. It was soon intensely welcomed by the readers, and highly praised by the critics. One related comment on Wuthering Heights is as follows:
This blending of realism and mysticism, of fictional cohesion and lyrical power is achieved by means of highly sophisticated and strikingly proto-modernist narrative technique; Wuthering heights is in many ways the most disturbingly modern work of Victorian fiction, open-ended in theme if not in plot, full of imaginative tension, posing questions rather than offering answers.1
Such an extraordinary work had come into people’s vision, which also led to people’s curiosity. Emily's life was short and simple. She only lived for about thirty years and died early. She had not received a complete educational system or an experience of love. So the readers always confused that why Emily Bronte could write out Wuthering Heights which have been such a masterpiece of love. Some people mentioned that she was a genius. But