- Consider how female characters are presented
- Consider how they conform to the gothic archetype
- Consider how they challenge the gothic archetype
- Consider what Bronte's ultimate message/idea/key intention was
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Considering your reading from the two articles on the representations of women within Wuthering Heights, what to you consider to be Bronte's agenda?
- Consider how female characters are presented - Consider how they conform to the gothic archetype - Consider how they challenge the gothic archetype - Consider what Bronte's ultimate message/idea/key intention was
6 Comments
Sagal
3/17/2014 06:10:05 am
Female characters in WH cross over between femme fatale and persecuted maiden, they often do not remain in one fixed category. Catherine's character traits can be seen as a contradiction, for example "she had the bonniest smile" but she's also described as a "headstrong creature". Therefore Bronte can be reflecting on the females representation in society as well as questioning it. Catherine conforms to the Gothic stereotype as she becomes aware of the importance of social status, she says that "it will degrade me to marry Heathcliff". The verb "degrade" reflects the Victorian era how important reputation was for people, especially because social mobility was almost impossible. As a result she stays with the Lintons where she learns to become a lady, Nelly says "Why, Cathy you are quite a beauty". However Bronte also challenges Gothic archetype as Catherine defies the stereotypical image of what a young female should be doing as she roams the moors with Heathcliff, "she was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him." The moors can be representation of freedom, she chooses to ignore the stigma attached to Heathcliff.On the other hand, Catherine eventually submits to society's expectations, thus Bronte could be showing the consequences of conforming to society as she "turns to self-destruction". Overall Bronte's agenda is to conform to the archetypal female character in order to challenge it.
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Izzah
3/17/2014 09:54:09 pm
"Female characters in Wuthering Heights and finds they are, much like Emily Bronte herself, contradictory - ground breaking yet rooted in convention". Both Catherine Earnshaw and Isabella Linton are characters who contradict themselves. One minute Catherine is separating fighting dogs with her bare hands the next she is seated in the corner of the family kitchen. Catherine is a manipulative and double sided character, her descriptions vary from "wild hat less, little savage jumping into the house" to "very dignified person with brown ringlets" as she returns from the Linton's. Catherine rebels against elders and religion as she joins Heathcliff in his isolation. The images she is associated with is the wilderness and the moors. However she conforms to the Gothic archetype as she is melodramatic and she is aware of her social status therefore she follows society's expectation of her. Furthermore Isabella Linton's character is normally described in a positive way, she is hardly seen as her own person she is always referred to as a wife to Heathcliff and a sister to Edgar. However she challenges the Gothic archetype as she leaves Heathcliff and she develops to be a strong character, her character starts to be more independent, she is described as a "degenerate slut" therefore her character is less archetypal. However she does conform to the Gothic stereotype as she is melodramatic and over the top, Isabella's character also complies to David Punter's 'damsel in distress'. By comparing Isabella's character to Catherine's character shows that they are binary opposites, yet Bronte presents the females as women who conform to the Gothic archetypal yet also challenge it therefore these women are contradictory.
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Amrit
3/19/2014 05:41:29 am
Women in the Wuthering Heights are binary, characters such as Catherine and Isabella display very different personalities and some readers have said "Wuthering Heights takes an unconventional attitude towards gender identity". Catherine is described as the "queen of the countryside" this may be referring to her class and social positions as her family owns the majority of land this would imply that Catherine goes against the archetypal female character as she may be seen as an authoritive figure.Conversely Catherine being the "queen" could imply that she does not have control because the king would own all the land and have power which in Wuhtering Heights is relevant as Catherine never owns property or has an official title. This was typical in Victorian society where women could not own any land. Therefore Catherine conforms to the traditional gothic female who is oppressed in a patriarchal society. Isabella like Catherine shows changes in character. Originally Isabella is a typically gothic character who has "dainty elegance" and the tendency to remain passive throughout volume , a critic ,Punter, suggested that gothic women had an "ability to survive" suggesting that Isabella conformed to expectations in order to survive.Despite this her character moves away from the gothic archetype with new situations and relationships. Heathcliff claims Isabella "degenerates in to a mere slut" simply because she is no longer subservient to him, clearly her character has challenged the Gothic stereotype because she is ridiculed for going against social expectations of Wuthering Heights, furthermore she displays character traits like her "keen temper" something that in the Victorian era would have been thought of as unladylike. Female characters in Wuthering Heights "both appeal to and subvert stereotypical constructions of sex roles".
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Kerenjeet
3/19/2014 09:54:58 am
Bronte’s agenda for WH was to ultimately portray women in a different perspective other than the ones shown in traditional Gothic literature and in reality. ‘Catherine’s energy, daring and mobility are more suggestive of conventional masculinity.’ This shows how Bronte has tried to subvert the character of Catherine from the stereotypical 1800’s and Gothic female. Women in the 19th Century were supposed to adhere to the weak, helpless and delicate individual. The character of Catherine contradicts this perception, which makes the reader question why Catherine had many traits which were considered as masculine. Bronte does this to show women, in the Victorian Era, that, even though they were prohibited from actually owning anything such as property and denied the right to divorce their husbands, women could aspire to control their relationships, emotionally, as men has power over material. Catherine could be viewed as the persecuted maiden, female Gothic character; however it could be argued that due to her melodramatic nature, that Bronte was presenting this as comedic, laughing at all stereotypes that previous Gothic literature authors have presented women as. However, the character of Isabella is somewhat of a conundrum. At the beginning of the novel, Isabella is almost reliant on Heathcliff’s love and affection, but as the novel progresses, she learns to ultimately become independent. This corresponding progression of the novel and Isabella’s character could symbolize how Bronte is trying to convey how during the 1800’s women were slowly gaining more rights and abolishing laws, such as the Anti-Slavery law. Isabella does conform to the persecuted maiden Gothic character, as she has to raise hers and Heathcliffs’ child alone, something unusual in the 19th Century, as all possessions, including children were viewed as the husbands even though to modern readers, this would be seen as a natural decision. Moreover she withstands Heathcliffs abuse, almost symbolizing her strength, an attribute not associated to women. Bronte uses Isabella and Catherine to show ways in which females did not have to be stereotypical. Moreover, Bronte may not have wanted WH to actually be a Gothic novel, but as a novel for women to read as a message that womens empowerment was rife, as the title and cover could’ve been an illusion in order for males not to be aware of what their wives were reading.
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Nina
3/19/2014 10:38:36 am
Isabella Linton is a character who is introduced as a ‘typical middle-class young lady with romantic delusions’ which indicates that she represents a ‘persecuted maiden’ which is a Gothic archetype. She views Heathcliff as a Romantic Hero, but the reality turns from ‘an erotic dream into a Gothic nightmare’. Which confirms that she is a 'damsel in distress' who relies on a male to 'rescue' her, as many women did in the nineteenth-century. However, modern day readers would see her character as a tool which Bronte uses to show the irony in Victorian marriages. Moreover, we tend to like Isabella's character due to Heathcliff’s cruelty towards her. However, she is also liked by other character as she is described fairly positive in the novel. Nelly comments that she was a ‘charming young girl of eighteen’ and Catherine talks about her ‘yellow hair’ and ‘dainty elegance’. Her youth and beauty creates an angelic and innocent image which draws sympathy from the reader towards her character. But we struggle to view her as an independent character as she is always referred to as the wife of Heathcliff or the sister of Edgar. ‘It is ironic that in seeking freedom through marriage, Isabella moves from being her father’s possession, to being owned by her husband’. Bronte is using the character of Isabella to represent the typical women in the nineteenth-century and she uses her as a tool to explore the theme of family, where women are shown as ‘vulnerable, living in fear in an uncivilized male world’. However, Bronte challenged this archetype as Isabella leaves Heathcliff and develops into a strong minded, independent character despite the fact that society would have looked down on her as the act of a women leaving her husband was unheard of, she raises her child, unsupported. Nonetheless, Heathcliff then says, “She degenerates into a mere slut”, therefore, Isabella would no longer conform to the archetype of a ‘persecuted maiden’. In addition, this suggests that Bronte's agenda is to conform to the archetypal Gothic female character in order to challenge it as well as present and criticize the ideology of the nineteen-century society by the ways they repress women by patriarchy.
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Sadik
3/19/2014 08:17:14 pm
The female characters in Wuthering Heights both conform and challenge the typical Gothic archetype as they weave in and out of their "stock characters". For example, Catherine she is first described as "wild, hatless, little savage" this therefore shows she's challenging Punter's female archetype being "shy, nervous, retiring heroine". However, when she returns from her hiatus it is evident that she is "a very dignified person" and complimented for looking "like a lady". Similarly, Isabella challenges the gothic archetype as she "was infantile in manners" this shows she has a temper and that shows she is unladylike and also shows she possessed masculine traits suggesting she has proved to move away from the gothic archetype.
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