1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

Wuthering Heights has been considered to be ”one of the best ten novels in the world”(Maugham, 11). A host of professors and scholars have analyzed it from different angles. Some critics think the Wuthering Heights focuses on class struggle, some put emphasis on humanity, some probe into its gothic techniques, others lay their points of view on the use of symbolism. In a sense, it#8217;s a hard work to put forward a widely accepted and valuable insight into the novel. Some scholars focused on the gothic style of the novel. In the late 19th century, W.L. Cross, the first person related this novel to the gothic genre: ”The long view of the purely Gothic romance...is enclosed by a storm and passion against the house on the Yorkshire moors....In addition to the madness and terror created by Wuthering Heights, romantic novel had never gone”(20). In Wuthering Heights, the ghost of Catherine appearing in the house where Lockwood stayed for one night and the ghosts of Catherine and Healthcliff appearing under the rock are all mysterious to the reader. And the bleak, remote barren, terrible weather and gloomy atmosphere are all beyond the reach of ordinary people. So they are all mysterious to readers too. In China, Xiao Minghan, in his ”Gothic tradition in English and American literature”, also says ” Wuthering Heights can be described as one of the most Gothic novels among all the masterpiece of the Victorian age in its profound manifestation and exploration of the conflicts between scene and sensibility, human nature and morality by placing the figures in extreme environment”(8). In Wuthering Heights, the bleak Wuthering Heights, the wild wind , the haunted attic, and even Catherine#8217;s ghost, all these make readers not only feared but also thrilled during the reading and all these are only sensational shock or visual, and the most serious horror lies in psychology and the source of this kind of horror is from the bloody arm in Lockwood#8217;s dream and the scene when Heathcliff was about to die. All these horrible elements cause the mysterious color of the novel, which is in line with the features of gothic novel. ( Anglo Sandes, 23 ) According to Pu Ruoxi, Emily Bronte employed many gothic traditions in Wuthering Heights. She analyzed the story from the following aspects: rough environment, bloody and violent scenes, Villain hero, ghost images etc. All mentioned above is the typical features of gothic novel, no one can escape the creepy feeling from the content of the story, it is just the point that really ignores the readers#8217; feeling. ( Pu Ruoxi, 1) Some other scholars considered the success of the story lies in application of symbolism. Virginia Woolf mentioned that ”The symbolic image reminds us of how Emily Bronte demonstrating the final mystery, but how to explore human situations and emotions right up to it”(Yang Yi, 159). Symbolism in Wuthering Heights grows out of natural surroundings, actual objects and events of the story. They are intimately related to the emotions and experiences of the characters. Stevie Davies commented the novel like this: ”Though the symbolic elements in the story almost thrust themselves on the readers#8217; perception, symbolism is never a single, straight-forward meaning and not as simply organized as might first be supposed, Emily creates symbols with complex coexisting meaning, and with meaning that varies on different levels.(90) Symbolism plays an important role in exploring the theme of the novel as well as the characters#8217; inner deep activities. In China, professor Zhu Qing held firmly that Emily made use of symbolism to express her idea on human nature. So he analyzed the symbolic background, scenery and plot in order to understand the subject of the novel. From the above description we can see clearly that different people have different taste. To examine a literary work in an appropriate and fair way, people need to read more studies and do research from different angles. Anyway, Wuthering Heights is really a classical and ever-abiding masterpiece and worthy of different interpretations. Although there have been so many studies about the application of gothic and symbolic techniques respectively in the book, here the thesis tends to discuss the skillful combination of the two skills in the story in order to give readers a better understanding of both Wuthering Heights and Emily Bronte.

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

For the sake of figuring out what Wuthering Heights mainly tells about, I have first of all read both Chinese and English versions of the novel. In this way, I can have a deeper understanding of the content about the novel, and most importantly, a lot of time is saved efficiently. Secondly, I search the relevant information on the internet, for instance, the author of Wuthering Heights, the background information of the novel as well as comments and studies on this novel, etc. In the process of collecting materials, besides the help of internet, traditional libraries and E-libraries also do me a great favor. I can either draw on the experience of similar viewpoints on Wuthering Heights or make a comparison between two opposing viewpoints, aiming at supporting my opinions. The last but not least, my supervisor helps me a lot with this thesis. She constantly gives some grammatical suggestions. Reading books, taking notes, turning to the Internet and the libraries, and discussing with my supervisor are the principal methods of this study. The thesis consists of four parts. The first part will mainly provide the background information, including a brief introduction of Emily Bronte (her personal experiences, literary career, literary reputation and masterpieces), the novel Wuthering Heights (summary and remarks on it), the two literature approaches(Gothic and symbolism), literature review of Wuthering Heights and western studies in Gothic and symbolism. The second part is the main point of the thesis. In this part, the study will analyze the gothic elements in Wuthering Heights from the following aspects: the gothic theme, characters and setting depicted in the novel. Part three will focus on the symbolic elements of the story, including symbolic meanings of architecture, natural scenes. Part four will draw a conclusion, concluding the significance of the study and emphasizing the importance of exploring the gothic and symbolic writing skills of the novel.