A Study of the Formation of Heathclifs Tragic Personality in Wuthering Heights 《呼啸山庄》主人公希斯克利夫悲剧性格探究文献综述
2020-06-25 20:45:01
1. Introduction 1.1 Emily Bronte and her Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte was born in July 30 in 1818, a British writer and poet in the nineteenth century. The fiction Wuthering Heights was the only novel in her whole life, but this novel is so influential that it lays her position in the history of English literature and world literature. She was famous for her harsh as well as profound writing style. Besides the Wuthering Heights, she also created 197 famous poems during her life, such as Old Forbidden Combination, Souvenir and Prisoner. These poems were also familiar to the readers and became her masterpiece. Emily Bronte was born in Yorkshire near Brad Ford Thornton. Emily is the fifth kid in the 6 children of Mr. and Mrs. Bronte. Emily Bronte grew up in a highly educated family; Her father was a radical conservative who liked to read and talk about politics at home. Charlotte Bronte, Anne Bronte and Emily Bronte were commonly known as the three sisters of Bronte. In September 1848, Emily's only brother died for long time alcoholism and drug, and Emily died in December in the same year because of the mental pressure. 1.2 Wuthering Heights#8217; background Wuthering Heights is the only published novel by Emily Bronte, written between October 1845 and June 1846 and published in July of the following year. It was not printed until December 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, after the success of her sister Charlotte Bronte#8217; s novel Jane Eyre. The title of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors of the story. Wuthering Heights has extraordinary features. It reflects a kind of sturdy, horrible, cruel, mysterious and unusual aesthetic style. Through a story of tragic love, this novel showed people a picture of life in a deformed society, outlined the human nature that has been distorted by this society, and described the terrible events that the society caused. Heathcliff, an orphan who was picked up from the street, was displaced when he was a child, and he was often bullied by others. He was adopted by old Earnshaw, although he felt care and love from Earnshaw, his life was still not felicity. Hindley, who is the son of Old Earnshaw, was jealous of Heathcliff#8217;s existence. Hindley thinks that Heathcliff stole the love from his father which should belong to him. Only the daughter of the host family who was called Catherine admired him and was willing to become friends with him. Gradually, Heathcliff grew up, he fell in love with Catherine. Unfortunately, his love has not been accepted by Catherine and the secular hierarchy destroyed his love. Catherine married a gentry called Linton. After that, Heathcliff's intense love turned into a strong hatred for the outside world, and it turned into a brutal revenge plot. A few years later, Heathcliff come back, and retaliated against Hindley and Linton. After Catherine married Linton, she realized the real side of her husband: Linton did not really love her, and when she heard about Heathcliff come back her heart was completely broken. She fell ill in despair and died shortly afterwards, leaving a premature baby girl, Katie. Catherine's death did not let Heathcliff stop the pace of revenge, Heathcliff took Katie back and forced her to marry his son while Linton was in a bad condition. A few days later, when Linton died, Heathcliff became the owner of the Heights. Heathcliff#8217;s son quietly died soon after the marriage. With the death of his beloved woman Catherine, his revenge plan has become more and more horrible and cruel. However, he didn't feel happy when he finished a series of revenge plan. At this moment, all of the hate in his heart subsided and the love revived when he remembered the beautiful memory with Catherine. Finally he gave up the revenge plan. On a snowy night, he left the world, calling the name of Catherine. 1.3 Need for study Emily Bronte#8217; s Wuthering Heights was published 150 years ago. From the initial left out to the later highly praised, the critics have never stopped paying attention to this work. Nowadays, Wuthering Height, is recognized as an immortal masterpiece, and Bronte is highly valued and recognized as a great writer most famously through Shakespeare. However, the commentary on the heroic character of the novel, Heathcliff, can be described in various ways. Although a few comments expressed sympathy and understanding for his actions and considered his revenge to be a normal response after being treated unfairly, most critics have opposed him. They accused him of his inhuman revenge. He is a "devil" and "tyrant". They believed that the theme of the novel is revenge and the distortion of human nature. This article believes that in order to evaluate Heathcliff correctly and objectively, it is not only possible to draw conclusions based on what he did in the revenge process, but also to fully consider his growing environment, the discrimination, inhuman treatment he suffers, and all kinds of hardships which are the fatal damage to his soul. What we should see more is the revival and beauty of the human nature in the novel. No matter how sad the world is, beauty is still the ultimate pursuit of people. Hatred can temporarily cause people to lose reason and cause humanity to be distorted and degenerate. However, humanity still finds the direction of love, and powerful hatred does not change people#8217;s pursuit of beauty. 2. Literature review 2.1 Previous study on Heathcliff Since the first release of Wuthering Heights in 1847, the protagonist Heathcliff#8217;s vivid imagine was popular with a wide range of readers. More and more people are interested in the reasons for his formation of character. Meanwhile, Heathcliff has also been studied and discussed by hundreds of scholars. Countless of professional scholars have already analyzed his character and his experience of growth in different ways. Through the study of literature analysis on Heathcliff, I found many of the scholars focused on Heathcliff#8217;s dual personality, also gave different interpretations of his behavior. Xiangli Liu (2014) makes an analysis of Heathcliff#8217;s change on human nature, the bottom class in the Wuthering Heights and all kinds of abuse and insults in childhood gave him a strong sense of inferiority, All these elements laid the foundation of Heathcliff#8217;s tragic character. In addition, when he grew up the gap between love and reality make him realize his humble position, so that he went to the extreme of personality. Yuping Ma (2015) thinks Heathcliff has a bitter love with Miss Wuthering Heights, Catherine. But Catherine betrayed him, Heathcliff choose to leave, after three years when he came back he became a demon with an extreme vengeance. Yuan Yuan (2013) points out the role of Heathcliff symbolizes extreme love and extreme hatred in human nature. Love and hate intertwined is Heathcliff#8217;s personality characteristics. Finally, giving up revenging also shows that love triumphs over everything. Xiaosong Li (2013) states that Heathcliff has a very cruel revenge plan, but he also has the gentle side of love, which is the manifestation of his double personality. The history of his dual personality can be traced back to the formation of his pain childhood, the abnormal family environment and the pressure from Catherine's betrayal. Chunhui Wang (2013) holds the opinion that the environment shapes the personality of the character, and the character determines the fate. In the growing environment of the warped British capitalist society in the 18th Century, Heathcliff, the protagonist in Wuthering Heights, has been subjected to torture and abuse both physically and mentally, leading to the formation of his paranoid character. Haidong Sun (2004) thinks that Heathcliff is a very cruel revenge. Selfishness and stress which come from the social customs and the human environment are the main reasons for his change. Wenya Li (2015) analyzes the impact of Catherine#8217;s love on Heathcliff#8217;s personality, the author also points out that when Linton merged into Catherine, Heathcliff#8217;s psychology bacame abnormal and he lost his mental balance, the analysis shows that Heathcliff#8217;s distorted character is shaped by the environment and society, the oppression of the upper class led to his tragic life. Through the journey of love, revenge and death, Dong Ning (2013) analyzes the dual personality of Heathcliff, the author thinks that his character is influenced by his own characteristics and social environment. Qing Wang (2014) compares the first half of Heathcliff#8217;s life with the latter half of his life, the author thinks Heathcliff was unmerciless on the surface but his behavior does not fully reflect the feelings of his inner world, in fact he has been a man who lives a miserable and lonely life since he was born, this is the main factor on his distortion of character. Shuangmei Xie (2013) analyzes the tragedy of Heathcliff's character from a moral point of view. On one hand, Heathcliff is a crazy, irrational devil who takes revenge on others. On the other hand, he insists on pursuing true love and never succumb to adversity. The evil of society has become the main cause of his dual character. Yi Xiang (2013) compares his various acts of revenge with his love to Catherine, Catherine's departure was the beginning of his retaliatory career. So the author draws a conclusion: the main reason that cause Heathcliff's dual character is failure in love. Lijuan Chen (2009) states that people regard him as a heinous devil, however the root cause of his turning into the devil is Catherine's betrayal of love. Although The author thinks that Heathcliff is a pervert devil, but the formation of his character is the cause of its class oppression and the influence of money. Yuqin Jiang (2013) uses the method of psychological analysis to reveal the inevitability of the formation of his personality, which is the reason why he's going from the extreme of love to the extremes of hate. Pengfei Mao (2010) analyses the act which is Heathcliff 's gave up revenge at the last second, many of people think this is the transition from evil to kindness in his character. But the author gives a different interpretation: Heathcliff is not restored human nature, the reason why he gave up revenging is he realized that his revenges must fail. Although Heathcliff is a cruel devil, to some extent, Lifang Duan (2014) thinks he is also a victim of love and society. It's the social environment that makes him impossible to get love, there is no way for him to give love to other people, due to those reasons his character goes to the extreme. 2.2 Deficiency in previous studies There are some limitations on the analysis of pervious literature research, in my point of view, a study of a person's character should take a multifaceted comprehensive consideration. Like Yi Xiang (2013) believes that love failure is the main cause of Heathcliff's character crooked. But in my opinion, the reason of Heathcliff#8217;s formation of personality should be considered in different factors. Growth environment, social factors, the impact from other people, class factors are all essential factors. People always take a separate study on one single factor, it is not enough to summarize Why the Heathcliff#8217;s personality becomes distorted. Works Cited Xiangli Liu. [刘香丽], 浅析希斯克利夫人性变化的原因,文艺鉴赏 2014年19期 Yuping Ma. [马玉萍], 扭 曲 的 爱 #8212;#8212; 解 剖 《呼 啸 山 庄 》中 男主人公 希斯克利夫的性格特征及其成因. 湖北函授大学, 第二十八卷第五期 2015年 3月. Yuan Yuan, [袁媛]. 《呼啸山庄》之爱恨情仇#8212;#8212;希斯克利夫性格解读(英文). 英 国文学研究.2013年03期. Xiaosong Li, [李晓松]. Game Analysis on Heathcliff#8217;s Behaviors in the Wuthering Heights. 海外英语 2013年 23期. Chunhui Wang, [王春辉]. The Environment#8226; Character#8226; Destiny#8212;#8212;An Analysis of the Tragic Destiny of the Hero Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Journal of Social Science of Hunan Normal University. 2012-01. Dongmei Sun. How Heathcliff Became A Cruel Revenger. Yindu Journal 2004-01. Wenya Li. On the Tragedy of Heathcliff and His Character in Wuthering Heights, 《教师》. 2015年20期. Dong Ning. An Analysis on Heathcliff#8217;s Dual Personality. Overseas English. 2013年08期. Qing Wang, [王晴]. A Pitiable Devil, a Satanic Hero#8212;#8212;On Heathcliff#8217;s Character in Wuthering Heights. 现代妇女(下旬). 2014年05期. Shuangmei Xie, [谢双梅]. An Analysis of the Dual Personalities of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights: A Hero or a Devil. Overseas English. 2013年24期. Yi Xiang, [项谊]. Analysis of the Character Traits of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Overseas English. 2013年19期. Lijuan Chen, [陈利娟]. A Preliminary Discussion on Heathcliff#8217;s Character, Journal of Shanxi Datong University (Social Science Edition). 2009年4月. Yuqin Jiang, [蒋玉琴]. 《呼啸山庄》中希思克利夫扭曲性格的成因. Journal of Yichun College. 2013年11期. Pengfei Mao, [毛鹏飞]. On Heathcliff#8217;s Last#8212;Minute#8212;Change, Legend Biography Literary Journal Selection. 2010年7月. Lifang Duan, [段丽芳]. Devil or Victim#8212;An Analysis of the Characterization of Heathcliff in Wuthering Height. Overseas English. 2014年22期.
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