《呼啸山庄》主题分析

Analyses of the theme of “Wuthering Heights”Greg 郭永The author lived in the early 19 th century, that is, the unrest beginning period of the Victorian age. With the Industrial Revolution exerting its influence on the whole British society, capitalism enjoyed rapid development while exposing more and more its defects: severe confrontation between capitalists and workers; high unemployment rate; the widening gap between the rich and poor. Under these circumstances, various social evils began to develop and spread. The author also finished her famous work” Wuthering Heights “under such background.In this novel, the author criticized a series of social evils through her description of plot. We could find these from the main characters.The social strategy between Heathcliff and Cathy lied in their different social classes. Cathy was a young lady who came from a wealthy family while Heathcliff was only a Gypsy orphan. In this novel, he had suffered discrimination and persecution since he was young. Just like the main Character in the drama”The Merchant in Venice” Shylock, who represented the thousands of discriminated and persecuted Jews. Heathcliff also represented many Gypsies who lived in hardship of that time. In the novel, Heathcliff and Cathy were innocent playmate; they developed their love since they were young. But as they grew up, Cathy gradually realized the immense disparities of their social status and their love was unacceptable to the society of that time. Strict hierarchy accounted for their separation. So the author here criticized not only racial discrimination bur also hierarchy.“Wuthering Heights” was composed in the Victorian age. In that time, there were some standards of evaluation for women: women were considered as family angels and they lived as daughters, wives, and mothers. So we can see that women at that time are not allowed to live independently, they have to depend on their fathers, husbands, and sons. In this novel, as a little daughter who was deprived of all rights, Cathy had a kind of sub-consciousness to rebel the patriarchal society represented by her brother Hindley. We can see that from the gift she hoped from her father when he left for Liverpool; she wanted a horsewhip which symbolized power. After Hindley inherited the Wuthering Heighets, he forced Cathy to leave Heathcliff, which made him hostile to both of them. Cathy tried to rebelled against him, but she failed. In the patriarchal society, womens independent awareness was excluded from their status and body. These represented authors criticism to patriarchy.During her staying in Thrushcross Grange, Cathy knew Linton, a handsome, young man, who was the successor of the Thrushcross Grange. During that period, her mind began to change. She discarded her past mind which was replaced by some material thoughts. After she came back from the Thrushcross Grange, she determined to marry Linton. It was a hard decision, and the reason why she made such a decision was complicated. For one thing, if she married Heathcliff, their marriage was unacceptable to the society, and they might become beggars as she said. But if she married Linton, she could rely on his wealth and fame to help Heathcliff to get promotion and live a good life. Besides, she also could get rid of Hindleys interference in her life. For another, she also had some private purposes, as she said,”Linton is rich, young and handsome. He meets all the requirements of girls choice of husband. I could become the most famous woman in that area by relying on Linton.” There is no doubt that these words representing her mind of hypocrisy, money-worship and ignorance. We should not blame her for these, because it was the social background of that time made she had such ideas.In a word, the society of that time was money-oriented and full of hypocrisy. Under such circumstances, it is hard to keep the purity of humans nature. Heathcliff was discriminated because of his background and social status. He belonged to the low class. Though he became rich later, people only respected his fame and wealth rather than himself. Besides, in the patriarchal society, Cathy was deprived of her freedom to choose her true lover. In “Wuthering Heights”，Emily Bronte clearly showed readers her criticism to these.