Wuthering HeightsEmily Bronte

1848

A product of the Age of Romanticism

• Emphasis on the “natural”

• Importance of feeling over "thinking”

• Darker aspects of human existence

• We may be vicious, brutal, and perverse

• Light of civilization may not triumph over darkness

The Lure of the Gothic

…to make your blood run cold…

• Taste for terror• Eerie and supernatural

• Gloomy, often crepuscular setting

• Wild and overgrown landscapes

• Melancholic• Ghosts, specters, and

monsters-• Murky lines between

“villain” and “hero”

The Gothic novel was one way in which the people of the Victorian Age expressed a sense

of helplessness about forces beyond their control: frightening rebellions throughout

Europe and the Industrial Revolution to name a couple.

Through this genre, readers could share their fears about the Age’s suffering, injustices and

other unseen “evils.”

Helpful Terminology

• doppelganger- a ghostly counterpart- a double of a living person- specially when he/she “haunts” its fleshly counterpart

• xenophobia- fear of strangers, outcast, or foreigners• frame story- a story within a story- layers of

storytelling featured• wuthering- stormy and tumultuous• Fairy tale, medieval romance, wish fulfillment- see

notes on website

George Gordon Lord ByronThe archetype for the Byronic Hero

“Mad, bad and dangerous to know...” Lady Caroline Lamb, speaking of Byron

Thomas Macauley’s definition:“A man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow and

misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong

affection.”

Characteristics of the Byronic hero

• Devastatingly attractive, yet fatally flawed• Outcast- painfully yet defiantly alone• Individualist, a rebel- defy conventions• Intellectually searching• Brooding- usually over some past sin• Tenacious• Mysterious• Ambitious, but doomed• Misunderstood• Compulsion to experience the forbidden• Misanthropic

Characteristics of the anti-hero

• anti-hero-a reluctant hero who would not consider himself capable of accomplishing the goal. He might be selfish, addicted, corrupt, sullen or disaffected. Rebellious- often a loner. By the end of the journey the anti-hero typically transforms into a fuller, happier or more complete person due to the struggles he or she endures, even if he/she has to die.

• Examples of… – Tyler Durden- The Fight Club– Dr. Gregory House from House– Breaking Bad’s - Jesse, and even Walter White for that matter– Dexter, the likeable blood-spatter expert for the Miami PD who also happens to be a

serial killer...but kills bad guys only. Here we have hero and villain rolled into one compelling anti-hero package

– John Proctor- The Crucible– McMurphy- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Guiding Questions

• Use of our terms: doppelganger, frame, xenophobia, Byronic hero, Structure, two peripheral storytellers, epistolary techniques, mid-point decision- why and effect?

• Characteristics of gothic, revenge drama, medieval romance, fairy tale?

• Evaluate the hero- moral, immoral, amoral?• Effects of castigation and isolation of character • Role of setting(s)• Role of violence• Perversion of convention- disquietude-contradictions• Evaluate the ending• Use of stereotyped characters• Treatment of love

www.rosalindwhitman.com/Etchings.htm

Depictions of Catherine and Heathcliff