Wuthering Heights.

Author: Emily Bront?
Annotation:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: August 1, 2004
Features: The male protagonist of the story, Heathcliff, is an abandoned child who is adopted by the owner of Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw. After Mr. Earnshaw's death, he suffers severe abuse and becomes a household slave. The daughter of the estate owner, Catherine, forms a deep bond with him, bringing him warmth and hope in his hardship. However, after meeting the aristocratic young man Edgar Linton, she feels that although she deeply loves Heathcliff, marrying him would lower her social status. Heathcliff overhears her contradictory confession and leaves in anger, disappearing without a trace. Catherine, heartbroken, falls ill and eventually marries Edgar. Years later, Heathcliff returns suddenly, behaving like a gentleman. Trapped in the emotional turmoil between her lover and husband, Catherine succumbs to grief and dies. Despite his cruel revenge on his enemies, Heathcliff cannot bear the eternal separation from Catherine and starves himself to death. From then on, in the cold moonlit nights, two restless souls wander the vast moors of Yorkshire.
Emily Bront? (1818–1848) was a writer who lived only thirty years on this earth before leaving it in obscurity. She was primarily a poet, having written deeply profound lyric poems, including narrative and short poems, some of which were later included in anthologies of the twenty-two most prominent poets of the 19th and early 20th centuries in the UK. Yet her only novel, Wuthering Heights, cemented her place in both British and world literary history. She, along with her sister Charlotte Bront?, author of Jane Eyre, and her younger sister Anne Bront?, author of Agnes Grey, were known as the Bront? sisters, who shone brilliantly in the literary scene of 19th-century Britain. Especially Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, like a pair of small but dazzling cat's-eye gems, left a remarkable impression on those exploring the legacy of 19th-century British literature. One of them was so captivating that people could not help but marvel at its rarity and lament the loss of this extraordinarily talented young woman, who might have left behind countless brilliant works to nourish readers' souls had she not died so young!
The thirty years of Emily Bront?'s life coincided with a turbulent era in British society. Capitalism was developing and its inherent flaws were becoming increasingly apparent; class were intensifying; unemployed workers lived in poverty; and countless child laborers were cruelly exploited to death (as seen in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's epic poem The Cry of the Children, which gives a glimpse of the situation). Adding to this, the British government adopted harsh measures against democratic reforms and labor movements, such as the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. As a result, literary works of this period reflected these struggles. Emily Bront? was born into such a time of conflict! She came from a ministerial family, her father being Patrick Bront? (1777–1861), originally an Irish clergyman who married Maria Branwell, a woman from Cornwall, in 1812, and had six children. The eldest was Maria (1814), the second Elizabeth (1815), the third Charlotte (1816), the only son Branwell (1817), followed by Emily (1818) and Anne (1820). The latter four were born in Thornton, a village in the wilds of Yorkshire, where Mr. Bront? served as a minister. In 1820, the family moved to Haworth, settling in a remote corner of the moors. The three sisters spent their lives there. In 1827, their mother passed away, and their aunt came from Cornwall to care for the family. Three years later, the four sisters, led by Maria, attended a boarding school. Due to poor living conditions, Maria and Elizabeth died of tuberculosis at a young age, while Charlotte and Emily survived and continued their education at home with their brother Branwell. The family was always isolated, and the siblings often passed the time by reading, writing poetry, and inventing legends. Charlotte and Branwell wrote novels centered around a fictional Angevin dynasty, while Emily and her younger sister Anne created a Pacific island they called Gondal to tell their stories. Their home was near the industrial town of Haworth, but the house itself was situated between the town and the wild moors. Emily often walked with her sisters through the western moors. Thus, the Bront? sisters witnessed both the developing capitalist society in the town and the influence of the wild moors. Emily, in particular, was outwardly quiet but inwardly passionate. Though she lacked political understanding, she was deeply concerned with politics. The sisters often read liberal or conservative journals and discussed politics, largely influenced by their father. Patrick Bront? was a relatively radical conservative who opposed the Lutheran movement in his youth and later supported the workers of Haworth, backing their strikes. Emily and her sisters inherited his sense of justice, sympathizing with the resistance and struggles of artisans. This laid the foundation for the creation of Wuthering Heights.
The family had very little income and lived in considerable hardship. The three sisters had to frequently go out to earn a living, teaching or working as governesses to support the family, enduring years of hardship and setbacks. Charlotte once planned to open a school with her sisters and thus spent a year studying in Brussels with Emily, but they left after Charlotte's heartbreak. In 1846, they published a collection of poems under pseudonyms, which sold only two copies. In 1847, their three novels were finally published, but only Jane Eyre was a success and received recognition. Wuthering Heights, however, was not well understood by readers at the time, and even Charlotte, Emily's sister, could not grasp her sister's thoughts. In 1848, their only brother Branwell, long plagued by alcoholism and drug addiction, also contracted tuberculosis and died in September. Although his death might have been a relief for the sisters, as Charlotte wrote in her letters, "Faults and sins are forgotten, only pity and sorrow remain in heart and memory." His passing seemed to hasten Emily's journey to the grave, and she died in December of the same year. Their younger sister Anne also died in May of the following year, leaving only Charlotte and her elderly father as the last members of the family. This exceptionally talented young woman, who would later gain worldwide fame, left this indifferent world with regret, bidding farewell silently to her remaining three family members!
In a poem written in her youth, she wrote: "I am the only one, destined to be unheeded, to have no one weep for me; since I was born, I have never caused a single worry, nor a joyful smile. In secret joy, in secret tears, this ever-changing life has slipped by, eighteen years later still as lonely as the day I was born." In the same poem, she lamented: "Youthful hopes were melted away, and the rainbow hues of fantasy quickly faded; experience taught me that truth would never grow in the hearts of men. Yet she longed to rise and act, but struggled to no avail—this painful struggle and near despair are also reflected in her verses of the same period: 'But now when I hope to sing, my fingers touch a silent string; and the refrain still echoes, 'Do not strive anymore,' everything is in vain.'"
In the famous biography Charlotte Bront? by the British realist female writer Gaskell, there is a description of Emily Bront?'s final moments: "On a Tuesday morning in December, she rose as usual, dressed and groomed herself, pausing occasionally but still doing it herself, even trying to pick up needlework. The servants watched, understanding that her labored breathing and dull gaze were signs of something serious, yet she continued her tasks. Charlotte and Anne, though filled with unspeakable fear, still held onto a faint hope. By noon, Emily's condition worsened: she could only gasp, 'If you call the doctor now, I want to see him.' But it was too late. Around 2 p.m., she died."
Charlotte's letters contain many passages expressing her grief and reflections after Emily's death, which are too numerous to list here.
Emily Bront?'s life has been introduced here. The British poet and critic Matthew Arnold once wrote a poem titled Haworth Cemetery, in which he paid tribute to Emily Bront?, saying her extraordinary passion, intense emotions, sorrow, and boldness were unmatched since Byron's death. Her only remaining novel, Wuthering Heights, shook people's hearts precisely because of this.
Over the years, whenever discussions about 19th-century Western European literature arose, Wuthering Heights was inevitably a focal point. Many renowned critics and novelists have written extensively about it. For example, the British female writer Virginia Woolf wrote an essay titled Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights in 1916. She compared the two books, writing: "When Charlotte wrote, she spoke with eloquence, brilliance, and passion of 'I love,' 'I hate,' 'I suffer.' Her experiences, though intense, were on the same level as our own. But in Wuthering Heights, there is no 'I,' no governess, no master. There is love, but not romantic love. Emily was inspired by more universal ideas, and her creative impulse was not her own suffering or harm but her desire to piece together a fragmented world in a book. That ambition is felt throughout the novel—a struggle, though partly frustrated, with a grand belief, expressed through her characters not just 'I love' or 'I hate' but 'We, all of humanity,' and 'You, the eternal forces.'"
The progressive critic Arnold Kettle, in his book Introduction to the English Novel, devoted a section to a lengthy critique of Wuthering Heights, summarizing it as: "Wuthering Heights expresses, in the form of artistic imagination, the spiritual oppression, tension, and conflict of humanity in 19th-century capitalist society. It is free of idealism, false comfort, and any suggestion that the forces controlling their fate are beyond human struggle and action. The powerful call of nature, the wild moors, storms, stars, and seasons is an essential part of the true movement of life. The men and women in Wuthering Heights are not prisoners of nature; they live in this world and strive to change it, sometimes succeeding but always facing pain, difficulties, and mistakes."
The contemporary British novelist and writer W. Somerset Maugham, in 1948, was asked by The Atlantic magazine to introduce the ten best novels in world literature. He selected four British novels, one of which was Wuthering Heights. In his lengthy essay, he wrote near the end: "I do not know of any novel that so shockingly depicts the pain of love, obsession, cruelty, and obsession. Wuthering Heights reminds me of one of El Greco's great paintings—a desolate, barren landscape under dark clouds, with emaciated figures staggering about, dazed by a non-worldly emotion, holding their breath. A leaden sky flashes a lightning bolt, adding the final touch of mysterious terror to the scene."
In short, Wuthering Heights is a great work, also hailed as "the most extraordinary novel." Yet, as Arnold Kettle said, "Heathcliff's rebellion is a special one—it is the resistance of workers who are degraded both physically and spiritually by the same social conditions and relationships (referring to the Victorian era). Heathcliff indeed no longer remains an exploited person, but because he adopts the standards of the ruling class (even to the point of using methods so cruel and ruthless that even the ruling class itself fears them), the humanistic value implied in his early rebellion and his love for Catherine disappears. Everything contained in the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff, and everything represented in human needs and desires, can only be realized through active resistance of the oppressed."
The social tragedy of Heathcliff and Catherine lies in Catherine's awareness of their vast social differences and her fantasy of using the wealth she envies from the Linton family to "help Heathcliff rise" and keep her brother "from interfering." This was, of course, impossible, as can be seen when Heathcliff returns later and Edgar suggests seating him in the kitchen rather than the drawing room. This mistake led her into the trap she had woven herself. Even after agreeing to marry Edgar, she clearly said: "In this world, my greatest sorrow is Heathcliff's sorrow, and I have always noticed and felt it from the beginning—it is the center of my thoughts. If everything else were destroyed, and he remained, I could continue to live. If everything else remained, and he were destroyed, the world would become a strange place to me. I would not feel like a part of it. My love for Edgar is like the leaves of a tree: I fully understand that when the seasons change, the leaves will change too. My love for Heathcliff is like the following unchanging rock—though it may not seem to bring much joy, that joy is essential. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He will always, always be in my heart." Yet by betraying the one she loved, she betrayed herself, and so she could only struggle and die in the trap she had woven. Before her death, Heathcliff reproached her in grief: "Why did you betray your own heart? You killed yourself. Sorrow, shame, and death, and all the blows and pains that God or Satan could give us cannot separate us, yet you did so with your own will." He also said: "I love the one who hurt me—but what about the one who hurt you? How could I love him?" This led to Heathcliff's tragedy—a tragedy of revenge at any cost. He was cast out by the capitalist society but still fought back with its own methods. He had no property but plundered it, becoming the master of the estate. He was mocked, degraded, and insulted by Hindley since childhood, reduced to the status of a rustic servant, but years later, he turned the tables and took revenge on his son, only to find that his victory was also his spiritual defeat. When he discovered that the eyes of Edgar's daughter (Catherine's daughter) and Hindley's son (Catherine's nephew) were exactly like Catherine's, and that Harryton (Hindley's son) seemed to be the embodiment of his youth, he no longer wanted to raise his hand against them. He admitted, "This is a terrible outcome," no longer seeking revenge, because such a "eye for an eye, tooth for tooth" form of revenge could only lead to loneliness and emptiness!
, , , 。, , , , , 、, , : ", , , , 。"《》; 、, , , 。·, 、！