浅论《呼啸山庄》中的象征主义 --毕业论文

浅论《呼啸山庄》中的象征主义 --毕业论文 【标 题 快递公司问题件快递公司问题件货款处理关于圆的周长面积重点题型关于解方程组的题及答案关于南海问题 】浅论《呼啸山庄》中的象征主义 【作者】张富俊 【关键词】呼啸山庄;象征;主题;爱情;复仇 【指导老师】余烈全 王艳蓉 【专业】英语 【正文】 I. Introduction A. Brief Introduction to the Author Emily Bronte was born on July 30, 1818 in Yorkshire. And two years later, the family moved to a parsonage near the moors in Haworth, Yorkshire. Emily was the fifth of six children born into this literary family. Two of her older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, got sick while away at school and died in 1824. Emily’s mother had died three years after giving birth to Emily. As an escape from these hardships, the remainder of the family—father Patrick, and siblings Charlotte, Anne, and Barnwell, wrote their own stories and delved into the land of fantasy. They were all educated and encouraged to read and write by their father, who was born into a poor Irish family and worked his way up in the Anglican Church. Patrick Bronte’s family in Ireland was illiterate; therefore, he prized learning and the power it had to change lives. Only a poor minister, he knew his daughters would likely have to work as teachers or governesses, and their education would be indispensable. And her aunt, who raised the Bronte children after their mother died, was deeply religious. Emily Bronte did not take to her aunt’s Christian fervor; the character of Joseph, a caricature of an evangelical, may have been inspired by her aunt’s religiosity. The Bronte’s lived in Haworth, a Yorkshire village in the midst of the moors. These wild, desolate expanses—later the setting of Wuthering Heights—made up the Bronte’s daily environment, and Emily lived among them her entire life. She died in 1848, at the age of thirty. B. Brief Introduction to the Author’s Writing Experience Emily Bronte’s first publication came in 1846, when her poems were published along with Anne’s and Charlotte’s. They chose androgynous pseudonyms: Currier, Ellis, and Acton Bell, corresponding to Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. There was no reaction, but they decided to try writing novels. In 1847, a publisher accepted books by two of the sisters. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was already published, and received rave reviews. The dishonest publisher suggested that Currier Bell should write Wuthering Heights too, in the hopes of increasing sales. Critics found Wuthering Heights to be intense and original. But they were also troubled by what they saw as moral ambiguity. They did not think the villains of the story were adequately punished. After the publication of Wuthering Heights in 1847, Emily wrote little. She wanted nothing do with publishing and fame, and was not even interested in making a trip to London to affirm that it was she and not Charlotte who wrote Wuthering Heights. Bronte was influenced by other writers, but also forged her own path. She explored the dark areas of the soul with her unique vision. Critic Richard Benevento writes of her: Like Bronte’s poetry, Wuthering Heights anticipates twentieth-century literature--in its complex point of view, its violence, its use of dramatic scene instead of authorial comment or summary, its moral impartiality. It transcends time as few other Victorian novels do, yet it has points of connection with them and with the literary traditions of the nineteenth century1. The pseudonym from Wuthering Heights was not removed until after Emily’s death in 1848. Barnwell had died months before Emily, and Anne died the following year. The only child remaining, Charlotte published a new version of Wuthering Heights in 1850, correcting the mistakes the first publisher had ignored. II. Analysis of the Novel A. Analysis of the Plot of Wuthering Heights The structure of Wuthering Heights is not typical, for it is told as a flashback out of chronological order. Emily Bronte, however, strives to tie all of the loose ends of the story together by the last chapter. What was not understood by Lockwood or the reader in the beginning chapter has been fully explained by the last one. In spite of the broad span of time that passes in the book, the author also strives to weave the tale into an unified whole by a repetition of theme, a small setting, and the constancy of character in the person of Heathcliff, who dominates also the entire plot. In actuality, the plot of the novel is divided into five different phases, which correspond to the five stages in the plot of a classical drama. The brilliantly conceived first section of the novel forms its exposition. It establishes the nature of the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights, their relationships to each other, and the strange atmosphere that surrounds them. Events in the novel are set in motion by the arrival of Heathcliff, picked up as a waif of unknown parentage on the streets of Liverpool by Mr. Earnshaw, who brings him home to raise as one of his own children. This opening narrative told by Nelly, deals mainly with the childhood and personalities of Heathcliff, Catherine, and Hindley. The real rising action of the novel’s plot begins when Mr. Earnshaw passes away; his death brings forth a quick succession of events that complicate the plot. Bullied and humiliated by Hindley, Heathcliff develops a passionate and ferocious nature that finds its complement in Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine. Their childhood affection develops into an increasingly intense, though troubled, attachment to one another. Catherine, however, decides to marry Edgar Linton, for he is wealthy and more polished than Heathcliff, her true love. Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights before the marriage of Catherine and Edgar takes place. There are several key incidents that lead to the climactic moment of the novel. Heathcliff returns three years later and finds the married Catherine is still attracted to him, a fact that devastates her husband, Edgar. Heathcliff is allowed to stay at Wuthering Heights with Hindley, who is now widowed with a son, Hareton; he has become a hardened gambler and loses everything to Heathcliff. As a result, Heathcliff becomes the master of Wuthering Heights and brings Hindley and Hareton completely under his power. Ruled by a desire for vengeance, Heathcliff makes the two of them suffer as he has previously suffered under Hindley’s cruelty. As part of his revenge, Heathcliff also marries Edgar Linton’s sister, Isabella, and cruelly mistreats her. He also unintentionally hastens Catherine’s death, which is the point of climax for Heathcliff. The unraveling of Heathcliff’s revenge forms the falling action. He lures the young Cathy, the daughter of Catherine and Edgar, to his house and forces a marriage between her and his son, Linton. Since Linton is a sick young man, Heathcliff knows he will soon die, putting Heathcliff in a position to control both Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. After Linton’s death, he forces Cathy to stay on at the Heights, a situation that allows affection to spring forth between her and Hareton. She does her best to educate him and eventually falls in love with him. Heathcliff’s desire for revenge eventually wears out, and he allows Cathy and Hareton to pursue their relationship. All Heathcliff longs for now is death, which will at last reunite him with Catherine. The conclusion of the novel is reached with the death of Heathcliff. In and through Heathcliff’s death there is the promise that the two contrasting worlds and moral orders represented by the Heights and the Grange will be united in the next generation in the union of Cathy and Hareton. B. Analysis of the Setting in Wuthering Heights The setting of Wuthering Heights is the wild and rugged moorland country of Yorkshire, in the north of England. The author limits her setting to two houses: Wuthering Heights, the home of the Earnshaws, and Thrushcross Grange, the home of the Linton’s. The moors, which lie between the two houses, have importance in terms of the novel’s structure and symbolism. The setting is Wuthering Heights in the first nine chapters of the novel. With Catherine’s marriage, the setting shifts to Thrushcross Grange. From Chapter 10 to Chapter 28 the setting keeps shifting between the two houses and the moors. The remaining chapters are set in Wuthering Heights. The former is associated with the stormy side of life, the latter with the calm. Physically, there is a great contrast between these houses. Wuthering Heights is a strongly built and fierce-looking farmhouse. When Linton first sees it he is frightened by the “carved front and low browed lattices, the straggling gooseberry bushes and crooked firs.”2 The building is battered by severe winds during the frequent storms. Thrushcross Grange, a large estate, is much more protected from the elements. It lies in a valley, and the park around it is enclosed by a stone wall. When Heathcliff first glimpses the drawing room through a window, he thinks it is heaven- all crimson, gold, and silver. Yorkshire, where these houses are located, is a wild, bleak spot. There are few trees; slopes of black rock cut swathes through the heather, which is dull brown most of the year; little streams tumble everywhere. There is a lot of rain, a lot of mist, and a lot of snow. The people are taciturn, close-fisted, and often brutal. There is no other world in the novel, such as many say there was no other world for Emily Bronte. The home of the Earnshaws and then Heathcliff is called “Wuthering Heights”, and in the first chapter Mr. Lockwood says that “Wuthering” is a significant adjective, as it is descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed; one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Indeed the wind is an important symbol for change in the novel. It is present during many of the significant events in the lives of the characters. When Mr. Earnshaw dies there is a “high wind”, and the weather is described as “wild and stormy”. On the night that Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights there is a great storm with wind and rain. And on the morning that Ellen finds Heathcliff dead, the rain and wind are coming in through his window and beating his lattice back and forth. C. Analysis of the Themes in Wuthering Heights Of the major themes in Wuthering Heights, the nature of love—both romantic and brotherly but, oddly enough, not erotic—applies to the principal characters as well as the minor ones. Every relationship in the text is strained at one point or another. Bronte’s exploration of love is best discussed in the context of good versus evil (which is another way of saying love versus hate). Although the polarities between good and evil are easily understood, the differences are not that easily applied to the characters and their actions. The most important relationship is the one between Heathcliff and Catherine. The nature of their love seems to go beyond the kind of love most people know. In fact, it is as if their love is beyond this world, belonging on a spiritual plane that supersedes anything available to everyone else on Earth. Their love seems to be born out of their rebellion and not merely a sexual desire. They both, however, do not fully understand the nature of their love, for they betray one another: Each of them marry a person whom they know they do not love as much as they love each other. Contrasting the capacity for love is the ability to hate. And Heathcliff hates with a vengeance. Heathcliff initially focuses his hate toward Hindley, then to Edgar, and then to a certain extent, to Catherine. Because of his hate, Heathcliff resorts to what is another major theme in Wuthering Heights—revenge. Hate and revenge intertwine with selfishness to reveal the conflicting emotions that drive people to do things that are not particularly nice or rationale. Some choices are regretted while others are relished. These emotions make the majority of the characters in Wuthering Heights well rounded and more than just traditional stereotypes. Instead of symbolizing a particular emotion, characters symbolize real people with real, oftentimes not-so-nice emotions. Every character has at least one redeeming trait or action with which the reader can empathize. This empathy is a result of the complex nature of the characters and results in a depiction of life in the Victorian Era, a time when people behaved very similarly to the way they do today. III. Analysis of Symbolic Mean in Wuthering Heights A. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of the Two Houses in Wuthering Heights The story takes place in two main settings; Wuthering Heights and Thrush cross Grange, both situated on the harsh and desolate moors of Yorkshire. Emily Bronte actually grew up and lived in this place, and so her depiction of it is very accurate, and she uses her knowledge to emphasize the moods and attitudes of the characters. The people of these two houses differ from each other. The people from the Wuthering heights such as Heathcliff are generally angry, ill tempered, vengeful, and often immoral. These attitudes are clearly reflected through the large, cold and dark house, situated on top of a ruthless hill on the moors. Thrushcross Grange is a more cultivated, calm house, situated in a valley of the moors. Its inhabitants, including Edgar Linton, are generally more refined, with more morals and calmer attitudes than those of Wuthering Heights. Catherine Earnshaw, who is from Wuthering heights, is a character that creates the conflict throughout the whole book and between the two characters, Edgar and Heath cliff. To clarify more that Catherine is torn between her love for Heathcliff and her desire to be a gentlewoman, and her decision to marry the gentle Edgar Linton drags almost all of the novel’s characters into conflict with Heathcliff. To begin with, one of the main characters in Wuthering Heights is the devilish Heath cliff, an orphan despised since his birth. Heath cliff grows up to become a sadistic, cruel, vengeful and immoral man .He is often referred to as “like the devil” or as “evil”, and this is certainly the way he acts. His intense yet destroys passion towards Catherine Earnshaw causes him to despise all members of the Linton family of Thrushcross Grange, and he determines to destroy them in numerous. He becomes a horrible person after his character develops from one chapter to another chapter especially when he abuses Isabella Edgar Linton’s sister. He used her infatuation as a tool of revenge towards the Linton’s, he constantly and savagely attacks Linton, his own dying son; even his tenant, Mr. Lockwood cannot escape his cruelty. Heathcliff’s love for Catherine is tinged with danger and violence. Edgar loves Catherine with gracious tranquility, and Catherine returns affection to each of them accordingly. The Grange is a symbol of civilization, warmth, and goodness; the Heights is a symbol of wildness, cruelty, and evil. Such utter difference between the environments and climates of the two households symbolizes the distinction between the temperaments of their inhabitants. This contrast results in the pain, anguish, and discontent suffered by the protagonists; yet ultimately, the violent passion that is like the howling winds of Wuthering Heights and the tender love that reminds one the sweet air at Thrushcross Grange come together, through the marriage of Catherine and Heathcliff’s respective offspring, never to separate again. B. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Wind in Wuthering Heights The home of the Earnshaws and then Heathcliff is called “Wuthering Heights”, and in the first chapter Mr. Lockwood says: “Wuthering” is a significant adjective, as it is “descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed; one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun.”3 Indeed the wind is an important symbol for change in the novel. It is present during many of the significant events in the lives of the characters. When Mr. Earnshaw dies there is a “high wind”, and the weather is described as “wild and stormy”. On the night that Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights there is a great storm with wind and rain. And on the morning that Ellen finds Heathcliff dead, the rain and wind are coming in through his window and beating his lattice back and forth. C. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Windows and Doors in Wuthering Heights Throughout the novel there are instances of locked or open windows and doors symbolizing imprisonment or freedom. In the very beginning Lockwood encounters locked doors and gates at Wuthering Heights, and he sees the ghost of Catherine trying to get in a window. Ellen leaves a window open for Heathcliff to come in and see Catherine in her coffin. Most of the examples come later in the novel when Heathcliff has Isabella and then Catherine locked up in Wuthering Heights. Catherine cannot leave the house or her room because of locked doors, and Ellen cannot leave either because she has been locked in. It is only when Zillah lets her out of the room that she is able to leave. Catherine is only able to leave the house when Linton unlocks the door for her, and she escapes though the window in her mother’s old room. By the end of the novel when everyone is free of revenge, Lockwood goes to Wuthering Heights to find the gate unlocked and the doors open. D. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Tree in Wuthering Heights At the beginning, there is a paragraph introducing the surrounding of Wuthering Heights “One may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house, land by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun.”4 There, the violent north wild blocks the tree’s regular growing channel and enforces all of them to fall at one side. Tree’s character is the symbol of humanity. Humanity is twisted under the cruel suppression. This result is annotated well through the talk between Heathcliff, after becoming the host of Wuthering Heights and Hareton “wait and see, whether the tree gets into meandering or not as same as the other trees---If it also grows in the draught, let the fierce wind twist its branch and truck.”5 Heathcliff compares himself as a twisted tree that is suppressed by Hindley, and Hareton is only a sapling. Heathcliff carries out his revenge plan to twist Hareton’s humanity through depriving of Hareton’s education right and wrecking his spirit ruthlessly as Hindley did to him in the past. When Cathy refers to young Linton also says Linton’s humanity has twisted greatly. It means humanity can’t develop regularly under the great suppression. The tree “that is hyperplasia and truck is twisted in a symbolic image penetrates the whole novel.”6 Besides the above symbolism, the tree has another symbolism. Once the tree inserts in soil it will constantly grow, and ancient tree can live even thousands of years. This is the symbol of unshakable love between Catherine and Heathcliff. It has compared tree as the hero and heroine several times or has involved them in activities in the novel. In chapter 3, Mr. Lockwood makes a nightmare, and it is the branch of fir that paddles on the glass at the beginning and then changes into Catherine’s figure. When Catherine describes her love for Heathcliff to Nelly says “I am Heathcliff! He’s my own being.”7 It is a metaphor, compares her and Heathcliff as a whole tree no matter how strong energy can’t separate each other. At the same time it refers to her love for Linton as the foliage in the woods: time will change it. Those two distinctive loves, one is “super-human love”, as if the ancient tree also stands upright after having gone through wind and frost; the other is the “human love”, as if the foliage of the tree must fall eventually. The stormy night when Heathcliff lost “ there is a violent wind as well as thunder, and either one or the other split a tree off at the corner of the building: a huge bough fell across the roof, and knocked down a portion of the east chimney—stack, sending a clatter of stones and soot into the kitchen fire.”8 It just symbolizes the “concrete tree” in Catherine’s heart that has been destroyed. In chapter 14, Heathcliff describes the marriage between Catherine and Linton as growing a rubber tree that only breathes fresh air in moors can grow up strongly and sturdily. However, Linton treats the so-called “love” and “care” only as flowerpot. He doesn’t only give her necessary freedom but also bounds her in opposite, and even strangles her. Heathcliff thinks he can bring Catherine a kind of more natural、more humanist、more moral life form. And in the end she dies as result of Catherine can’t bear the two loves. Heathcliff has waited for in her orchard for a whole night, leans on an ancient poplar and strokes his head to trunk until he loses blood. The symbol of their soul—tree—witnesses their love and death once again, and Cathy inherits her mother’s special feeling to tree. From the above plot, we can find the image of tree penetrates the whole novel and gives best annotation to the humanity and the love between hero and heroine. E. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Dream in Wuthering Heights The author introduces Catherine to us the first time through Lockwood’s dream world in Wuthering Heights. In Mr. Lockwood dream, he catches Catherine’s ice-cold fingers, and hears a most melancholy voice that sobbed “let me in—let me in!” Mr. Lockwood finds “it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, so pull its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes.”9 However, she still wailed, “let me in!” Without doubt, this is the cruelest description in the novel. After Catherine died, her lonely soul wanders at the house gate and wants to “get in”, this is the super-human love that summons her inevitably. The love floods in heaven and earth as the original live can’t destroy. Just Mr. Lockwood—a “pessimistic”, dreams Catherine’s lonely soul. It lets the symbol of dream more greatly and wins sympathy more easily and also explains the great love between the hero and heroine that doesn’t only survives on earth and heaven out of window but also shocks people’s heart, even the indifferent “pessimistic”. F. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Wildness in Wuthering Heights Because Emily Bronte doesn’t write article through definition but symbolism, so the symbolic setting that penetrates the whole novel is wildness. The important deep symbolism of wildness can’t show out through using the frosty logical language (it doesn’t mean illogical). Emily shows us the main features of wildness: sky、brook, and heath. It is the wind nature and vitality of wildness that attracts the hero and heroine. Although they can’t marry as couple, their souls meet in the wildness forever after death. The live doesn’t die out there, they love forever and be delightfully everywhere in the wildness. Therefore, wildness is the symbol of their freedom and love. G. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Snow in Wuthering Heights Besides the above symbolism, the condition of nature also has symbolism in the novel. The whole story refers to two heavy snows; one is at the beginning when Mr. Lockwood visits Wuthering Heights. Because of the heavy snow, Mr. Lockwood must stay on the bed that Catherine ever slept, and he dreams Catherine’s soul that has wandered outside for twenty years but can’t get in; the second time is on the night of Catherine’s funeral rites. The weather broke at the night of Catherine’s funeral rites. There is a heavy snow that changes the exuberant world into lifeless; we can say “snow” is the symbol of frozen humanity. At the beginning of the novel, the author has snow indicate the heart of the hero (Heathcliff) is “freezing”. The snow at the day of Catherine’s funeral rites indicates the beginning of frozen humanity. Because of losing Catherine, there is no person that is worthy to love by Heathcliff. To Heathcliff, this world is only dark all round, so he changes the exuberant world into cruel as he feels. He enforces Isabella to leave and treats Hindley cruelly until he dies, decreases Hareton as a servant, imperils young Catherine to marry young Linton and let her observe young Linton until he dies. After then, he gets the proprietary rights of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange and deprives of all rights of young Catherine and so on. In his world, there is not a silk of tender feeling but ice-cold and cruel. We can say two snows make the beginning and the end of frozen humanity, frozen humanity cut off the interchange between Heathcliff and Catherine’s soul during this period. Although Heathcliff feels the survival of “her” faintly, he can’t see and exchange with her. After the heavy snow, Heathcliff has a feeling of tiredness for his revenge and is indifferent to the past and even doesn’t feel like intervening the alliance between young Catherine and Hareton, the humanity of Heathcliff begins to recover. At a time, he has wandered in the moors for a whole night and gets back with delightful feeling. Without doubt, he meets and even exchanges with Catherine’s soul at that night. After a few days he dies with his eyes opening greatly and ferocious feeling at a stormy night. We believe he integrates with Catherine in the end; wildness is their heaven where they live freely as in their childhood. H. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Storm in Wuthering Heights The storm on the day of Heathcliff’s lost also calls us attention. Catherine calls the name of Heathcliff at the end of wall without scrupling the storm and still wails “about midnight while we still sit up, the storm come rattling over the Heights in full fury. There is violent wind, as well as thunder, and either one or the other split a tree off at the corner of the building: a huge bough fall across the roof, and knocked down a portion of the east chimney.” 10 The storm is just the mirror of Catherine’s heart. Because her soul (taking Heathcliff as her soul) leaves suddenly, she is alone in her mental. She is about to sink into abyss and that change into a tramp. The despair is just like the fierce wind, storm and lighten, changes her heart into waste area. The storm also carries a foreshadowing of what is to follow later in the story. Because of filtering the storm, Catherine catches a heavy disease and the doctor tells her not to be provoked, or endanger the live. Four years latter, there is a face to face clash between Linton and Heathcliff. As expected she can’t bear them, in order not to go crazy she closes herself without eating and drinking, and then she catches a heavy disease again without recover. Therefore, the storm causes a disease and another, which brings the death in the end. I. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Moon in Wuthering Heights Moon also emerges many times in the novel. Moon is always the symbol of peacefulness and harmonization. A few days after the marriage between Catherine and Linton, Heathcliff gets back on a delightful night with moon. The scene states clearly that Catherine and Linton live in clam, but that Heathcliff comes just at this moment indicates his coming breaks the calm. The next time refers moon is on the night of Edgar Linton’s death. He dies with satisfaction and delight after seeing his daughter on a mid-autumn night with full moon. The moon is big and full that symbolizes the death of Linton is complete; he belongs to peacefulness originally and dies in calm in the end. At the end of the novel, Mr. Lockwood visits Wuthering Heights again on a mellow evening in September, he sees a young couple who love each other and Nelly is sank into delight. It indicates the moon has taken place of storm in the end. The novel ends in peaceful and harmonious atmosphere, and the riot and turbulence ends in calm. J. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of Stove Fire in Wuthering Heights In Wuthering Heights, the symbolism of strove fire is got by contrast. The difference between the extinguished flame in Thrushcross Grange and the fierce flame in Wuthering Heights is one of the themes in the novel. Mr. Lockwood sees the Thrushcross Grange maidservant “raising an infernal dust as she extinguishes the flame with heaps of cinder.”11 This spectacle drove him to Wuthering Heights straightly and gets into “the huge, warm, cheerful apartment„. It glows delightful in the radiance of an immense fire, compound of coal, peat, and wood.”12 There, the symbolism of strove fire and human character are harmonious. The people from Wuthering Heights such as Heathcliff are enthusiastic, obstinate as raging flame; the people from Thrusscross Grange are weak and mild, gentle and quiet, and more self-controllable and intellectual. Therefore, the stove fire is the mirror of human special property. It symbolizes two distinctive worlds. K. Analysis of Symbolic Mean Symbolism of Heath in Wuthering Heights The heath is the symbol of love as well as kinship and tenderness. The recurrence of it indicates that love is the perpetual subject of human being, which can triumph over hatred at last, while hatred makes the humanity distorted and degenerated. L. Analysis of Symbolic Mean of the Hair in the Locket A symbol that shows up only once in the novel is one for the intertwined lives and destinies of Edgar and Heathcliff because they both love Catherine. When Heathcliff comes in to view Catherine in her coffin, he takes the lock of Edgar’s hair out of her locket and throws it to the ground, replacing it with his own. Ellen takes both locks, winds the yellow and black locks together, and puts them both in the locket. IV. The Effect of Symbolism on the Themes Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte’s only novel is unlike any novels of her sisters, and is unique in its kind. Of all the novels of passion which the nineteenth century produced in abundance, it is one of the few that maintain a hold on the modern reader. She writes the first novel with a strange imaginative power matched by a remarkable technique. The popularity of Wuthering Heights is due to the appeal to the passionate love story, the grandeur of the setting, heroic characters, and a large number of symbols. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte uses both symbolism and imagery that penetrate in the novel. Those symbols are plentiful and endowed readers with much imagination, the prolonged charm of Wuthering Heights just lays there. Emily Bronte shows us the cruelty of Heathcliff, the egoism of Catherine, the brutality of Hindley, the weakness of Edgar, as well as the force and pathos of their grief and their love. From the above symbolism we can believe Emily Bronte is a wise writer, and Wuthering Heights is a comment on the society life in the 19th century England. She draws support from nature to express intense emotion in her heart. She uses those symbolisms ingeniously without leaving behind any trace—Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, snow, storm, moon, and heath and so on. Those images are not commonplace but choosing and constructing. They have special meanings that set off character by contrasting and deepening the love theme: violent、unshakable、 tacit love so as to urge on marriage based on the money and status at that time. Under her stroke, everything has “intelligence” that loves and hates as human, feels the human “true feelings” and shares the freedom. ?. Conclusion Today, Wuthering Heights has a secure position in the canon of world literature, and Emily Bronte is revered as one of the finest writers—male or female—of the nineteenth century. Like Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights is based partly on the Gothic tradition of the late eighteenth century, a style of literature that featured supernatural encounters, crumbling ruins, moonless nights, and grotesque imagery, seeking to create effects of mystery and fear. But Wuthering Heights transcends its genre in its sophisticated observation and artistic subtlety. The novel has been studied, analyzed, dissected, and discussed from every imaginable critical perspective, yet it remains unexhausted. And while the novel’s symbolism, themes, structure, and language may all spark fertile exploration, the bulk of its popularity may rest on its unforgettable characters. As a shattering presentation of the doomed love affair between the fiercely passionate Catherine and Heathcliff, it remains one of the most haunting love stories in all of literature. Wuthering Heights is the prototype of all the gothic novels. It contains all the literary elements such as, symbolism, supernatural, and the dark solemn mood classic to all gothic novels. Wuthering Heights is unique for many reasons. It is told by several different narrators, including Nelly Dean and Lockwood. It is also told as a flashback, not entirely in chronological order. The language used by Nelly seems particularly improbable; coming as it does from a housekeeper, no matter how well read she may be. It seems improbable; in addition, that Nelly should recall so many conversations verbatim after a period of many years. The images in the novel, which are vivid and powerful, Nelly describes Edgar’s reluctance to leave the Heights after his quarrel with Catherine through a powerful metaphor. Another essential component of this novel was the use in symbolism. A theme of the novel is love, especially that of Catherine and Heathcliff. It is the product of their rebellion against Hindley and Joseph and the natural result of their compatibility. Their love is realized only after death, but carried on symbolically by young Cathy and Hareton. In these ways, and many others, images and symbols in Wuthering Heights add meaning to characters, theme, tone, and mood.