摘要
艾米莉.勃朗特的代表作《呼啸山庄》，是维多利亚时期英国文学的代表作之一。多年以来，许多学者曾经阅读 分析过这一著作。其中对女主角凯瑟琳形象的分析却还有一些局限。许多研究没有深入研究凯瑟琳前后矛盾的形象。自女性主义第一次浪潮以来，女性权益也受到越来越多的关注。本论文旨在在女性主义视角下，结合小说中的内容，分析凯瑟琳的矛盾形象，以及其矛盾形象形成的原因，借此探究家庭和社会环境对女性心理的影响，也告诫注重女性权益的保障和女性意识的发展。
关键词：《呼啸山庄》；凯瑟琳；女性主义；矛盾形象
Abstract
Emily Brontë Emily Brontë’s masterpiece, Wuthering Heights, is one of the masterpieces of Victorian English literature. Over the years, countless scholars have analyzed this work. However, there are some limitations in the analysis of the heroine Catherine. The inconsistency of Catherine’s image is where many studies have not been thoroughly studied. Since the first wave of feminism, more and more attention has been paid to women’s rights. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the contradictory image of Catherine and the reasons for her contradictory image from a feminist perspective, to investigate the influence of family and social environment on women’s psychology, and to warn readers to pay attention to the protection of women’s rights and the development of women’s consciousness.
Keywords ：Wuthering Heights; Catherine; feminism; contradiction image
Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks to my instructor! In the process of selecting the topic, designing, writing and revising this article for many times, the teacher patiently reviewed the full text every time and gave me valuable suggestions and direction for modification, so that this article was formed. The teacher not only guided my paper carefully and rigorously, but also gave me a lot of care and help in my work and life. As the first time to enter the social workplace, I encountered many problems in my first internship. The teacher would answer my doubts in time, share my social experience and actively encourage me. Now I have learned to change students’ thinking and analyze problems from multiple perspectives. Secondly, I would like to thank all the teachers who have taught me, thank their hard work, I not only systematically learn professional knowledge, broaden their knowledge, but also learn from the teachers of behavior; thank my classmates and friends to give my company and encouragement, they are my friends, make my college life is full of laughter and joy, harvest warm friendship. Finally, I would like to thank my dear parents and family, for their care and care for me for more than 20 years, and for their unconditional support and help, so that I can study and pursue my dreams without any worries. In the coming days, I will study and work more diligently, live up to the public’s ardent expectations of me, and actively make contributions to the social development while realizing my self-value.
1 Introduction
1.1 Emily Brontë and Her Works
Emily Brontë, a prominent English poet, and writer of the 19th century, one of the three Brontë sisters, wrote nearly 200 poems in her lifetime, and Wuthering Heights is the only novel born after her extensive poetry, which established her position in the history of English and world literature. Emily Brontë developed the habit of reading and writing under the influence of her father.Independent, innocent, resolute, passionate, and introverted by nature, her rich inner feelings are expressed through her works.
1.2 Research Background
Researches about Wuthering Heights and Catherine now encompass several aspects, including character analysis, their love tragedy, feminism, and so on. But they all coincidentally focus on the same point: the time and social context in which the story takes place. However, the analysis of Catherine’s image is mostly focused on her character and the reasons for her character formation. They seldom focus on Catherine’s entire upbringing. In the social context of the Victorian era, Catherine’s experience undoubtedly had a great impact on her 1. This is also one of the concerns of our next study.
1.3 Key Research Questions
This paper focuses on the analysis of Catherine’s contradictory image. Therefore, the study is mainly about the contradictory image of Catherine itself and the reasons for the change of Catherine’s image. The change of Catherine’s image from the beginning of naivety and cheerfulness to gold diggers. The reasons for the change are social background, as well as family background, and even other people’s factors, and these combined factors are also the issues we need to discuss. And how to analyze these issues from a feminist perspective and explore their contemporary significance, and how to promote the development of feminine consciousness with the help of the paradoxical image of Catherine.
1.4 Significance of the Paper
As one of the literary works of the Victorian era, Wuthering Heights plays an important role in our study of 19th century English society. However, much attention has focused on the social background and the male protagonist Heathcliff, but there is little analysis about the female protagonist Catherine. Especially her inconsistent image, but this is an area where relevant research needs to be added. In today’s era of increasing women’s rights, the study of Catherine, a typical middle-class woman of the Victorian era, shows us the tragic image of women in the old days and can better stimulate us in this new era to pursue the protection of females’ rights.
2 Literature Review
2.1 A Brief Introduction of Wuthering Heights
In the north of England, there is Wuthering Heights. Here the owner, Earnshaw, has a boy and a girl and adopted an abandoned child Heathcliff. Let him live with his own children, the outcast and one of the girls Catherine day by day, but as the girl’s brother Hindley but very dislike him. Hindley forbade their contact and scolded and abused him, but this deepened Cliff’s love for Catherine, but also developed a hatred for Hindley.
One day, Cliff and Catherine go out together and run into Edgar, the owner of the Thrushcross Grange. Edgar admires Catherine’s beauty and asks her to marry him, and Catherine agrees. Cliff runs away in anger as a result.
Many years later, Cliff returned to his hometown, where he bought the family property of the destitute Cinder and made him a slave to torture him. He also frequently visited the Thrushcross Grange and eloped with Edgar’s sister Isabella, who admired him. In fact, he but Isabella locked in the Wuthering Heights torture.
Although Catherine is married to Edgar, but the ideological differences are huge, due to Edgar’s accommodation, they live happily. But Catherine saw Cliff who came back and awakened the pursuit of wildness in her heart. In the excitement, she falls ill and dies, leaving behind a premature baby, Cathy.
Afterward, Isabella escaped from Wuthering Heights while in turmoil and gave birth to a frail baby boy. And Cliff took advantage of Hindley illness to pick up his son, Hareton, to continue his revenge on the child. 12 years later, Isabella died of illness and Cliff picked up his son but did not like his frailty.
On the occasion of Edgar’s illness and death, Cliff forced his daughter to marry his son. But soon after the marriage, his son died of illness. However, Hareton, who was the son of Hindley, despite his lack of education and care, was sturdy and simple and attracted Kathy. Looking at the two who fell in love, Cliff’s hatred faded, and his love for Catherine began to revive, and soon after, he died calling out Catherine’s name 2.
2.2 Previous Study on Wuthering Heights
Since Emily Brontë completed Wuthering Heights in the 19th century, countless people have read the work and many scholars have studied it.In foreign countries, many scholars have analyzed and studied the purpose and themes of the writing of Wuthering Heights, focusing on two aspects: the analysis and comparison of two generations of Catherine and the counterattack on the social environment. Among them, some scholars believe that Emily Brontë’s creation not only challenged the traditional literature of the Victorian era but also was a counter-attack against the patriarchal power in the society at that time 3. Some scholars also believe that Catherine deserves to be viewed critically, noting that although Catherine made mistakes in her youthful ignorance, the spirit of her quest for love in the final moments of her life also needs to be acknowledged by us4. The shock of Catherine’s death and the effect her death brings to the love of the second Catherine 5. The balance between reality and wildness that the first-generation Catherine was unable to strike is successfully combined in the second-generation Catherine 6. The study is carried out through a comparative analysis of the two generations. The descriptions and discourses of the characters in the book are analyzed to understand the influence of other characters on the character of two people who represent the middle- class women of the 19th century7, the tragedy of the first Catherine, and the happy ending of the second Catherine, the analysis of why it arises.
In China, the study of Wuthering Heights is relatively late compared to foreign countries, but there are still many scholars who have researched related aspects and many research directions have been developed. Some scholars have analyzed the characterization of the characters in the book, with the main character Heathcliff and the main character Catherine as the main characters. Catherine’s life has its ups and downs, from a loving and wild childhood to rebellious adolescence, and when she grows up, she is influenced by the world and becomes worldly and profit-oriented, ending in tragedy. This tragic female figure is the author Emily Brontë’s appeal to society: women should pursue love bravely and not be polluted by the world 8. Catherine, the daughter of Wuthering Heights, does not want to be bound and desires freedom, but she gives up the love she desires because she is polluted by class ideas and falls victim to class society9. By nature, Catherine is kind and sweet, stubborn and rebellious, and still yearns for love and freedom after her marriage, but under the temptation of the materialistic world of capitalism, Catherine marries Edgar for the sake of vanity and becomes lonely and empty after marriage, becoming a tragedy of capitalism and money worship. The author intends to warn society, readers and women to follow their own hearts10.
A part of scholars analyzes the love in the book from the perspective of tragedy. Du Ruochen believes that the dilemma of love in Wuthering Heights makes it fundamental to transcend the fluidity of ordinary love stories. The love between Heathcliff and Catherine goes through multiple stages, from two young children to love becoming past to death and revenge, and their spiritual love eventually cannot go to marriage, such a tragedy can bring readers a deeper insight11. Zhang Ziyu’s analysis, on the other hand, is Catherine’s worldly love and soul love. But these two kinds of love cannot coexist, and her actions reflect her conflicting feelings for both her husband and Cliff, which also lead to her death in a mental breakdown12. Chen Shouqin shows in her article that the tragedy in the book is reflected in the three aspects of Heathcliff’s love without love, Catherine’s marriage and Heathcliff’s marriage of gain without love, and Linton and Isabella’s gain without love. The tragedy of their lives is precise because of these conflicts between gain and loss, love and propriety 13. XieHua’s view is that Catherine’s tragedy stems from the betrayal of her true desires, while Heathcliff’s tragedy stems from his betrayal and loss of self 14.
Other scholars have used feminism as a basis for comparing female characters in other works with Catherine. Yang Shiya et al. start from the first wave of Chinese and Western feminism and compare all aspects of the two female protagonists’ resistance. Catherine and Cao Qiqiao’s lack of economic and social independence in the different cultural contexts of East and West is the cause of their resistance. The understanding of the first wave of Chinese and Western feminism is enhanced by the multi-layered comparison of their resistance 15. And Zhou Mi et al. argue that both Jane Eyre and Catherine, as Victorian female figures, express their rebellion against the patriarchal society. The defiant spirit of the two heroines would also contribute to the development of human civilization 16.
Most scholars have not only explored the novel from their perspectives, but their studies almost always include an elaboration of the social context. The Victorian social context, in which Catherine passes through the line of Painted Hills, is influenced by the class concept of capitalism, which leads to her tragedy with Clive. Chen Jieying et al. argue that the Victorian values and class concepts of money supremacy, through the Painted Hills row, had an impact on Catherine and Cliff and created the tragedy. The dysfunctional society of the Victorian era is the key cause of their tragedy .
From the above literature review, foreign scholars’ studies have developed over the years,mostly from feminism, and have studied many aspects of the novel as well as the characteristics of the times. The domestic studies have analyzed the novel from various perspectives,such as characterization, love tragedy, feminism, and social background. The analysis of Catherine’s image still has many limitations and is limited to the influence of the social context on her, while ignoring Catherine’s spiritual development as a free woman. In today’s society, the spiritual development of women is also an inevitable topic, and Catherine, as the first wave of Victorian feminism, is undoubted of typical significance.This paper aims to analyze the characterization of Catherine as a free and defiant spirit in her upbringing from a feminist perspective, and also hopes to promote the development of women’s free and equal spirit in society.
3 Introduction of Feminism
3.1 Definition of feminism
Feminism, also known as women’s liberation, gender egalitarianism, etc., is a critique of social relations. All feminism has a premise: women are oppressed, discriminated class worldwide. Feminist theories have also been divided into macro and micro theories of great variety. But they all boil down to one phrase: to achieve equality between men and women in all of humanity17.
Feminism believes that today’s society is built on a patriarchal, male-centered system. It includes male domination, male identity, female objectification, and a patriarchal mindset. This social model, which has been handed down from ancient times, is unjust to women.
The secondary status of women in society is pervasive and persistent. As a result, women are in an unequal position in many areas of society. Masculine ideology assumes that this situation is naturally occurring and never changes. Feminism, however, believes that this situation is socially and culturally constructed, not naturally formed, and can be changed.
Feminism explores themes such as discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, oppression, and patriarchy. The focus is on securing women’s rights in society in terms of voting, reproduction, education, etc., and women’s liberation.
3.2 Feminist Awakening
Before the emergence of a women’s movement on a large scale, women representing women’s thought emerged in Western society in the 15th century. But the earliest women’s emancipation movement took place in the late 19th century, and was the first wave of women’s emancipation. They demanded gender equality, right of vote and education, most notably the equivalence of family and social labor and the equal value of political rights. By the end of the movement, women had made great gains in voting rights, education, and work, but the traditional image of women remained unchanged17.
The second movement, on the other hand, began in the 1960s – 1970s and lasted until the 1980s, first originating in the United States. The keynote was the emphasis on the naturalness of the division of labor between the sexes and the phenomenon of different pay for the same work between men and women. As a result of this movement, there was a rise in the academic study of feminism and gender studies. There were many schools of feminism, but despite their diversity, they all had the same basic point: to fight for equal rights for both sexes and to eliminate the oppression, exploitation, discrimination and abusement women.
4 Images of Catherine in Feminist Perspective
4.1 Positive Images of Catherine
4.1.1 Innocence and Purity
As Mr. Earnshaw’s only daughter, Catherine was raised to be an angel, and her innocent and pure character was nurtured. Although Mr. Earnshaw had repeatedly hinted that he did not like her, she would still kiss her father’s hand and sing to lull him to sleep. That’s why Mr. Earnshaw said: She has no bad intentions, once she makes you cry, she will also cry with you. From these it, can be seen how innocent and kind she was in the eyes of her father.
And in Heathcliff, her innocence and purity are even more evident. On the night Mr. Earnshaw brought Cliff back to the villa, only Catherine introduced herself without hierarchy, in the eyes of others, Cliff was just an adopted vagrant, only Catherine and he got along equally. In their subsequent time together, Catherine played with him, and they played freely in the wilderness, and she felt that she could play with Cliff like this forever.
This character was retained even after her marriage to Edgar. After she met Cliff again and he tried to end their love with a kiss. Even to such a time, she still maintains that kind of innocence, no matter when and where her innocence has almost always been well protected. As a child, Catherine was very simple, and innocence continued throughout her life.
4.1.2 Rebellion and Freedom
Throughout the novel, the search for freedom in Catherine’s personality is constant. First of all, when she was a child and teenager, she played with Cliff and chased him barefoot in the fields,which was her expression of her free nature. Secondly, her love for Heathcliff, whose identity is so different from hers, attracts her because of his free character, makes her fall in love with him, and shows her free character even more. In the same period, under the same education, no young girl can be as free as she is. Finally, her desire for freedom also reacted after she got married again. Although married to Edgar for many years, when she saw Cliff again, she tried to conceal but could not survive the real desire of her heart – freedom. Years of seemingly happy marriage with Edgar, in the search for freedom of nature, will be tortured by her breakdown.
Her rebellious nature is also reflected in many aspects of her upbringing. She shows this at the beginning of her meeting and as a child when she is unconcerned with the oppression and discrimination of her surroundings against Cliff, and her rebellion against this environment by being on an equal footing with Cliff. As an adolescent, this rebellion against her environment becomes even more intense, as she disdains the rules and regulations, lies in Cliff’s arms and fights. She can even throw religious scriptures into the doghouse and join Cliff in defying Hindley’s orders, which is a sign of her strong rebellious spirit. After her marriage, this rebellious character was suppressed, and she could no longer act as she had before.
4.2 Negative Images of Catherine
4.2.1 Vanity and Worship of Money
Catherine’s character of vanity and Money worship is shown after her trip to the Thrushcross Grange. Originally naive and free, after feeling the difference of the Thrushcross Grange, she had an endless desire for high society, money status, which even exceeded her original nature. She knew that back in Wuthering Heights, Cliff could not give her all of this, and her vanity made her make the choice to accept Edgar’s proposal of marriage. Compared to Cliff’s love, money and social status is what she craved at that time, and vanity and money worship took root and grew unchecked in her heart.
4.2.2 Emptiness and Loneliness
In the same way, Catherine’s emptiness and loneliness also arose after she married Edgar.Although in this marriage, she satisfied her vanity, got money and status, but her spiritual emptiness and loneliness could not be solved. The seemingly happy marriage relied on Edgar’s accommodation, but it could not solve the problem. Because Edgar did love her, but Edgar couldn’t understand her, and her love for Edgar was just for the material conditions that Edgar had, and their lack of passion in their marriage made her feel even more empty and lonely. Since childhood, she has been free and does not like constraints and regulations, time and again disguised as the upper-class society needs her to be, amid such requirements she suffers.
Furthermore, it was due to Cliff. When she chose to marry Edgar, because she felt that this life is what she wanted, and Cliff cannot give her these. But when Cliff left, she found herself no longer having the heart to talk to, she felt she could lose Cliff, and after leaving him, but lonely and empty. She could no longer run freely with him, expressing her true feelings, and the uninteresting life in the Thrushcross Grange continued without end, intensifying her emptiness and loneliness so that when she met Cliff again, she was in a violent inner conflict. However, she has lost the spirit and courage to rebel freely in the past after being empty and lonely for a long time.
4.3 Contradictory Images of Catherine
4.3.1 Contradiction Between Purity and Vanity
Catherine’s purity and vanity are a strong contrast, and it is found that the reason in the book is the Thrushcross Grange line. But the change of character should be subtle, the Thrushcross Grange is indeed a key factor in Catherine’s change, while another factor is the overall impact of the environment in which she grew up. Catherine grew up out of step with the environment, lack of care, she is innocent by nature and does not have much understanding of reality, so the upper-class life represented by the Thrushcross Grange can bring a huge impact on the simple Catherine at once. And the subsequent influence of Hindley and others intensifies the split in Catherine’s image, allowing her to produce this contradictory image.
4.3.2 Contradiction Between Freedom and Loneliness
Just as the point stated above, Catherine’s free nature runs through her whole life, but she has been enduring loneliness and isolation after marriage, which is also a contradiction point. Although Catherine is full of free nature, under the impact of the Thrushcross Grange, she ignores what consequences this future marriage of hers will bring to her, and she only thinks of material life while completely ignoring her nature. The pleasures of freedom with Cliff, to which she had become accustomed, and the upper-class life of Thrushcross Grange appealed to her more. But the free nature she had from childhood was not released in the Thrushcross Grange in any way, and she even needed to disguise herself and disguise herself as an upper-class person. And no one around her can understand her, even if she wants to pursue freedom, but who around her can help her, she only becomes more and more lonely. It was then that she realized that there was an unbridgeable gap between herself and upper-class and that life at Wuthering Heights was what he aspired to in the first place. The conflict in her heart also completely exploded after Cliff’s return, and she died after giving birth under the unbalanced inner cut.
4.3.3 Contradiction between Love of Reality and Love of Soul
Catherine’s contradictory image is not only expressed in her personality, but also in her dilemma of love. Edgar is the reality of love, his money, status, speech, appearance, and his love for Catherine all attract the real Catherine. For Catherine, Cliff is like the other half of her soul, and they have so much in common in their nature and souls . Their souls were attracted to each other, truly in tune with each other. Even after agreeing to Edgar’s proposal, she wanted to help Cliff get out of the cage and get a future of her own for him, which was not a bad way to hide her love for Cliff and marry Edgar18. However, love can only choose one, when she chose reality has been deeply hurt, Cliff. Catherine thinks she can reconcile the contradiction between the love of reality and the love of the soul, but she fails and hurts everyone, including herself.
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