Student Theses and Dissertations
Date of Award
Spring 5-16-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
B.A. with honors
Honors Designation
yes
Program of Study
English
Language
English
First Advisor
Stephanie Hershinow
Second Advisor
Mary McGlynn
Third Advisor
Timothy Aubry
Abstract
Emily Brontë (1818-1848) wrote Wuthering Heights in 1847 at a point of collision between Romantic thought and Victorian ideals. Her novel exemplifies a developed and deliberate effort to represent a world ruled by forces out of one’s control, the most evident example of this being the supernatural force that overtakes the novel. In her precise focus on the language and natural landscape that bind this novel together, her characters emerge as representative of the psychological complexity produced by the coexistence of the mundane and the extraordinary. My thesis focuses on the effects of the natural landscape and the forces that at times control it, but I also look at the psychological effects that these forces have on, in particular, the novel’s two main characters: Cathy and Heathcliff. Emily Brontë immersed these two characters in the natural world, highlighting their triumphs and tumultuous love. In better understanding this connection, I first look at the power behind nature, the supernatural forces governed by a Romantic aesthetic concept known as the sublime. After situating this novel in its literary historical context, I continue to move my analysis closer to the characters, looking specifically at Cathy and Heathcliff and showing both their individual and shared relationships with the natural world and the supernatural. I conclude in my last chapter of this thesis by returning to nature, revealing it to be a character as well. Overall, I read Brontë’s only novel as both grounded in its historical context (in its perpetuation of Romantic ideals and aesthetics) and forward-thinking in its imagining of new possibilities for engaging with the world.
Recommended Citation
Cymrot, Jordan, "A World Ruled By Unknowns: The Psychological Effects of the Supernatural and Natural Worlds in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights" (2020). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bb_etds/98