Ethical Literary Criticism

A Brontë-related article in the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Humanities, Wisdom Education and Service Management (HWESM 2023, Shanghai):

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Humanities, Wisdom Education and Service Management (HWESM 2023)

Atlantis Press

Series:Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research

ISBN:  978-2384760671

An Analysis of Love Between Heathcliff and Catherine in Wuthering Heights from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism

Xiujuan Wang1, Department of Basic Studies, Liaoning University of International Business and Economics, Dalian, Liaoning, China

Abstract

Wuthering Heights, a novel by Emily Brontë, one of the famous Brontë sisters, tells a tragic story of love and hate between two main characters, Catherine and Heathcliff. In this book, the hero Heathcliff not only has a sincere and passionate love for the heroine Catherine, but also has strong ambition in jealousy and revenge. The contradictory and complicated tragic love story between Heathcliff and Catherine makes Wuthering Heights become a masterpiece in English literature. Using the theory of ethical literary criticism, this paper analyzes the love tragedy of these two characters and expounds the causes of the tragedy on the basis of studying Heathcliff’s ethical identity.