Youth and Maturity

A scholarly paper in an Iraqi journal:

Youth and Maturity in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

Dr. Ahmed Rasheed Majeed Al-Rubaiy, Al-Iraqia University, College of Arts

AL-Yarmouk Journal
2023, Volume 20, Issue 7, Pages 989-1020

Abstract

The Gothic Romance Novel “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë is regarded as one of the most significant works of English literature. Emily Brontë wrote the book in 1847 and had it published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. The Novel represents a significant advancement in English literature. Some critics debated the novel’s place in a particular literary subgenre. Others assert that it is a Gothic Romance, while others say it is a romance. Certainly, Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship fits the mold of a conventional love narrative. This opinion is up for debate among readers and anybody else interested in English novels, though. Taking into account Catherine’s death, Heathcliff’s vengeance, and the paranormal elements of their relationship. All of these components give the book a feeling of supernaturalism. By the conclusion, this might have given the book a gothic label. Through the eyes of Nelly Dean in both families, the narrative tells the history of the three generations of the two families. The acts of the novel are clearly influenced by Gothic elements. In her early years, Emily Bronte became an obsessive reader of Gothic romances, allowing the gothic romances’ eerie settings and fantastic characters to feed her thoughts. The mysterious events surrounding Heathcliff’s death and Lockwood’s dream are two of the novel’s more notable instances that are classic Gothic in inspiration, but the actual surroundings and settings have nothing in common with the enigmatic castles and uncharted lands typical of the Gothic romance. A further feeling of mystery is added to the novel’s activities by Heathcliff, whose origins are unclear and at times look demonic. This research paper discusses the notion of youth and maturity in Wuthering Heights as it relates to the feminist criticism theory, which affirms the status of women in the Victorian era. The key instances of the novel’s subject of youth and maturity are thoroughly examined in this research, as are the significant transformations that the female characters’ lives and overall fate undergo.