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Erin Bosold
Ms. Winter
British Literature Period 2
2 March 2016
Gothic Women
Gothicism a rebellious stage, usually described as the dark, depressing, teenage phases;
actually originated as horror stories in the Victorian Era. The writing style consists of inanimate
objects coming to life, ghost, imprisonment, and emphasizing romance; or just another way to
relieve childhood issues in a creative, non-lethal way, well almost non lethal way. Emily Bronte,
a gothic novelist uses gothic aspects to create the settings, highlighting her characters, putting
emphasis on their struggles, and to add dimension through an outside source or a background
character narrator. Wuthering Heights one of Emily Brontes novels describes the struggle
between two families and how they use their women to gain and obtain power. She does this by
showing the women of the houses live and how they withhold the ideals of the perfect women;
however, if they stray from this path, the consequence are disastrous. All in all, Emily Bronte use
Gothic ideals to show women's role in society and the consequence if they fail to uphold them.
Catherine Earnshaw and her brother Hindley Earnshaw are the two children of Mr.
Earnshaw and live in Wuthering Heights; Mr Earnshaw -as to be expected of a successful
business man- often leaves to attend to business, leaving his mischievous children with the run of
the house. Though on one such occasion instead of bringing home a fiddle for Hindley and a
riding whip for Catherine, he brings home a gypsy child named Heathcliff. At first this dark
haired, dark skinned child seemed a sullen, patient child, hardened, perhaps,to ill-treatment
(Bronte-4-42); however after time he proved to be manipulative, intelligent, insensible, and

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conscious child.(Cotton) Catherine, unlike her brother Hindley, took a quick liking to Heathcliff
and the two became inseparable, mischievous pair. One night the two mischievous children
headed over to Thrushcross Grange; while there Catherine gets attacked by a rabid dog and is
found by the Lintons, the inhabitants of Thrushcross Grange. Soon after the Lintons send a letter
professing to keep Catherine until she is has become an ideal lady, a domestic, educated young
lady who is chaste, or an angel of the home(Haggerty). As shown in The Blessed Damozel
,From the gold bar of Heaven;/Her eyes were deeper than the depth/Of waters stilled at
even;/She had three lilies in her hand,/And the stars in her hair were seven./Her robe, ungirt from
clasp to hem,/No wrought flowers did adorn,/But a white rose of Mary's gift,/For service meetly
worn;/Her hair that lay along her back/Was yellow like ripe corn.(Dante Gabriel Rossetti).
Unfortunately, even after marrying Edgar Linton -the eldest of the Linton children- Catherine did
not hold up the ideal for she still cared deeply for Heathcliff, which lead to her untimely demise.
Though Heathcliff had shown signs of conning throughout the novel, with a quick temper
to boot, he had never really show any signs of full on monsterous rage. That was until
Catherine's death, when he started to praying for her ghost to come haunt him and took great
pleasure in taking his anger and revenge on everyone whos ever done him wrong, even their
children. Its almost as if Emily Bronte wanted to highlight how the world around Heathcliff
turned him into the monstrous person he is, just like in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It would of
course make sense for Emily Bronte to use similar aspects to Frankenstein considering theyre
both Gothic novels; however unlike Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte chooses to takes a more light
hearted approach for lack of a better term. Bronte chose to take more of a real life like story
compare to Shelleys ghost story. Though Bronte has ghost in her story, the ghost of Catherine
to be exact, Wuthering Heights is more of a rumor has it story. This is caused by the different

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narrators. Even then Mary Shelley has different narrators; however Bronte use a maid as the
narrator of the story. This causes the reader to question the story; it also makes the reader to
assume to dig a little deeper and uncover the truth. Nelly Dean the narrator was a close friend
with Catherine and helped raised her daughter Catherine or, for the stake of no confusion her
nickname, Cathy. Nelly, being a natural gossip, proves to be more of a tattle tail little sister than a
mother figure this makes life very difficult for young Cathy.

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Cathy, though raised in opposite circumstance is just like her mother; however unlike her
mother was raised a proper lady. Unfortunately like her mother, her curiosity could not be
contained. Just like the Lady of Shalott who spend her life looking at the world through a mirror,
Cathy was sheltered for the reality of Wuthering Heights. Though her mirror to the world was her
cousin Linton to whom developed romantic feelings. Wanting to know more she constantly
wrote to Linton; however this was quickly stopped when Nelly intervened, but unlike the Lady
of Shalott who claimed "'I am half sick of shadows"'( Lord Tennyson, Alfred) only to turn and
meet her untimely demise, Cathy stayed away. That was until Heathcliff trapped her in
Wuthering Heights and forcing her to marry Linton. After Lintons passing, still imprisoned in
Wuthering Heights she is now being punished as shown in Figure 1. Past and Present is an
image of a man beating his with for
committing adultery or not being the ideal
women, just like Cathy in Wuthering Heights.
This torture continued until Heathcliffs death.
Afterward being the only successor to the
family fortune, quickly took over both houses.
She then married Hearton and moved back to
her home Thrushcross Grange.
Charlotte Bronte author of Jane Eyre,
sister to Emily Bronte takes a different approach to the ideal women; while Emily Bronte makes
unethical woman die of unfortunate circumstances Charlotte makes them the
heroine(Overveiw). Jane is a working woman who falls in love herself; while Emily puts Cathy
through hell. Forcing her to marry Linton, having to deal with Heathcliffs tempertantroms, and a

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sickly sweet child-like Hearton. Though in the end Cathy has a happy ending along with her
mother whose ghost haunts the graveyard with Heathcliffs, there is still a lack of a real happy
ending. This leaves the feeling of a real life story with even more bumps and bruises down the
road for Cathy. She not only has to teach Hearton how to read she now has to be in charge of to
houses; however the story ends perfectly with both female characters finally being happy and can
finally have a normal life. Well as much as a normal life as you can as a ghost. Just like Jane
Eyre but without the living through monstrous men, the hauntings, the idiot neighbor, and the
massive amounts of avoidable drama.
In the end, Emily Bronte uses Gothic ideals to highlight women's role in society and the
unfortunate consequences if they fail to uphold them. Which explains why the main focus is the
woman and why the narrator is a women. It gives the reader more of an understanding of the
dark and twisted world Bronte has created. It gives the characters a chance to shine through the
black curtain that is Gothicism, and brings a more Victorian breathe of fresh air. Brontes world
of Wuthering Heights is a classic Gothic novel with a feminist twist. Definitely recommend as a
fun way to look at the beginning of the Gothic revolution. Not the dark, depressing, hateful stage
that is commonly seen today.

Works Cited
Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The Lady of Shalott. Poets & Poetry of England in the 19th
Century. LitFinder. Ed. Rufus W. Griswald, R. H. Stoddard, and James Miller. N.p., n.d.
Web. 8 May 2016. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CLTF0000682740WK&v=2.1&u=eldorado&it=r&p=LITF&sw=w&asid=a53a9f8cde
cabec2f537382586d95375>.

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Cottom, Daniel. I Think; Therefore, I Am Heathcliff. Literature Resource Center. Ed.
Jessica Bormarito and Russel Whitaker. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2016.
<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
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668d9bafc4030d5c3>.
Egg, Augustus Leopold. Past and Present No.1. 1858. oil paint on canvas. Tate.
Haggerty, Geogre, E. Victorian Newsletter 74 (Fall 1988). Literature Resource Center.
Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2016.
<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
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2d9e4f5b5234ab2e>.
Joseph, M.K. Mary Shelley: Overview. Reference Guide to English Literature.
Literature Resource Center. Ed. Kirkpatrick, D.L. and St. James Press, 1991 Chicago.
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%7CH1420007331&v=2.1&u=eldorado&it=r&p=GLS&sw=w&asid=f0ff2a18d509d4a5f
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Overview: Jane Eyre. Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works
and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Literature Resource Center. Ed. Joyce
Moss and Geogre Wilson. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2016. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
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49810038fc78ff47>.

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Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. The Blessed Damozel. Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895.
LitFinder. Ed. Edmund Clarence Stedmam and Houghton Mifflin. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May
2016. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
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3efeceaae2c8ae4257511c>.
Wuthering Heights. 1847. New York: Signet Classic, 1959. Print.