Monday, February 28, 2011

Feminist Criticism and Wuthering Heights

    In Lyn Pykett's essay, "Changing the Names: The Two Catherines," Pykett explains the mirroring and counter-mirroring of the two Catherines in Wuthering Heights.  In the early parts of the essay, she says "the novel thus begins and ends with Catherine Earnshaw" (469).  This is an illustration of the mirroring effect the two Catherines embody.  Pykett ends the essay by contrasting the two Catherines by saying Cathy "reconstructs both herself and Hareton" while "Catherine is destroyed by her inability to reconcile conflicting images of herself" (477). 
    Pykett also explains how Emily Bronte's views that are expressed through the novel and its plot are contradictory to viewpoints of women during the period.  One example that's given is the fact that Catherine's marriage to Edgar should resolve her issues but it only makes them worse.  Catherine begins life being "an assertive child associated with the realm of nature, its freedom and power, rather than with the domestic and its constraints" (470).  This is the first inner conflict that Catherine faces.  By having this duality, Catherine is forced to create a double  persona within herself.  She has the Heathcliff part that always longs for him and she has the proper part that is in constant conflict with her other half.  Pykett says that Catherine's character illustrates the "difficulties of trying to be the heroine of one's own life in a social and domestic milieu which cannot provide a theater for heroinism" (472). She also brings up the point that Catherine's sense of power does not cause her a feeling of self-fulfillment but leads and causes conflict within herself and between others.
    Pykett says that Cathy makes the journey of Catherine in reverse.  Catherine is said to have chosen Edgar to marry out of free will but Cathy is forced, against her will, to marry Linton.  Cathy's plight mirrors her mother's in the fact that she must make a choice between two men.  However, Cathy's outcome differs from Catherine's because she uses her experiences from the first "choice" to inform her second choice.  Pykett also says that the Catherine/Heathcliff ploy is mirrored through Cathy/Hareton.  She argues that Cathy chooses Hareton because it plays out the unfulfilled relationship Catherine never had with Heathcliff.
    It is this act, Cathy choosing Hareton, that Pykett argues displays Bronte's true feelings of feminism.  It is this act that illustrates these feelings because Cathy is able to freely and wholly choose Hareton for herself. 

3 comments:

  1. Hey Elizabeth,
    After reading your post, one thing that came to my mind is the idea that the character of Catherine started off feminist, and then after her stay at Thurshcross Grange, she is transformed into the stereotypical, nice, English lady. She no longer yearns to run around in the moors or have fun with Heathcliff anymore. I know this transformation can also be related to growing up and growing tired of such things, but I think it's interesting from a feminist point of view as well.

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  2. I also found it interesting that Catherine is almost split in two. I feel like I can identify with her in the way I am very much young and wild at heart..making reckless decisions. At the same time I know and understand responsibility and the importance of wealth in today's society. I want to be able to provide for a family some day and be well represented within society. The more I study and read critical thinking about Bronte's character Catherine the more I begin to understand the novel and connect with her.

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  3. This is probably something both genders are strugling with now. I'm reminded of the lyrics of a rap song: "lady in the street, but freak in the bed." In this case women may have it worse. They mostly wear white at a wedding, but most grooms wear black. Perhaps, we're just not held to the same standard.

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