On The Religious Vision In Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte is regarded as a genius of English literature. Time has proven her novel Wuthering Heights to be a true masterpiece. Its complexity and mysticism invite a great variety of interpretations. The writer is considered to have a unique personality and a great talent. Emily Bronte and her book are referred to as "sphinx literature". This thesis presents the religious point of view of the writer in the book through analysis of the text and her deep understanding of revenge, freedom and the love of man and woman.The introduction examines the significant position of Wuthering Heights in English literature and summarizes the dramatic changes in literary criticism over time as well as some points of views and interpretations and lead in the topic of religion.The social environment and the family background influence writers and their writing, so chapter one deals with Emily Bronte's life and social background. It introduces the politics, economy and ideology of the Victorian Age. with emphasis on the religious climate. It also explores the life of Emily Bronte, her hometown of Howorth, her family, her character and talent.The religious point of view is drawn from the chapter two of the text. It is discussed from two points of view. Section one is from the exterior layer of the narrators, Lockwood and Nelly. Nelly lives in Wuthering Heights from a very young age. Later she becomes the housekeeper. She experiences the two generations of the two families. Being a Christian she has the characteristics of Christians of that time. The story is told by a Christian, so everything is judged according to the standard of the religious value. Lockwood is the intruder to the Wuthering Heights. He looks for misanthropist's heaven and wants to hide from the society. He comes to realize that things are different from what he expects. The wind is too strong in Wuthering Heights like the unimaginable passion. He can't face the story himself. He asks Nelly to tell him stories. Therefore, Nelly the housekeeper appears by this way. Everything becomes easy to understand and acceptable by her narration. Lockwood accepts Nelly's narration and also supplies it. Both of them are like a bridge between the readers and the story, and also like two walls to block off the strong wind of Wuthering Heights. The passion is weakened, and emotion is balanced. Readers can feel the real existence of characters. Section two is about the real narrator, the writer herself. Even Emily hides herself, but it doesn't mean she hides her ideas completely because she also comments on Nelly and Lockwood in a casual way. Behind the two narrators, readers can find the silhouette of Emily and can get discernment of the writer's contradiction between Christianity and passion from the free will of human beings through the description of two generations.Chapter three is devoted to analyze the deep understanding of the religious point of view from revenge, freedom and love. Revenge is from the unfair circumstance. There is no regret in the revenge of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. It seems so powerful. It is the power of nature. Freedom is the center of Western value, it calls for the strength of people. People have a choice to be good or bad. Heathcliff loses the freedom to be good, so he chooses the freedom to exact revenge. However he pays for it, but shows no repentance. Love is the main theme in the world of human being. Love of Emily is very different. It surpasses the times and rules. In the novel, Catherine exists only for love. There are two kinds of love she occupies. One is with Heathcliff. That is natural love she developed when she was very young and it represents the love of ego. The other is her love with Edgar Linton which represents the civilized and conventional family love. These two different types of love split Catherine. In the end. she gives her spirit to Heathcliff, her body to Linton. The writer respects Linton's love for Catherine, but the love with Heathcliff is more passionate.The conclusion part summarizes the writer's religious point of view in Wuthering Heights. Emily supports the positive idea of Christianity and satirizes hypocrisy. She sees the natural feelings of human nature and believes these human emotions to be powerful in the universe. She swings between the peace of Thrushcross Grange and the passion of Wuthering Heights. She offers us her ambivalence towards the two divergent beliefs people may have between Christian values and the inner free will of human beings. Wuthering Heights shows a unique grasp of dialectical philosophy. It criticizes nothing. It brings everything into dispute.