A Study Of Wuthering Heights From The Perspective Of Ecocriticism

Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights is regarded as a wonderful work among the nineteenth-century literary works. The richness of the novel makes various readings of the novel possible. On the theme of the novel, Virginia Woolf comments that the novel reflects the living condition of humankind through the love of the protagonists. Among critic essays on the narrative strategies, Jane O'Neill's essay analyzes the different functions of the three narrators. Jane O'Neill also points out the artistic beauty of the images in the novel. Burns studies the novel from the perspective of archetype theories. Psychological study of the novel is also noteworthy. Some other critics analyze the surreal factors in the novel. The other important critical methods target the poetic language and Gothic elements. Of the exhaustive critical perspectives, ecocriticism is worth noticing because this critical perspective can enlighten us on how to solve today's environmental crisis. So this thesis studies the novel with the theories of ecocriticism. Ecologists hold that besides environmental crisis there is social ecological crisis as well as spiritual ecological crisis. While people are bent on gaining material wealth, the relationship between people becomes tenser. As civilization removes people from nature more and more, spiritual crisis arises and people tend to lose their own nature. This thesis is divided into six parts. The first part introduces the various studies on Wuthering Heights. Part Two is about the basic ecological theories and Emily Bronte's ecological thought. Deep Ecology, Social Ecology and Spiritual Ecology are examined in the part. Part Three applies the theory of Social Ecology to the relationships of the characters in the novel. Part Four studies the inner worlds of the protagonists with the theories of Spiritual Ecology. Part Five argues that the protagonists finally return to nature and the conflict between nature and civilization is resolved. Part six restates the significance of applying ecological theories to critical study of the novel.Emily Bronte's concern about the inner worlds of people echoes ecologists'' views that man should have a sound mind in order to lead a well-balanced life. And the upsetting of spiritual balance will lead to the unbalancing of the whole ecology.