Pursuing A Whole Self

Emily Bronte is one of the greatest British female writers in the19th century. In her30years’life, Emily just leaves only one novel Wuthering Heights, however, which lays her irreplaceable position in the world literature history. For a long time, this novel has been discussed from many perspectives. In recent years, with the development of ecofeminism, scholars apply this theory to literary criticism. As ecofeminist researches on Wuthering Heights in China are not very enough, this thesis, based on preceding studies, plans to make a detailed ecofeminist interpretation on the heroine Catherine Earnshaw by closely reading the text, in order to provide a new perspective of understanding the novel and explore the current significance of the novel from a deeper level.This thesis is made up of five chapters in all.The introduction part gives a brief account of Emily Bronte and her only novel Wuthering Heights, reviews the representative researches abroad and at home on the novel and indicates the significance and main arguments of the thesis.The second chapter discusses the theoretical foundation of the thesis-ecofeminism and expounds the reasons why the thesis chooses this theory to analyze Wuthering Heights.The third chapter tries to explore the similar situation of Catherine Earnshaw and nature in patriarchal world. First, Catherine’s intimate relationship with nature and animals is illustrated. Then, the subordinate status of Catherine and nature in the patriarchal society is analyzed. Catherine’s whole life is controlled by patriarchy and she is compelled to lose her whole self, while nature is denigrated as the belittled and exploited object.The fourth chapter expounds Catherine Earnshaw’s pursuit of a whole self, which shows Emily Bronte’s vision for a new female image. In order to achieve a whole self, Catherine tries her best to challenge patriarchal domination. Through a lifetime of struggle, Catherine finally fulfills her whole self by returning to nature.The last part summarizes the thesis and comes to the conclusion:Emily Bronte is a great writer with advanced consciousness and her ecofeminist ideas expressed in Wuthering Heights can still find an echo in the ecofeminist claims of the present day. Through the thesis, the author expects to encourage modern women to bravely pursue their own ideals and values and make human beings realize the importance of nature and whole self.