| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 92 === Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights was reputed to be one of the ten great novels in the world by W. Somerset Maugham in 1948. Similarly, in Norway in May of 2002, this remarkable novel deserved high praise again as one of a hundred classics of world literature in all times. Emily Bronte, a talented writer with a vein of stoicism and mysticism in her personality, devoted herself to constructing her only novel. The story of doomed passions set against the gloomy background of the bleak, windswept Yorkshire moorland at the end of eighteenth century is its most noticeable characteristic.
This thesis is composed of five chapters. Based on C. Hugh Holman’s definition, different aspects of the elements making up the setting of the novel are addressed.
The first chapter is a brief introduction to the author’s life, the background of the writing, and the motivation of my study.
The second chapter concentrates on the element of the geographical location, including its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room. The moors with many guises, dreary in winter but divine in summer, provide a stage of grandeur for the passionate protagonists to act out. The two houses not only dominate the landscape, but also take on contrasting characteristics and atmosphere. The vegetation around Wuthering Heights is sparse and the house is seen as the home of life in the raw, of the rough indiscipline, and of unbridled emotions. Thrushcross Grange, set in a pleasant valley and surrounded by garden trees and the high wall of the court stands for the splendid, cultivated and civilized life of the landed gentry. The group of interrelated images based on windows, doors, locks, and keys are prominent as representations of minds and spirit’s grasp of interior and exterior.
The third chapter deals with the use of time as well as the powerful and exciting narration. With a skilful handling, Emily demonstrates her meticulous time sequence in the novel. Her description of the weather and seasons symbolizes feelings and actions of the characters, making the setting vivid and full of dramatic effects. Emily’s combining the larger frameworks of Lockwood and Nelly’s double narratives with other smaller more condensed multiple narratives form the core of the story, enhancing the vigorous quality and profundity of this startlingly original novel.
The fourth chapter elaborates the elements of the characters’ general environments. Throughout the novel, the concept of dualism is revealed in their occupations and daily manner of living. The religions, the ethics, the social class, and the economic roles associated with the two houses are all set in contrast.
The last chapter is the conclusion, which summarizes all the elements making up the fully and precisely created setting of the novel. The reason why Wuthering Heights becomes widely acknowledged as a masterpiece is elucidated as well.
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