critical interpretations

Question 1

For Victorians, WH was unarguably immoral and uncivilised

Answer 1

-deeply challenged ideas about literature
“a fiend of book, an incredible monster… the action is laid in Hell…”

however later it was praised for having a metaphysical message
characters exist in virtue of reality of their attitude to the universe

Question 2

Victorian reviewers criticised the novel for the confusing structure

Answer 2

-contradicted their belief that it was the novelist’s duty to make her meaning plain
-conflicting voices in novel might disturb such stable meanings

Question 3

“narrative structure” of withering heights

Answer 3

-argued that the structure of story is symmetry to the two generations
-different voices in the allocation of story instead of more conventional narrative form (1 narrator)

Question 4

psychoanalytic readings

Answer 4

the psychoanalytic theory proposed by Freud
-unconscious reveal itself towards conscious mind by dreams
-seen through Lockwood’s dreams in the beginning

Question 5

absence of mothers

Answer 5

-link to Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation -> development of aggression
-absence of mothers feature of WH (Bronte lost her mum at age of 3)

Question 6

crucial lack of identity to all women under patriarchy

Answer 6

Lockwood scene where name of “Catherine” in various manifestations
-“What Catherine, or any girl must learn is that she does not know her own name…”