摘 要

艾米丽勃朗特是19世纪英国文学史上才华卓越的女作家。她唯一的小说——《呼啸山庄》被认为是英国最伟大的文学作品之一。这部小说主要讲述的是两个家庭之间的爱情和仇恨。更重要的是，通过对女主人公的刻画，艾米丽提出她的观点，即女性应该反抗男权主义以获得和男性同等的权力。自从1847年出版以来，大多数学者都研究了小说中希斯克利夫和凯瑟琳之间的爱情，分析了其人物和哥特式特征等。本文主要从女性主义视角着重分析凯瑟琳的悲剧，探讨凯瑟琳女性主义意识的觉醒，她的悲剧以及导致其悲剧的原因，并揭示了19世纪维多利亚时代女性的真实生活情况。

关键词：艾米丽勃朗特；《呼啸山庄》；女性主义；悲剧

Contents

1. Introduction.............................................................................................................1
2. Demonstration.........................................................................................................3

2.1 The awakening of the feminist consciousness.......................................................3

2.1.1 The rebellion against patriarchy..........................................................................3

2.1.2 The pursuit of love...............................................................................................4

2.1.3 The pursuit of freedom.........................................................................................4

2.2 Catherine’s tragedy..................................................................................................5

2.2.1 Catherine’s failure to rebel against patriarchy......................................................5

2.2.2 Catherine’s death...................................................................................................6

2.3 The causes of Catherine’s tragedy............................................................................7

2.3.1 The social cause.....................................................................................................7

2.3.2 The family cause...................................................................................................8

2.3.3 The personal cause................................................................................................9

3. Conclusion..................................................................................................................9

Works Cited.................................................................................................................11

Bibliography.................................................................................................................12

An Analysis of Catherine’s Tragedy in Wuthering Heights from the Feminist Perspective

1. Introduction

Emily Bronte(1818-1848), the famous poet and novelist in the 19^th century, died in obscurity after only 30 years in the world. She was, above all, a poet, who had written some very excellent poems, including narrative poems and short poems, some of which had been selected for selection among the twenty-two best English poets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, her only novel, Wuthering Heights, established her position in the history of the English literature and even the world literature. Emily, together with her elder sister——Charlotte Bronte(1816-1855) and her younger sister——Anne Bronte(1820-1849), was known as “The Bronte Sisters”. When reviewing the British literary heritages, people have to marvel and lament at how many brilliant chapters this girl would have left to feed her readers if she did not pass away too soon.

Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847. Widely regarded as a classic of English literature, Wuthering Heights, however, is considered controversial because it challenges strict Victorian ideals of the day regarding religious hypocrisy, morality,social classes and gender inequality. In Wuthering Heights, the depiction of the mental and physical cruelty is unusually stark and Catherine, the heroine,symbolizes the woman who bravely pursues love, freedom, and equality, all of which is the challenge to the strict Victorian ideals. As the object of the literary studies worldwide, Wuthering Heights has received different attentions and been studied from different perspectives. Many overseas researchers have a deep study of this novel from the perspectives of the structural studies, narrative studies, feminism and class struggle. Researchers on Wuthering Heights in China, mainly focus on the characters, artistic techniques, themes, and images of this novel. This paper mainly analyzes Catherine’s tragedy from the feminist perspective on the basis of researches at home and abroad.