摘 要

艾米莉·勃朗特是十九世纪英国著名的女作家，作为她唯一的一部小说，《呼啸山庄》被认为是十九世纪最伟大的小说。《呼啸山庄》讲述了两个家庭和一个外来者之间的恩怨情仇。同时，这部小说亦然是维多利亚时期女性生活的真实写照。通过对当时女性生活的深刻洞察，艾米丽·勃朗特已经意识到女性地位的低下以及女性在法律和婚姻方面的所遭受的不平等境遇。

本文通过对女性生活状况的描写和女性对传统观念的挑战和反抗，旨在揭露女性社会地位的低下是由当时压迫性的社会所造成的。随着社会的不断发展，女性已经逐渐认识到自身所处的困境并奋起反抗，争取权益。女性只有在不依附于男性并且取得自身经济的独立的情况下，才能真正的提高自己的社会地位进而彻底的解放自己。

关键词: 呼啸山庄；女性地位；女性意识；英国维多利亚时期

Contents

1. Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

2.1 The women’s status in the Victorian age------------------------------------------------2

2.1.1 The social environment in Victorian age ---------------------------------------------2

2.1.2 Women's dilemma in the Victorian age -----------------------------------------------3

2.1.3 The feminine consciousness------------------------------------------------------------4

2.2 The women’s status in Wuthering Heights----------------------------------------------4

2.2.1 The traditional women’s living conditions in Wuthering Heights-----------------4

2.2.2 The traditional women’s status in Wuthering Heights-------------------------------5

2.3 The development of feminine consciousness in Wuthering Heights-----------------7

2.3.1 Catherine Earnshaw resists against the traditional society--------------------------7

2.3.2 Isabella Linton seeks for the freedom -------------------------------------------------9

2.3.3 Catherine Linton fights for equality---------------------------------------------------11

Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13

Notes---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

Works Cited -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

Bibliography-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16

An Analysis of Feminine Consciousness in Wuthering Heights

1. Introduction

It is universally acknowledged that Emily Bronte (1818-1848) is a shining star in the English Literature in the 19^th century. She and her two sisters-Charlotte Bronte, the author of Jane Eyre, and Anne Bronte, the author of Agnes Gray, are called the Bronte sisters. Born on July 30，1818 in the village of Thornton, West Riding of Yorkshire, in Northern England, Emily joined her sisters at school for a brief period at the age of six . When a typhoid epidemic swept the school, Emily was subsequently removed from the school and was thereafter educated at home by their father and their aunt Elizabeth Branwell, their mother's sister. Their father, an Irish Anglican clergyman, was very strict, and during the day he would work in his office, while the children were to remain silent in a room together. Despite the lack of formal education, Emily and her siblings had access to a wide range of published material; favorites included Sir Walter Scott, Byron, Shelley, and Blackwood's Magazine.

But great misfortune happened to her. Emily died in the year following the publication of Wuthering Heights, her greatest novel. This novel tells the story of a miserable orphan, Heathcliff. Mr.Earnshaw picks him up, takes him home and brings him up with his children. Catharine, Mr.Earnshaw’s daughter, grows up with Heathcliff. Both of them have a rebellious bone in their body. Attracted by each other, they fall in love. However, their pure love encounters traverse and has been smashed by the class prejudice of the bourgeoisie. So Heathcliff decides to embark on the road of revenge.