a230B Wuthering Heights tma
In Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is a complex character who functions as both victim and victimizer over the course of the novel. How is Heathcliff portrayed as a victim in the novel and how does he react to such victimization? Conversely, how is he depicted as a victimizer? Is his behavior as a victimizer justifiable? How does the complex characterization of Heathcliff contribute to the complexity and hybridity of the novel as a whole? Discuss Heathcliff’s character and his position in society using a coherent theoretical approach, such as postcolonial, psychoanalytical, or Marxist.
Important guidelines:
1. Using the E-library may be beneficial to your essay. Make sure the sources you cite are academic.
2. Divide your essay into 5-6 body paragraphs and discuss each question in a separate paragraph with examples and quotations from the work.
3. The word count should range from 1000-1200 words.
4. Revise the final document before submitting your TMA to avoid typos and grammatical mistakes.
5. Use the Harvard style of documentation.
Helpful sources:
Close, A. 2007, “Approaches to Teaching Brontë’s Wuthering Heights”, Gothic Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 101-103.
LeJeune, J. 2017, “The Violent Take It by Force”: Heathcliff and the Vitalizing Power of Mayhem in “Wuthering Heights”, University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
McDonnell, J. 2013, “The Gothic, Postcolonialism and Otherness: Ghosts from Elsewhere”, The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, no. 12, pp. 118-121.
Moussa, P.A. & Mehrvand, A. 2014, “Unwelcomed Civilization: Emily Brontë’s Symbolic Anti-Patriarchy in Wuthering Heights”, International Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 29-34.
Stoneman, P. 2011, ‘Rochester and Heathcliff and Romantic Heroes’, Bronte Studies, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 111-18
Requirements: 1000-1500
Answer preview
Bronte portrays Heathcliff as an innocent victim who gets ill-treated by Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw’s son, due to his mixed-race and poor social status. The mixed-race aspect is evident in the novel whereby as described, Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw gathered to see the “dirty, ragged, black-haired child; big enough both to walk and talk: indeed, its face looked older than Catherine’s.” (Bronte 1996, p.24). In this case, Mr. Earnshaw, who brought Heathcliff to their home, believed that he was a gift from God, but his wife was shocked to see the child’s dark complexion (Bronte 1996, p.24). She further went ahead asking when Mr. Earnshaw brought a gypsy brat to their house, yet they had their children, Cathy and Hindley, to bring up. When Heathcliff got introduced to Earnshaw’s family, he was a victim of ridicule due to his race. As time went by, Hindley openly disliked Heathcliff, grew bitter, and even harassed him extensively since he got affection and privileges (Bronte 1996, p35-36).
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