I never even knew of Gothic literature......

 

Emily Brontë did it. Her, along with her two sisters, made history when they decided to publish their writings. They had to go through a lot to get their works out there but through all the trials and tribulations, they set a standard for female authors. More importantly Emily Brontë, because Wuthering Heights is now a well-renowned novel and my first read of a work of Gothic literature!

So initially, when Mrs. Smith had said we were studying Gothic literature, I chuckled a little. I did not know that she was being dead serious until she looked me in my eye and said "No, seriously." I got kind of scared, but after learning the elements of a Gothic work and reading Wuthering Heights, I have found a new appreciation for a gloomy setting and a twisted love story.



One of the most prevalent elements of a Gothic work is a gloomy setting, which consists of ghosts, mysterious architecture and other supernatural beings.  Brontë accomplishes this prerequisite when she reveals Catherine's ghost to Lockwood the night he sleeps at Wuthering Heights. This event is what triggered Lockwood's unstoppable and incurable curiosity about the people who live in Wuthering Heights (as he lives in Thrushcross Grange). After that night, he goes home and persists to ask Nelly questions so that he can figure out what is going on in the moors of which he now lives. This then leads to the various perspectives and points of view that the story is narrated in.

Another element of a work of Gothic literature is romance. Yes, it is an element found in many forms of literature but in Wuthering Heights it is different. The novel reveals flaws in seriously flawed people, especially through the characters of Catherine and Heathcliff. In a world full of judgement, some might say it is difficult for such a flawed person to find someone to share love with.  But in Wuthering Heights we see the two feel so passionately for each other that they sacrifice things and make some of the hardest decisions for the other to be well off. For example, Catherine speaks of Heathcliff saying "I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same" (chapter 9) In this situation, Catherine is speaking on how she cannot marry Heathcliff, and that she will marry Linton and will use his money to take care of Heathcliff. Despite her inability to be with Heathcliff she still guarantees that she will be looking out for him all the while with her husband. There is something about this act that cuts deep, hits home for me... Because I know how stingy people can be with their time when it comes to loving someone. Not everyone will sacrifice their liberation for another person, which is how this romance is part of Gothic literature. Despite how flawed the both of them are, Catherine and Heathcliff are in love and both mean the world to one another.

Despite that there were critics who read Wuthering Heights and responded with reviews telling Emily Brontë vicious things, like to kill her own self, she truly did an amazing job with this novel.  She demonstrated a twisted love story through a gothic novel, one that showed me having flaws does not disqualify you from the game of love, and that everybody has a somebody.