Linguistics
In our lesson on Thursday we started by having to identify all the language feature that are found in Wuthering Heights, like symbols, motifs, semantics and themes. We then looked at the how the linguistics that are used in Wuthering Heights help to tell the story, and how a chain of sentences create this feeling of excitement which is followed by a sentence that kills the flow of joy all together.
We looked at the use of pronouns such as ‘I’ personal, but opinionated. We see this in the opening of the novel when Lockwood narrates his meeting with Mr Heathcliff and excessive use of the word I which shows the reader that Lockwood is a very opinionated character and also one that is very self –centred narrator. The use of ‘it’ is also found in the novel regarding Heathcliff “it looked intelligent”. ‘it’ is used as in regard to objects, this also creates the fear of the unknown which in the time of the British empire was a common fear due to the amount of nations that where colonised. We then focused on dynamic verbs and how they used to give the text an energetic feeling with the use of words such as “ran” creating movement in the text “she bounded before me” as Nelly narrates when she and Cathy go out on her sixteenth birthday. This is used to amplify the excitement and mood of the text.
Then we discussed the use of nouns which are used to give the text a sense of realness and believability. They are used so the reader can connect with the text and not feel like an outside observer. The dates “1801”, seasons and diary entrees also make the story more reliable. Sentence length also plays an important role in the novel. They are used after a long sentence that is complex and compound, the sentence normally leaves the reader with a question mark “It's a pity she could not be content” that is behind all the enjoyment there is always something that the character is worried about, which in the case of Cathy is her sick father. Semantic fields are also used in the novel with regards to many things. For example in regards to the Grange and the first description that we get of the place, words like carpet, crimson, shimmering and soft tapers gives the place a feeling of heaven on earth where all is well and happy, yet this not the case when we look at the following cluster of words which reveal the true nature of things at the Grange. Words like shrieking, weeping and “red-hot needles” gives the reader a completely different feel of the Grange which is more like hell the heaven.
After that we looked at a couple of extract that we were from Wuthering Heights and had to identify the linguistic feature that they had. We saw how they were dominated with the pronoun ‘I’ that is used by our narrators Lockwood and Nelly showing how opinionated they are. We also found semantic fields in regards to Heathcliff as Nelly narrates about him. Words such as degradation, black fire, depressed, roughness and stern show that Heathcliff as an evil character which is later described as “imp of Satan”.
And hear is the bit we all love... the home work. We have to an essay the question was “The mystery inherent in the story confers Wuthering Heights as a Gothic novel”. Discuss.
We wrote a sort of plan on what should be in the essay
• Fragmented narrative/nouns and time
• Ambiguous- TC WH oppositions blurred
• Life and death
• Parasitic- feeds on Victorian categorisation
• Gothic context- how the Gothic is more of a mode then a genre
• Thesis statement. Mysterious elements create uncertainty and fear making the novel of the Gothic mode

Section B Questions

Section B Questions

The section B question that we focused the lesson on was:

“Writers often use the Gothic literary genre in order to challenge or destabilise the beliefs and conventions of society” Discuss this statement in relation to three texts.

 We began to talk about how we could interpret this question. We said how it could be related to Julian Wolfrey’s article in which he said "Gothic exists in relation to mainstream culture in the same way as a parasite does to its host". We discussed how this related to the word ‘Destabilise’ in the question. Wolfrey’s says that the Gothic acts much like a parasite which feeds on the ‘deep wounds’ of society in order to evoke fear and anxiety from readers. In other words the Gothic seeks to reveal to society its own fears. It aims to morph these fears into the traditional stock characters and wild, isolated settings of the Gothic in order to illuminate society’s own fears to itself, thus destabilising ‘the beliefs and conventions of society’.

Following this we split up into groups of three and was each given an article relating to a specific text. We then had to extract quotes from these articles and find quotes within the text that we could relate to these. My specific text was ‘The Bloody Chamber’ and a quote that we picked out was:

“Otherness takes centre stage”  - in discussion to this quote by Fred Botting we talked about how, in The Bloody Chamber ‘Otherness’ does indeed take centre stage. Carter does not stick to the traditional ‘methods’ of the gothic. The stock manly, boisterous characters typical of the Gothic are replaced with noble heroines who are often in a position of power over their male counterparts. In relation to The Bloody Chamber itself we talked about the shifts in power within Carter’s stories. One of many examples is in ‘The Erl-King’ in which we see our female narrator strangle the Erl-King with his own hair while he lays in her lap.

Finally with all of our quotes and critics points we began to link the general ideas of our quotes to all three texts rather than just one. To do this we constructed a ven diagram in order to demonstrate clearly which points linked to which text and whether any points would be relevant for all three texts. Some examples of the quotes from my groups ven diagram are linked to below:

(Very simplified but you get the idea)

Ven Diagram

The significance of chronological events in “Wuthering Heights”

The significance of chronological events in “Wuthering Heights”

During this lesson we mainly studied the effect of Bronte’s order of events. The non chronological order holds significance on many different aspects of the novel.

We looked at Bronte’s use of multiple narratives and the effects of this. We each drew a picture to try and represent what we believed to show how Bronte used the frame narrative to tell of

Bronte's writing

About

Lockwood's re-encounter

Of what

Nelly told him

She interpreted

From Isabella's letters.

Next we looked at the order of events within Wuthering Heights. Bronte's uses of non chronological events can be seen as confusing so we split into groups and rearranged the events to what they would have been if told chronologically.

We then summarised what was gained and lost through Bronte’s use of non chronological narrative and decided:

Gained

• An further understanding of Heathcliff’s character
• Sympathy for Heathcliff
• A stronger understanding of family relationships and relations
• A more stable understanding of characters emotions toward each other
• Clarity in relation to the novel as a whole
• A more comfortable reading experience with more relatable characters

Lost

• The “uncanny of the monumental”
• The gothic aspects of obscurity
• The gothic aspects of ambiguity
• The mystery of Heathcliff (to a certain extent)
• The use of Lockwood as a narrator (as Nelly would have to tell the whole story)
• The uncomfortable and non relatable characters.

As a result I personally believe that Bronte's time scheme is used to allow the elements of the gothic to invade and feed on the mainstream literature that is “Wuthering Heights”. Without Bronte's time scheme the gothic intervention in “Wuthering Heights” would decrease drastically due to the loss of obscurity of the plot and the ambiguity of characters. Bronte's time scheme and with-holding of information makes any judgements or decisions made by the reader at the start of the novel a contradiction of themselves later on in the novel. This occurs when intentions behind actions are revealed; A good example of this would be Heathcliff’s revenge and then the discovery of his abuse as a child at the hands of Hindley and the way the “dark skinned gypsy brat” is never truly accepted by his “family” with the exception of Catherine, and even she questions his humanity later on in the novel.

Religion in 'The Pardoner's Tale'.

Started of the lesson with interprating this picture and how the wolves praying on the bodies could represent religion in medival society and its power and dominance upon its members.

"It is in the corruption of religion that the text becomes horrific". How far do you

think this assessment of 'The Pardoner's Tale is justified?

We then went on to highlighting key words in the question which later on helped with noting down what needs to include in this essay question, such as;

• David Punter's definition of Horror + Terror
• The church being a 'parasite' to middle-age society/ the Gothic amplifying and 'feeding off' deeper wounds already present in members within society.
• Questioning the question= e.g. it can be horrific to an extent but not without the element of terror.

We then went on to focusing on the word 'Corrupt' and what it could mean;

• Exploitation
• immorality
• taking advantage of ones position and status.

By reading pages 73- 76 and underlining (with pencil!) the important points on religious context within the middle ages and its significance in The Pardoner's Tale. Examples:

Religious Context- Chaucer's presentation of this in The Pardoner's Tale

• The state of the soul is important to the Cristian faith/ preparing for the 'next life'- The Pardoner uses this ideology in order to manipulate the congregations fears and anxieties.


• Money could be paid as a substitute to penance. It could then be used by the Church for its various religious and charitable purposes- Yet the Pardoner uses it to convince people who want the pardons and him having the power to provide it, becomes a profitable racket.


• Preaching was a highly developed technique in the middle ages, it had an agreed structure- The Pardoner draws examples from scriptures or other authoritative writers, fitted in at suitable moments throughout the sermon to justify his preaches.


• The preacher is not giving his own self- generated thoughts but he is passing on the word of God- Yet the Pardoner states that he thoroughly enjoys his powers of persuasion. To help him gain money from 'selling' pardons.


• 1/3 of the countries wealth going to the church- Description of Pardoners value of church as an institution to fill up his pocket.


• Church had political power which went to people within the church- The Pardoner abuses his power and position given to him by the church.

• Preaching intended to bring people closer to Christ- Sermon on avarice (attempt for own gain)


• Preaches were only allowed to preach the word of God- The Pardoner makes his own pronouncement on the authority of his relics.

Parasites

"Gothic exists in relation to mainstream culture in the same way as a parasite does to its host"
Julian Wolfreys, Victorian Gothic

The idea of parasites and the parasitic was the topic of today's lesson. Most of the lesson was spent reading and summarizing from the article in which the quote was taken from. (if you missed the lesson, you can probably get the article from Mr Sadgrove).

The article discusses the period of Gothic as a genre, starting with the Castle of Otranto in 1764, and ending with Frankenstein in 1818. (Note the fact that none of the texts we are studying are from this period. Wuthering Heights was published in 1847, The Pardoner's Tale in the late 1300's and The Bloody Chamber in the 70's.)
Wolfreys states that after this period, the Gothic becomes more of a mode than a genre. The definition of mode in literature being:
an employed method or approach, identifiable within a written work

Wolfreys says that the 1840's and 1880's:
'is read implicitly as the time of the Gothic's subordination, translation and marginalization.'
Because of this, Victorian (1837-1901) Gothic is an 'evacuated' genre, as it is marginalized.

Wolfreys goes on to discuss the themes within Gothic literature (incest, homosexuality etc.) stating that the Gothic is 'the articulation of the human psyche'
Furthermore, Wolfreys quotes critics such as Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick, David Punter, and Robert Miles to back up his point that the Gothic takes the fears of contemporary society, and reconstitutes it into a literary form. He rounds off with a discussion (for want of a better word) of the heterogeneity of the Gothic, as it is hard to stick it to a discernible period.
The article ends with the statement:
'It is as if the phantoms of the gothic arrive so as to illuminate in encrypted form the Victorians to themselves'

Is Wuthering Heights a Gothic novel?
In our lesson last week we started by having to write a blurb about Wuthering Heights and had to write it like it’s a Gothic novel. This is my blurb: Heathcliff a man bound by the love he has for the daughter of Mr Earnshaw Catherine and vows that not even death can separate them. Lockwood an 18th century gentlemen uncovers the mysteries world of the Heights through the narration of Nelly. We enter a world where things are intertwined and crossing the boundaries of life and death.
We then had to do a list of all the Gothic elements in Wuthering Heights. The list consisted of elements like:
• Oppression (Isabella)
• Wild and isolated settings (the Heights)
• Liminal (Heathcliff)
• Blurring of distinctions
• The Macabre (Gruesome language)
• Terror and horror (Lockwood’s dream about Cathy/ the letters from Isabella)
• Supernatural (Heathcliff and his origins)
• The uncanny
We then read an article on ‘Beyond Feature spotting’. In the article we read about how the critic Kelly Hurley sums up the ways in which the literary Gothic has been variously defined:
Kelly Hurly says that in the gothic there are stock characters, the imperilled young heroine and stock events, like her imprisonment by and flight from the demonic yet compelling villain. The settings that the Gothic consists of are also fixed settings such as, the gloomy castle, labyrinth, underground spaces; the torture chamber of the inquisition. The recurring themes in the Gothic are that it’s preoccupied with taboo topics such as incest, sexual perversion, insanity and violence. It’s depiction of extreme emotional states, like rage, terror and vengefulness style. The article also discussed how the story is confusing because of the shifts in the narrative frame and narrative disjunction.
We then looked at the piece on ‘The castle of Otranto’, and how Professor Otto identifies how this novel was the first Gothic novel written. He says that this novel laid the platform for other novel’s to build on, things like the father and son rivalry, forbidden passion, the uncanny returns of the past in the present. He also speaks about the revelation of what has been hidden or repressed; the tomb as a liminal space between life and death or between rational and irrational.
We then looked at the article on texts; we noticed from this that the Gothic is mainly found in texts that have been written in 1760 and 1830. This would mean that Wuthering Heights does not qualify as a Gothic, because it was written in 1847. The article even speaks of Frankenstein as more of a scientific text then a Gothic novel, even though it has many Gothic elements.
Motifs were the next that we focused on. We saw ideas that where found very often in Gothic texts, such as the maiden that is locked away in a castle and held captive by a powerful villain that is both attractive and at the same time dangerous. The maiden is a very famous motif in the Gothic, seeing someone defenceless and weak. Ghosts are also a common motif as they always appear in Gothic texts, and mostly sighted towards the end.
Moods also contribute to the making of Gothic texts, we see how horror is used for gross physical shock, but terror is harder to pin down being more shadowy and more insubstantial. Taking all this in to account we found out that the central mood for the Gothic is fear.
The task that we had in class was to pass around the sheets we got, we did this in 14seconds. The other class did it in 8seconds, so let’s try and beat that.

Pardoners Tale Oppositions and partial linking to Wuthering Heights

Our focus of the lesson was directed at discussing the view that, “the Pardoners tale combines the macabre with a sermon on avarice” (The question is also the homework).

The literal meaning of “Macabre” is gruesome, and the “sermon on avarice” is the sin of greed (money, in this case). I personally feel these two motifs in the tale are the gothic elements within the pardoners tale. If you refer to your check sheet of gothic elements, you will see that the abuse of power and the graphicity of death (gruesomeness) are conventional elements of the gothic.

We later furthered our understanding of the prescence of macabre in the Pardoners Tale with a few quotes; “a privee theef man clepeth deeth” and “with his spere he smoot his hetre atwo”. The intensity of the image establishes a sense of Gothicism.

However we later went of to discuss if this facet of the Gothic alone can label the story itself as a Gothic text – or if the tale just has essences of the Gothic.

Comparing other texts to the PT

We later attempted to analyse oppostions in the Pardoners tale, mine were as following; “life and death”, “Heaven and Hell”, “Civilised and Uncivilised”, “Justice and Corruption” and “Nature of the Pardoner, and the conflicting expected morales of a clergyman” and “The old man vs rioters”. These oppositions, like in Wuthering Heights, blur what readers ussualy accept as distint notion, and produce highly ambivalent texts.

We refered to some A03 to further our perception on the opposition of “life and death” from the reputable Gothic critic David Punter; discovering that Death is both a blessing and a curse in the Pardoners Tale. This is due to the rioters seeking Death as a curse, and the old man wanting Death to come and put himout of his misery.

Further development of idea’s

Chaucer has centered the tale around the notion of corruption within the church, (however this concept of the church for contemporary readers, is the “politics” of the middleages; The Pardoners Tale is a universal text to many different era’s, as “corruption”is still present and therefore applicable to the modern era.

Chaucer’s linguistic has elements of the Gothic at present, but neither evokes terror or horror from the reader. Essentially Chaucer does not create a Gothic text, but one which is parodixial of the politics in the middleages.

Lesson on Pathetic Fallacy

Pathetic fallacy comes from the old language derivative

Pathetic = pathos (which comes from the greek word meaning suffer)

Fallacy = fallacia ( which comes from the latin word meaning deciet)

John Ruskin wrote in 1856 that the aim of Pathetic fallacy was to :

"signify any description of inanimate natural objects that ascribes to them human capabilities, sensations, and emotions"

However for Ruskin it was seen as a derogatory. He objected to such usage because, however attractive or dramatic it may be, it "morbidly" attributes life and human intent to nature and is part of "a falseness in all our impressions of external things", which I think means he thought it was not truthful to represent such inanimate objects with human attributions.

We then looked at a short clip from Lord Of The Rings, and watched and listened out for how the clip had used Pathetic Fallacy to create atmosphere:

Sounds - the flowing of the river, jingling on gandalf's carriage, birds chirping, Gandalf singing, all suggest positivity

Weather - A bright sunny day, reflecting a normal day

Colours - bright greens, and yellows all show everything to be cheery and happy.

We then looked at some extracts of famous texts and highlighted where the author had used pathetic fallacy.

Charles Dickens in "Great Expectations" set the scene on a "raw afternoon" as it is getting dark, which sets a fearful scene taking place in a "distant savage place".

Bram Stoker in "Dracula" has the "falling sunset throw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds" and an "oppressive sense of thunder" creates a tension from the weather.

John Steinbeck manipulates the weather in "Of Mice and Men" to being a "hot day", "where the water is warm" to suit the story.

Then we looked on how Emily Bronte had used pathetic fallacy in "Wuthering Heights" in two extracts. One from Chapter 9, included a "very dark evening" when the thunder was "growling", the wind was "violent" and a storm came over the heights in "full fury", causing havoc and destruction as a tree falls across the roof. This perhaps reflects Catherine's emotive state as she is agitated and anger as she fears she has lost Heathcliff, or you could argue the weather infact represents Heathcliff rage as he overhears Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him.

Similarly in Extract B from Chapter 10, Bronte manipulates the weather to reflect the general mood at Thrushcross Grange, Nelly has been picking apples ( a nice enjoyable chore ) and it is a "mellow evening" just as the sun is setting and the moon is out also. The air is "soft" and "sweet" and suits the peace before Heathcliff returns and stirs things up.

Homework is to comment on Extracts C & D,

Read up to Chapter 16 and fill out the chapter summaries

And find links in the story between buildings and locations and characters

Enjoy!