WUTHERING HEIGHTS: PUNISHMENT (Emily Brontë).

Abstract

The following Literary Study is based on “Wuthering Heights”, one of the classics novels into the English Literature; it was written by that author Emily Brontë, during the XIX century.

This essay presents an important background from different aspects of The Victorian Period, presenting a brief breakdown about History, Culture and Society; Education, Social Classes, Ideologies, Religion, Science, Architecture and Literature of that time. The main idea of this background is having a clear vision about the era or moment in which this novel was inspired.

The reason for this study is analyze how “Punishment” is present into Wuthering Heights, mainly through Heathcliff`s life demonstrating how social, financial and cultural aspects can affect and modify people’s behaviors and their attitude to face the life. This avowal is supported by two different stages; the first one presents Heathcliff as a victim of two diverse kind of abuses; Physical and Psychological Punishment. The second one shows the consequences of those abuses, affecting his personality and conduct, besides in this second stage is possible to appreciate how Heathcliff acts as the punisher, using the same kind of mistreatments with people that surrounded him.

The course of action to get this analysis was throughout reading the novel Wuthering Heights (British version), and different books about Punishment and its consequences (Spanish versions), in order to understand better the context of this masterwork.