How Emily Brontë Fulfills the Expectations of the Gothic Genre Essay

How Emily Brontà « Fulfills the Expectations of the Gothic Genre Within this essay I will examine the social and historical background of Emily Brontà «'s upbringing, and the way her only novel, wuthering height, is related to the gothic genre. Emily Brontà « was brought up in a time very different from our own; she lived on secluded moors and without many of our modern day privileges, and became very close to her family. Many of her close family members died within her lifetime, affecting her deeply and leaving her emotionally scarred. The tragedy and misfortune of Emily Brontà «'s life is shown through her novel 'Wuthering Heights'. The many dark, sad and misfortunate parts of this novel which represent Emily Brontà «'s life are the same parts which can be categorised it in to the gothic genre. Cathy represents Emily Brontà «; they both suffered the loss of a parent and lived on secluded moors. The semi-autobiographical nature is also shown through Hindely, Cathy's brother, and his similarities to Emily Brontà «'s brother, both go through a spiral downfall into alcoholism and drink themselves into early graves. Emily Brontà « lived in a male dominated Georgian society. It was this male dominance and the idea of female inadequacy that forced her to publish her only novel Wuthering Heights under the male pseudonym Ellis Bell. Brontà «'s novel contains many of the elements that can be seen in the gothic genre. The setting is true to the gothic style; it is in a secluded place that often represents something that happened there. 'On that bleak hill top the earth was hard with a black frost.' In my opinion it represents the dark and gloomy past of Wuthering Heights, the death of Cathy and the tormented life of Heat... ... of a higher class. This shows the shallowness of society at the time and that society was male dominated. Women were forced to be dependent on men and had to marry men they didn't love to secure them a financial future and to gain a better social status. The novel raises issues that can been seen in societies of all times, including the modern society in which we live. It shows how people are judge on material things, most commonly in this novel it shows how people are judged on social status. The novel is told through two narrations, Nelly Dean and Lockwood. The parts of the novel that Nelly Dean narrates are informal, This shows Nelly is a servant, and is considered to be lower class in society. However when Lockwood narrates, the language is more formal, and like that of a highly educated person showing he is of higher class than Nelly Dean is.