Wuthering Heights AO3 context

what is coverture?

legal doctrine whereby, upon marriage, a woman’s legal rights and obligations were subsumed by those of her husband

how would coverture have been viewed in brontë’s time?

would have been viewed as increasingly archaic/unjust - times were changing

when was the matrimonial causes act and what did it say?

1857 → reformed the law on divorce (widened its availability)

what is the significance of the brontë’s publishing their novels before the matrimonial causes act?

they can be said to have helped prepare the way for this/subsequent laws by exposing the british public to stories of men and especially women unjustly trapped in oppressive legal unions

what is primogeniture?

common law (in the period of the novel) that the eldest male child inherited

in the nineteenth century, how did laws regarding domestic violence and rights of women change?

provided more protection + granted greater rights to both women and children

significance of the corn laws

• an attempt to prevent foreign exports from challenging UK agriculture → backfired as prices at home remained high + countries didn’t trade w/ britain in protest

• law was repealed in 1847 and free trade reinstated

• but the impact on the economy and therefore on poverty was deeply felt by this point

• wuthering heights emphasises class divides, making it a reflection, perhaps, of the wider political atmosphere that was struggling with disparity in privilege and class divides itself

what was the significance of the corn laws in revealing?

the impact of industrialisation and the attitudes of new middle class industrial owners who often felt no responsibility to their working class employees (a newfound complacency)

what would the conservative brontë’s opinions have been on revolutionary spirit in britain?

they would have sympathised with the workers, but were firmly on the side of tradition and were not advocates of reform

what is heathcliff metaphorical of societally and what is this a critique of?

capitalism → stripping the linton’s of their inherited property rights and amassing wealth and land for himself

critique of the new economic ideology and the destruction it causes to rural communities in particular

how is calvinism different from methodism?

calvinism → belief that god pre-ordains who is to be offered salvation before birth

methodism → sees salvation as possible to all

why did the brontë’s write under pseudonyms?

to prevent unfair criticism of their work, revealing society’s beliefs around women’s intellectual inferiority + unsuitability of women’s entry into the public sphere

how do the brontë’s align with Romanticism in their writing?

• importance of childhood experience determinign adult life = very wordsworthian

• relying on self-knowledge as opposed to blind conformity and orthodoxy = key tenet of Romantic thinking → Romantics were often viewed as radicals

how do the brontë’s diverge from Romanticism in their writing?

depiction of nature is never soft or nurturing, typical of the Romantics (apart from Ruskin’s pathetic fallacy, depicting it as raw and uncaring)

which Romantic poet was a great influence for the brontë’s?

lord byron

what is psychological realism?

the events/emotions (although extreme) being viewed as an attempt at the realistic depiction of the minds of humans

describe the byronic hero.

• descending from milton’s satan

• possesses a fatal charm to women

• demonic ruthlessness and drive for power

• fallen, satanic outcast, yet morbidly fascinating

what was emily' brontë’s last known poem - published posthumously by her sister - called, and what was it about?

‘no coward soul is mine’

• scorn felt towards doctrinal debates - no mention of redemption through christ

• affirms god’s presence in all aspects of the universe → individual connection to the universe (Romantic notion)

what is discordant narration?

a sense of discordance arises when the narrator’s normative views seem to clash in some manner with the story he or she tells

who is a discordant narrator in WH?

nelly