Catherine, Heathcliff and Insanity Moving towards Catherine’s empowerment

Key Definitions Ideology- a system or set of ideas and ideals, often part of economic or political theory and policy Convulsive Image – the mental projection caused by trauma, that later arises in life. Androcentric – male centred

Insanity & The Gothic Tradition In traditional male Gothic works have inextricably linked the supernatural with the psychological and madness. They are often dichotomous producing two different interpretations. i.e. Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason ‘the madwoman in the attic. As Belton notes, It is in E.T.A Hoffmann’s (1776-1822) “Mademoiselle de Scudery” and “The Sandman”that we see the “convulsive image”, a key symptom of hysteria. “[T]o this psychic state of estrangement [Freud] gave the name Unheimlichket, “the uncanny”. P.105

Women and mental Illness Many doctors and patients linked women's illnesses to their reproductive processes, the specifically female condition that in turn defined women's roles and health as it literally and metaphorically confined their lives… (Gorsky.1999: p.175) “Believing women to have more irritable and responsive nervous systems, society and medicine thought they were more vulnerable to physical and nervous (emotional) illness such as declines and the so-called low fevers [and] hysteria” (Gorsky.1999 p.175) Hysteria was popularised by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1882) who taught in the famous women’s mental hospital, Salpêtriere. However, it was brought to the psychological fore by Sigmund Freud and Breuer in their paper “On the Psychic Mechanism of Hysterical Phenomena” (1893).

Establishing a Female Gothic “Brontë's intimate knowledge of the human psyche, of social pressure, emotional pain, and psychological aberration helps her create a novel that explores the interaction of heredity and environment…Emily Brontë manipulates social and literary stereotypes about women's roles and health” (Gorsky.1999: p.174) “Wuthering Heights derives some of its techniques and themes from the Gothic--the layers of narration, the pallor of the good man and the darkness of the villain, the exaggerated actions and reactions of impassioned characters. But, denying Gothic stereotypes and insisting on its own psychological reality, the novel balances romanticism and realism to reject the absolutes of either vision and their underlying assumptions” (Gorsky. 1999: p.174)

Wuthering Heights Although psychological can be viewed separately, it is inextricably linked, dissolving political, social and cultural boundaries - The very thing that Butler suggests creates gendered ideological boundaries. (See Quote 1 by Butler) We need to remove Catherine from the androcentric framework of “feminist” debate. Instead, we need to question her power in relation to characters separately from gender concepts.

The Devil is in the Detail! Look at quotes 2 -3 how are Catherine and Heathcliff similarly compared?

The Moon, Supernaturalism & Insanity “our souls are made of... the same” + “moonbeam” (quote 1) What is the significance of this? 1.) Insanity: (see Guily quote 2) . Lunar giving rise to the word lunacy. . Moon thought to induce madness 2) Supernaturalism: (See Guily quote 1) . Catherine (senior) and Heathcliff are “moonbeam” children or children of the moon. Suggesting they are supernatural beings Both are linked!!!

Insanity and the Moon in Shakespeare She comes more near the earth than she was wont. And makes men mad.” —William Shakespeare, Othello

Psychoanalysis & Insanity Look at WH Quote 10 - What does she see in the mirror? - the face of her oppressor, or herself domesticated which is uncanny to her. - This relates to Freud’s “convulsive image”, a symptom of hysteria and previous trauma in a related incident. Freud called this Nachträglichkeit - afterwardness. i.e. tamed as a young girl at the grange, tamed in marriage. Consequently, Catherine’s death, and supernaturalism releases her from the patriarchal structures that she fluctuates between.

Supernatural Guily suggest that seeing a spirit in the mirror can be a sign of impending death when in a sickroom. Is this symbolic of Catherine’s fate? Or In folklore, a cursed human can see themselves as a werewolf staring back at them - known as the lupine truth (See WH quotes 4,5,7,9)

So has it? Wuthering Heights is similar to others within the Female Gothic genre, its treatment of the basic themes has allowed the novel to transcend the limitations experienced by lesser works within the genre” (Terry Heath. 2011)