So many of the characters suffer from illness during chapters 11-24. Why do you believe Bronte includes so much illness? How does illness "function" in novel's plot and character development? What does illness indicate about characters?
7 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Some characters that are sick in this section...
Lockwood, Nelly, Catherine (the elder), Edgar, Linton...
It seems as though Bronte includes so much illness in the book as a way to point out the "corrupted characters". It seems as though the ones who get sick are the ones who have a fault that they are guilty of, whether they were intentionally commited crimes, or unintentional blunders. Take for example, Hindley. He gets sick, presumably from comsupmtion of alcohol in excess which leads to his demise. Earlier in the novel, though, we find out that he had tortured Heathcliff relentlessly, making Heathcliff reclusive. This is a major negative action in Hindley's past, and he is pointed out as guilty with his ailment. ~alyssa
I feel like Bronte focuses on so much illness because all of the characters have such emotional baggage, and end up in such emotional distress, that they end up truly making themselves sick. catherine is so pained by heatcliff and isabella she cannot get over it, she makes herself sick because she is love sick. she doesnt have wat she wants, therefore she cannto go on. in turn, after havign her baby she dies. in addition to that, edgar puts added pressure on catherine as to the fact that heathcliff cannot be her friend as long as she is edgar's husband, and is making her choose. catherine states "if i cannot keep heathcliff for my friend,-if edgar will be mean and jelous, i'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own" (113). in turn, she did, and she died, almost seeking revenge on both men. When we take a look at isabella, she also gets sick and dies. this coudl be due to the emotional stress that edgar puts on her, for he said "that if she were so insane as to encourage that worthless suitor (heatlciff), it would dissolve all bonds of relationship between herself and him" (115). this, beign said by edgar, her brother, can be additioanlly stressful, especially after havign a baby, isabella is very vulnerable and emotioanlyl unstable. so, since isabella and edgar are no longer on speaking terms, she feels lonely, especially because heathcliff doesnt want anythign to do with isabella, and onyl married her to get revenge on catherine. in turn, isabella finds herself alone, and tahts exactly how she died, alone. furthermore, edgar is jsut now getting sick, also due to his emotional distress. he chased away the two ppl he loved, isabella and catherine. edgar pushed away both of these girls by making them each choose basically between him and heathcliff. however, due to his selfishness, and helousy, and ignorance, he has lsot hsi sister and his wife, nearly all the pppl who he loves most dearly, and is now alone once again. in this current emotional state, it is onyl obvious that he is starting to fall aparat jsut as the others have. such illness indicates taht all the characters become emotionally unstable due to this unstable love triangle, or rectange? which is gradually destroying all of them, an tearing them apart inside and out.
I believe Bronte's purpose in including so much illness is surely symbolic. I just read the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper", and it sort of reminds me of that. In the story, the main character is thought by others to have a very physical illness that can be cured by constant rest and not straining herself. But the reader finds that she is really suffering from depression, and she is actually going insane. Rest is actually what is making her worse. I'm not really sure on this one, but I think that illness brands a character as weaker and closer to the creeping insanity of Wuthering Heights.
Illness is certainly prominent in this section, and I think Bronte included this in her characters to go a step further to show their distress and weakness. It definitely says something about both the characters themselves and the reasons for their respective illnesses. For example, Hindley has undoubtedly become an unreachable maniac, who only drinks, gambles, and is violent towards those around him. But he's been like this for so long it seems people have forgotten the cause of all of it; he is only viewed now as an unfortunately maniacal man, a sad piece of what he could have been had he been able to retain his health. But his health only deteriorated after his wife's death; he no longer knew how to function and so he resorted to drinking and gambling, disappearing completely. I don't know if this shows how strong his love for his wife was, persay, but more how weak of a person Hindley was. Contrarily, while his sister seems to display the same symptoms of loss, I believe hers are for different reasons. It is obvious she has become a very weak person, but it's also clear that her love for Heathcliff is extremely powerful. So, I think in addition to using illness to demonstrate both character weakness and the strength of the reason for each illness, Bronte included this development in the plot to create definite contrast between Hindley and Catherine as brother and sister, which is further enforced in the enviornments in which they reside, Wuthering Heights and the Grange. While Wuthering Heights is dark and gloomy, reflecting Hindley's character, the Grange seems to be fakely made up to seem delicate, while those inside it are suffering from true problems, reflecting Catherine's character.
"Why do you believe Bronte includes so much illness?"
While each character's illness (or lack thereof) reveals something about them, I think the fact that illness is so common is also significant. If feel like Bronte is commentating on the culture at the Heights, basically saying that it itself is diseased.
"What does the illness indicate about the characters?"
So I read through a lot of the responses and a common answer to this question was that the weaker characters get sick. I was thinking the same thing until I started thinking about some of the sick characters who I don't consider weak. Under the weakness definition it makes sense that Isabella and Linton get sick while Heathcliff and little Cathy don't, but what about the elder Catherine or Nelly? I think that one of the other reasons a character could be sick doesn't involve their personality, but instead their situation. Basically, victims get sick. I think the personalities of the two Catherines are very similar, but the elder got sick when she faced her love problems and when her true love and husband built up such a rivalry that they were effectively forcing her to choose between them. The third possible explanation for disease that I would bring in deals with the character's personalities. However, instead of trying to decide who is weaker, I'm looking at whose personaty is immune to the suffering of the Wuthering Heights atmosphere. For instance, Heathcliff is immune because he has this ability to be rediculously methodical even when his emotions are invoved. He's kind of cold and calculating that way. Hareton can, to an extent, also tolerate the the Heights society, partly because he hasn't really been a part of it. It's easier for him to get over the fact that everybody at the Heights is a jerk when Heathcliff when he was treated poorly all his life. Nelly,however, never seemed to me to mesh with the culture. This is probably because she is the narrator and therefore gets portrayed as a bystander/obswerver. When she had to deal with the conflict little Cathy was creating, it makes sense that she wouldn't be equipted to handle the pressure because she is not part of the Wuthering Heights machine.
I think that Bronte includes illness is to show different sides of the characters. The sickness shows how they can handle stress, or how fragile they are. Catherine(elder) was always stong willed and loud, but when a lot of pressure was put upon her by Heathcliff and Edgar, she made herself ill, and eventually died. Linton doesnt seem capable of handling any sort of stress. He seems to be a lazy spoiled brat, and hes always ill so he doesnt have to do anything and get stressed out. That is how they deal with stress, they get sick and make someone take care of them as they escape the world. kori
7 comments:
Some characters that are sick in this section...
Lockwood, Nelly, Catherine (the elder), Edgar, Linton...
Think about those who are NOT sick...
Ms. Coppens
It seems as though Bronte includes so much illness in the book as a way to point out the "corrupted characters". It seems as though the ones who get sick are the ones who have a fault that they are guilty of, whether they were intentionally commited crimes, or unintentional blunders. Take for example, Hindley. He gets sick, presumably from comsupmtion of alcohol in excess which leads to his demise. Earlier in the novel, though, we find out that he had tortured Heathcliff relentlessly, making Heathcliff reclusive. This is a major negative action in Hindley's past, and he is pointed out as guilty with his ailment. ~alyssa
I feel like Bronte focuses on so much illness because all of the characters have such emotional baggage, and end up in such emotional distress, that they end up truly making themselves sick. catherine is so pained by heatcliff and isabella she cannot get over it, she makes herself sick because she is love sick. she doesnt have wat she wants, therefore she cannto go on. in turn, after havign her baby she dies.
in addition to that, edgar puts added pressure on catherine as to the fact that heathcliff cannot be her friend as long as she is edgar's husband, and is making her choose. catherine states "if i cannot keep heathcliff for my friend,-if edgar will be mean and jelous, i'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own" (113). in turn, she did, and she died, almost seeking revenge on both men.
When we take a look at isabella, she also gets sick and dies. this coudl be due to the emotional stress that edgar puts on her, for he said "that if she were so insane as to encourage that worthless suitor (heatlciff), it would dissolve all bonds of relationship between herself and him" (115). this, beign said by edgar, her brother, can be additioanlly stressful, especially after havign a baby, isabella is very vulnerable and emotioanlyl unstable. so, since isabella and edgar are no longer on speaking terms, she feels lonely, especially because heathcliff doesnt want anythign to do with isabella, and onyl married her to get revenge on catherine. in turn, isabella finds herself alone, and tahts exactly how she died, alone.
furthermore, edgar is jsut now getting sick, also due to his emotional distress. he chased away the two ppl he loved, isabella and catherine. edgar pushed away both of these girls by making them each choose basically between him and heathcliff. however, due to his selfishness, and helousy, and ignorance, he has lsot hsi sister and his wife, nearly all the pppl who he loves most dearly, and is now alone once again. in this current emotional state, it is onyl obvious that he is starting to fall aparat jsut as the others have.
such illness indicates taht all the characters become emotionally unstable due to this unstable love triangle, or rectange? which is gradually destroying all of them, an tearing them apart inside and out.
I believe Bronte's purpose in including so much illness is surely symbolic. I just read the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper", and it sort of reminds me of that. In the story, the main character is thought by others to have a very physical illness that can be cured by constant rest and not straining herself. But the reader finds that she is really suffering from depression, and she is actually going insane. Rest is actually what is making her worse. I'm not really sure on this one, but I think that illness brands a character as weaker and closer to the creeping insanity of Wuthering Heights.
-Sarah
Illness is certainly prominent in this section, and I think Bronte included this in her characters to go a step further to show their distress and weakness. It definitely says something about both the characters themselves and the reasons for their respective illnesses. For example, Hindley has undoubtedly become an unreachable maniac, who only drinks, gambles, and is violent towards those around him. But he's been like this for so long it seems people have forgotten the cause of all of it; he is only viewed now as an unfortunately maniacal man, a sad piece of what he could have been had he been able to retain his health. But his health only deteriorated after his wife's death; he no longer knew how to function and so he resorted to drinking and gambling, disappearing completely. I don't know if this shows how strong his love for his wife was, persay, but more how weak of a person Hindley was. Contrarily, while his sister seems to display the same symptoms of loss, I believe hers are for different reasons. It is obvious she has become a very weak person, but it's also clear that her love for Heathcliff is extremely powerful. So, I think in addition to using illness to demonstrate both character weakness and the strength of the reason for each illness, Bronte included this development in the plot to create definite contrast between Hindley and Catherine as brother and sister, which is further enforced in the enviornments in which they reside, Wuthering Heights and the Grange. While Wuthering Heights is dark and gloomy, reflecting Hindley's character, the Grange seems to be fakely made up to seem delicate, while those inside it are suffering from true problems, reflecting Catherine's character.
"Why do you believe Bronte includes so much illness?"
While each character's illness (or lack thereof) reveals something about them, I think the fact that illness is so common is also significant. If feel like Bronte is commentating on the culture at the Heights, basically saying that it itself is diseased.
"What does the illness indicate about the characters?"
So I read through a lot of the responses and a common answer to this question was that the weaker characters get sick. I was thinking the same thing until I started thinking about some of the sick characters who I don't consider weak. Under the weakness definition it makes sense that Isabella and Linton get sick while Heathcliff and little Cathy don't, but what about the elder Catherine or Nelly? I think that one of the other reasons a character could be sick doesn't involve their personality, but instead their situation. Basically, victims get sick. I think the personalities of the two Catherines are very similar, but the elder got sick when she faced her love problems and when her true love and husband built up such a rivalry that they were effectively forcing her to choose between them. The third possible explanation for disease that I would bring in deals with the character's personalities. However, instead of trying to decide who is weaker, I'm looking at whose personaty is immune to the suffering of the Wuthering Heights atmosphere. For instance, Heathcliff is immune because he has this ability to be rediculously methodical even when his emotions are invoved. He's kind of cold and calculating that way. Hareton can, to an extent, also tolerate the the Heights society, partly because he hasn't really been a part of it. It's easier for him to get over the fact that everybody at the Heights is a jerk when Heathcliff when he was treated poorly all his life. Nelly,however, never seemed to me to mesh with the culture. This is probably because she is the narrator and therefore gets portrayed as a bystander/obswerver. When she had to deal with the conflict little Cathy was creating, it makes sense that she wouldn't be equipted to handle the pressure because she is not part of the Wuthering Heights machine.
-Drew McGlincy
I think that Bronte includes illness is to show different sides of the characters. The sickness shows how they can handle stress, or how fragile they are. Catherine(elder) was always stong willed and loud, but when a lot of pressure was put upon her by Heathcliff and Edgar, she made herself ill, and eventually died. Linton doesnt seem capable of handling any sort of stress. He seems to be a lazy spoiled brat, and hes always ill so he doesnt have to do anything and get stressed out. That is how they deal with stress, they get sick and make someone take care of them as they escape the world.
kori
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