1. How do Bronte's names fit (or not fit) her characters? Do you think she purposely crafted names that go along with certain personalities?
2. When Heathcliff reveals his thoughts about Catherine at the end of chapter 29 (she haunts him, and he can feel her presence, but can never see her with his eyes), do you feel sorry for him? Why or why not?
I feel that Catherine fits her character. Catherine seems to me like a high society name, and she is high society with a twist. Her daughters name fits her well, because she is a lot like her mother. She has some of the same personality traits, along with a twist. Edgar sort of mold Catherine to become a better person than her mother, but she still has some characteristics of Catherine underneath.
Heathcliff \he(a)-thcli-ff, heath(c)-liff\ as a boy's name is of Middle English origin, and the meaning of Heathcliff is "cliff near a heath". I feel like Heathcliff is an emotional cliff that he will continuously throw himself off of in a way. His mood swings are nuts. I think three examples are good, but I do think she did craft these names to fit the personalities, because they really do.
I do think Heathcliff deserves what he is going through. He even asked for it. He said he wanted Catherine to never be at rest, and she is not in his head. It's hard to feel sorry for the people in this story.
What do you think of the women's roles in this book? (Nelly being the narrator for most of the book, and Catherine being so strong willed.) Do you think Heathcliff forced Linton into marrying Catherine for Thrushcross Grange, or because he hates his son so much he wants Linton to be in a marriage he doesn't want to be in so he is miserable?
1. I believe that women's roles in this book were rather nontraditional for the time; but in other ways, they are traditional, as well. An example for the former assertion would be Isabella fleeing Heathcliff's tyranny: divorce/separation of married peoples was extremely uncommon then, at least among the upper classes, which held to a fairly strict moral code. However, Isabella's example is contrasted with both Catherines' (elder and younger), both of whom suffered through rather unhappy marriages without fleeing them. Of course, the treatment of women is shocking in this book: women get slapped and beaten a number of times; however, this is always at the hand of Heathcliff, who is not necessarily a model of kindness--plus, he beats his own son along with really anyone else who gets in his way. The fact that Nelly narrates the book says to me that women--and even servant women at that--actually have a good deal of agency/power, with the major exception of anything Heathcliff-related. This exception, though, doesn't really speak against women but against good people everywhere (including well-intentioned males such as Edgar or old Mr. Earnshaw): their best intentions ultimately might/will be thwarted by others' evil desires for revenge. Thus, in my opinion, the text may be examined from a feminist perspective but might be limited by it: I believe Bronte's creation of Heathcliff is not meant to show males' dominance over females, but to illustrate the power of revenge rather than to provide some commentary about the sexes.
2. I think Heathcliff forced Linton into marrying Catherine in order to secure control over Thrushcross Grange and make his revenge even more complete: Catherine needed to marry Linton before her father died, and, of course, before young Linton did, too. The miserable quality of this forced marriage is probably a pleasant side effect for Heathcliff, though!
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. How do Bronte's names fit (or not fit) her characters? Do you think she purposely crafted names that go along with certain personalities?
2. When Heathcliff reveals his thoughts about Catherine at the end of chapter 29 (she haunts him, and he can feel her presence, but can never see her with his eyes), do you feel sorry for him? Why or why not?
I feel that Catherine fits her character. Catherine seems to me like a high society name, and she is high society with a twist. Her daughters name fits her well, because she is a lot like her mother. She has some of the same personality traits, along with a twist. Edgar sort of mold Catherine to become a better person than her mother, but she still has some characteristics of Catherine underneath.
ReplyDeleteHeathcliff \he(a)-thcli-ff, heath(c)-liff\ as a boy's name is of Middle English origin, and the meaning of Heathcliff is "cliff near a heath".
I feel like Heathcliff is an emotional cliff that he will continuously throw himself off of in a way. His mood swings are nuts.
I think three examples are good, but I do think she did craft these names to fit the personalities, because they really do.
I do think Heathcliff deserves what he is going through. He even asked for it. He said he wanted Catherine to never be at rest, and she is not in his head. It's hard to feel sorry for the people in this story.
What do you think of the women's roles in this book? (Nelly being the narrator for most of the book, and Catherine being so strong willed.)
ReplyDeleteDo you think Heathcliff forced Linton into marrying Catherine for Thrushcross Grange, or because he hates his son so much he wants Linton to be in a marriage he doesn't want to be in so he is miserable?
Good questions.
ReplyDelete1. I believe that women's roles in this book were rather nontraditional for the time; but in other ways, they are traditional, as well. An example for the former assertion would be Isabella fleeing Heathcliff's tyranny: divorce/separation of married peoples was extremely uncommon then, at least among the upper classes, which held to a fairly strict moral code. However, Isabella's example is contrasted with both Catherines' (elder and younger), both of whom suffered through rather unhappy marriages without fleeing them. Of course, the treatment of women is shocking in this book: women get slapped and beaten a number of times; however, this is always at the hand of Heathcliff, who is not necessarily a model of kindness--plus, he beats his own son along with really anyone else who gets in his way. The fact that Nelly narrates the book says to me that women--and even servant women at that--actually have a good deal of agency/power, with the major exception of anything Heathcliff-related. This exception, though, doesn't really speak against women but against good people everywhere (including well-intentioned males such as Edgar or old Mr. Earnshaw): their best intentions ultimately might/will be thwarted by others' evil desires for revenge. Thus, in my opinion, the text may be examined from a feminist perspective but might be limited by it: I believe Bronte's creation of Heathcliff is not meant to show males' dominance over females, but to illustrate the power of revenge rather than to provide some commentary about the sexes.
2. I think Heathcliff forced Linton into marrying Catherine in order to secure control over Thrushcross Grange and make his revenge even more complete: Catherine needed to marry Linton before her father died, and, of course, before young Linton did, too. The miserable quality of this forced marriage is probably a pleasant side effect for Heathcliff, though!