Abstract:
Attempts to present a definitive rational explanation of Emily Bronté's
Wuthering Heights have been a growing concern since its publication in
1847. The abundant, yet incoherent, interpretations of Wuthering Heights,
each taking one element of the novel and extrapolating it towards total ex-
planation, make the need for this research timely. This article focuses on
ways to achieve a truer and more rational interpretation of the novel. The
study indicates that in order to solve the enigma and crack the codes of the
novel, the conscious and unconscious thoughts of the author, performing
within the text, have to be discovered. The research approach adopted in this
study is what is referred to as psychobiography or the Freudian psychoana-
Iytic criticism. Freud's ideas have been employed due to the increasing shift
to him in the recent decades, particularly in the discipline of psychobiog-
raphy. The findings of this research underline that: first, Emily Bront& grew
up in an oppressive milieu, and she compulsively created phantasy worlds
within which she continuously repeated certain patterns; second, nearly all
the characters of the novel are stricken by their mother's death, and they not
only undergo the processes of dejection, melancholia and hysteria, but also
suffer from certain core issues—fear of intimacy, fear of abandonment, fear
of betrayal, low self-esteem, insecure or unstable sense of self; third, in
Wuthering Heights, religion, civilization and conventional principles of Vic-
torian novel writing are satirically rejected. The main conclusion to be drawn
from this article is that Emily Bronté was a neurotic person whose uncon-
scious obsessions of psychoanalytic love of mother and hatred of father are
projected in Wuthering Heights
Machine summary:
The findings of this research underline that: first, Emily Bronte grew up in an oppressive milieu, and she compulsively created phantasy worlds within which she continuously repeated certain patterns; second, nearly all the characters of the novel are stricken by their mother's death, and they not only undergo the processes of dejection, melancholia and hysteria, but also suffer from certain core issues-fear of intimacy, fear of abandonment, fear of betrayal, low self-esteem, insecure or unstable sense of self; third, in • E-Mail: ahadmeh@yahoo.
The main conclusion to be drawn from this article is that Emily Bronte was a neurotic person whose unconscious obsessions of psychoanalytic love of mother and hatred of father are projected in Wuthering Heights.
Freud's concept of the neurotic symptom of obsession could be applied to Emily Bronte in the sense that she was obsessed with certain thoughts that recurred and persisted despite her unconscious efforts to block them: rejection of father figure and psychoanalytic love of mother form the matrix of her obsessions.
Therefore, Catherine's progression from Wuthering Heights to Thrushcross Grange symbolizes in concrete form Emily Bronte's yearning to obtain mother figure and to"regain her lost fullness of being" (Miller, 1991, p.
Rebellion against Father Figure A Freudian reading of Wuthering Heights also confirms that hatred of father and rejection of authority form the core of Emily Bronte's novel.
It seems that Emily Bronte endeavored to ease the pain of her childhood traumatic experiences by reenacting and projecting her obsessions onto her phantasy world-Wuthering Heights.