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Race And Social Class In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Emily Bronte 's novel 'Wuthering Heights ' did not depict just the Victorian life and society, but also it reflects the fundamental and crucial parts of human life, “this is the conflict between civilized and uncivilized life, between the rich and the poor between order and chaos, between storm and calm, between light and darkness, between wild vitality and modern sterility.’’(Nasir Uddin, 2014). Lord George Gordon Byron in his first poem “Childe Harold 's Pilgrimage” initiated the concept of Byronic Hero whose status is that of a social outcast with strong disgust for social norms and strong inclination to vengeance. Generally, it is some bitter experience of life that causes a Byronic hero to exile himself from the society, (Nasir Uddin, March 2014). Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights is a Byronic hero, as one critic states that the issues of race and social class in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights are main focuses for how Heathcliff is perceived and how they influence his actions (Malin, 2013). The significance lies in how both issues are fundamental in dealing with the character of Heathcliff .He is not treated basically on account of his social class nor his race, yet a mixture of both. Eagleton states that …show more content…

The characters Catherine and Heathcliff, a Marxist perusing, take into account financial beliefs, concentrating on the relationship between classes, and the collaboration between rich and poor. This viewpoint sees Heathcliff as the working class, climbing over his oppressors in a gallant battle for a libertarian culture inside the microcosm of 'Wuthering Heights ', “in a society where the importance of inheritance and familial social status dictates the class system,’’(Critical study of Texts – “The richness of a text lies in its ability to lend itself to different readings” ) ‘’structure of ideas and values which related to the Bronte ' ambiguous situation within the class-system of their society.’’(Palgrave,

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