Abstract

Heathcliff is the main character of Wuthering Heights. He is widely acknowledged to be the devil in Wuthering Heights. However, Heathcliff’s fate is miserable because of his identity as an orphan and the loss of love and marriage in his life. While many people are enjoying their life, Heathcliff has to spend most of his life on revenge in order to protect himself from being hurt again. This thesis mainly shows Heathcliff’s miserable fate in Wuthering Heights by analyzing Heathcliff’s miserable childhood, Catherine’s betrayal of love, his unbearable pain in the revenge and his miserable death. It is the serious social discrimination in Victorian era and Emily Bronte’s experience that create such a tragic character.

Keywords: miserable fate; miserable childhood; love; revenge; social discrimination

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1.Introduction-1

1.1 Background Information-1

1.2 A Brief Introduction to Wuthering Heights-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

1.4 The Significance of the Study-4

2. The Miserable Childhood and Catherine’s Betrayal of Love-5

2.1 The Miserable Childhood-5

2.2 Catherine’s Betrayal of Love-6

3. The Miserable Process of Revenge-8

3.1 The Unbearable Pain in the Vengeance-8

3.1.1 Heathcliff’s Pain in the Revenge on Hindley-8

3.1.2 Heathcliff’s Pain in the Revenge on Edgar Linton-9

3.1.3 Heathcliff’s Pain in the Revenge on Young Generation-10

3.2 The Miserable Death-10

4.The Reasons of Heathcliff’s Miserable Fate-12

4.1 Serious Social Discrimination-12

4.2 The Influence of Emily Bronte’s Experience-12

5. Conclusion-14

References-15