Slightly differently from Catherine because Catherine demonstrated a deviation from feminine norm from the start, Isabella was forced to her feminist actions by the world around her as she experienced the ways her society could be harmful to her. It is when she is Isabella Heathcliff rather than Isabella Linton that her fight begins. Having followed the path of marriage, Isabella soon learns that she was naïve in her love for Heathcliff and finds herself in a marriage rife with violence and hatred. This could also be a sort of punishment for Isabella having followed the feminine standards of the time in her decision to marry Heathcliff. In the novel, Bronte dedicates a whole chapter to the letter Isabella wrote while she was confined in Wuthering
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Isabella gets her last revenge on her husband when their child, who has been raised be Isabella, comes back with the name Linton. To Heathcliff, the name represents a person, specifically, Edgar Linton, whom he despises for many reasons. Through this action, Isabella reclaims her name and demonstrates her power through the name Linton Heathcliff. This also demonstrates the idea of strength gained through ownership as naming the boy Linton metaphorically ensures that he will always belong to her and not Heathcliff. Catherine extends her power after death through ownership as well. Her legacy of strength surely lives on in her child, who has the same wild nature she did, and through her ghost, which haunts Wuthering Heights. In the end of the novel, Catherine’s daughter will seemingly own both the properties, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, through her expected marriage to Hareton Earnshaw. The ghost maintains Catherine’s supreme ownership over Heathcliff himself, who owns both property’s and when he dies it ensures that Catherine’s daughter will have a chance to reclaim the land. The idea that “Hareton and Catherine II perpetuate the union of their predecessors, Heathcliff and Catherine I” (Riu 168) brings the story full circle and implies that Catherine is the ultimate owner of the story, owning Heathcliff and her daughter. The physical …show more content…
However, their power remains even after their deaths in many respects. Catherine exhibits the characteristics of a gothic heroine from the start of the novel yet her actions increase in strength as she ages. Isabella is not a typical heroine and yet her society pushed her to become one and take control of her life, demonstrating tremendous strength in doing so. Both characters followed the expected path of a Victorian woman and found themselves trapped in their marriages which led them to control their lives in any way they could. The subtle or indirect rebellions they fought against the patriarchal society and its established ideas are no less meaningful or feminist for their subtlety. Catherine and Isabella are characters who demonstrated strength with their personalities, in their marriages and even after death and should be classified as feminist heroines of gothic
Isabella gets her last revenge on her husband when their child, who has been raised be Isabella, comes back with the name Linton. To Heathcliff, the name represents a person, specifically, Edgar Linton, whom he despises for many reasons. Through this action, Isabella reclaims her name and demonstrates her power through the name Linton Heathcliff. This also demonstrates the idea of strength gained through ownership as naming the boy Linton metaphorically ensures that he will always belong to her and not Heathcliff. Catherine extends her power after death through ownership as well. Her legacy of strength surely lives on in her child, who has the same wild nature she did, and through her ghost, which haunts Wuthering Heights. In the end of the novel, Catherine’s daughter will seemingly own both the properties, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, through her expected marriage to Hareton Earnshaw. The ghost maintains Catherine’s supreme ownership over Heathcliff himself, who owns both property’s and when he dies it ensures that Catherine’s daughter will have a chance to reclaim the land. The idea that “Hareton and Catherine II perpetuate the union of their predecessors, Heathcliff and Catherine I” (Riu 168) brings the story full circle and implies that Catherine is the ultimate owner of the story, owning Heathcliff and her daughter. The physical …show more content…
However, their power remains even after their deaths in many respects. Catherine exhibits the characteristics of a gothic heroine from the start of the novel yet her actions increase in strength as she ages. Isabella is not a typical heroine and yet her society pushed her to become one and take control of her life, demonstrating tremendous strength in doing so. Both characters followed the expected path of a Victorian woman and found themselves trapped in their marriages which led them to control their lives in any way they could. The subtle or indirect rebellions they fought against the patriarchal society and its established ideas are no less meaningful or feminist for their subtlety. Catherine and Isabella are characters who demonstrated strength with their personalities, in their marriages and even after death and should be classified as feminist heroines of gothic