The Alice of 1880, from “The Oke of Okehurst”, has a connection with Alice of 1626 and her lover Lovelock akin to that displayed between Heathcliff and Catherine. This ghost story, though written around forty years after Wuthering Heights, provides similar psychological elements, revealing that the topic remains relevant even into the late 19th century “when theories about hallucination and its relation to the troubled psyche were in circulation” (Liggins 5). In both, desperate individuals use fascination with a ghost as an escape from their specific realities. In “Oke of Okehurst” a period of two-hundred years divides Alice and the ghosts, yet Alice develops a bond that transcends both time and mortality with the two lovers. Alice’s full-hearted
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This state of mind is obtained by Alice through the constraining lifestyle; a woman who wants to be free of societal pressures and express herself feels forced into the role of “the bouncing, well-informed, model housekeeper” (Lee pg. 4), so she escapes by “lying for hours … in an eternal daydream” (Lee pg. 23).
Alice lies on the border between a new woman, who has freedom to live as she wants, and the traditional role of a Victorian wife, who must act as an angel of the household. Yet because she is not fully either, she is trapped in a transitory state with just enough freedom to daydream but not enough freedom to be physically free to act as she wishes. Her lack of a suitable preoccupation and “the loneliness of the country house” (Liggins 7) causes the all-consuming fixation on the contrastingly exciting and tumultuous lives of the former Alice and Lovelock. The ghosts of these two, especially Lovelock, proceed to absorb her reality. This “hauntological disturbance” (3) as Liggins puts it, is an “important factor in the formation of ‘narratives of modernity’ which both disrupt and displace more conventional …show more content…
Again, this ghost story, written during the early 20th century, reiterates the theme of obsessive love found in the two previously analyzed works; however, it adds a modern twist through the use of the telephone as a mouthpiece for Isabeau. As new lovers, the two are divided by chaos of World War I -- Carrington fighting in the war for the British and Isabeau stuck in Belgium. As the Germans invade Belgium, Isabeau is caught in the onslaught; her uncle is “set against the wall and shot,” and her aunt “stabbed in the back with their bayonets” (Everett pg. 213). Isabeau survives the attack but emerges broken -- heavily in shock and without her memory. Through supernatural means Isabeau telepathically call her beloved Carrington over the telephone wires, fittingly “an agent of romantic coupling and haunting. Being a classic go-between for lover” (197) according to Peters. Upon conversing with Carrington, the utterance of her last name catalyzes the return of her frightful memories from the German attack. She then calls again, the last time before she dies, pleading with Carrington for his love, stating “don't ask me -- never ask me -- what they did to me!” (Everett pg. 213); he pledges his love for her. From context, it is presumed that she was raped by the soldiers, and, too distraught at the thought, she loses
This state of mind is obtained by Alice through the constraining lifestyle; a woman who wants to be free of societal pressures and express herself feels forced into the role of “the bouncing, well-informed, model housekeeper” (Lee pg. 4), so she escapes by “lying for hours … in an eternal daydream” (Lee pg. 23).
Alice lies on the border between a new woman, who has freedom to live as she wants, and the traditional role of a Victorian wife, who must act as an angel of the household. Yet because she is not fully either, she is trapped in a transitory state with just enough freedom to daydream but not enough freedom to be physically free to act as she wishes. Her lack of a suitable preoccupation and “the loneliness of the country house” (Liggins 7) causes the all-consuming fixation on the contrastingly exciting and tumultuous lives of the former Alice and Lovelock. The ghosts of these two, especially Lovelock, proceed to absorb her reality. This “hauntological disturbance” (3) as Liggins puts it, is an “important factor in the formation of ‘narratives of modernity’ which both disrupt and displace more conventional …show more content…
Again, this ghost story, written during the early 20th century, reiterates the theme of obsessive love found in the two previously analyzed works; however, it adds a modern twist through the use of the telephone as a mouthpiece for Isabeau. As new lovers, the two are divided by chaos of World War I -- Carrington fighting in the war for the British and Isabeau stuck in Belgium. As the Germans invade Belgium, Isabeau is caught in the onslaught; her uncle is “set against the wall and shot,” and her aunt “stabbed in the back with their bayonets” (Everett pg. 213). Isabeau survives the attack but emerges broken -- heavily in shock and without her memory. Through supernatural means Isabeau telepathically call her beloved Carrington over the telephone wires, fittingly “an agent of romantic coupling and haunting. Being a classic go-between for lover” (197) according to Peters. Upon conversing with Carrington, the utterance of her last name catalyzes the return of her frightful memories from the German attack. She then calls again, the last time before she dies, pleading with Carrington for his love, stating “don't ask me -- never ask me -- what they did to me!” (Everett pg. 213); he pledges his love for her. From context, it is presumed that she was raped by the soldiers, and, too distraught at the thought, she loses