The Spectral Obsession: Love Transcending Mortality
Victorian ghost stories written by female authors are laced with themes of revenge, spectral figures of all shapes and manners, and cleverly incorporated commentary on society during the time period of special importance seems to be the dynamic relationship between the ghost and the haunted. In the novel Wuthering Heights and the two short stories “Over the Wires” and “Oke of Okehurst” an individual is haunted in one form or another, but unlike most stories the specter is sought after. Specifically, the protagonists obsessively desire a connection with the deceased loved one trying to find solace from the weight of the present among the memories of the past. This common thread between …show more content…
In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw develop an unbreakable bond growing up together. As children “it was one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in the morning and remain there all day” (Bronte 37); the moors represented an escape from the harsh, iron-fisted rule of Hindley, and isolated as they were in northern England Heathcliff and Catherine only had each other to rely on for company and amusement. Catherine states “Nelly, I am Heathcliff .. our separation again -- it is impractical” (Bronte 64), explicitly declaring their inseparability and highlighting the intensity of their connection. So as Catherine is swept away to Thrushcross Grange, and Heathcliff mysteriously disappears into the moors, it is no surprise, upon their reunion, how quickly their bond is rekindled. Prior to Catherine’s death they recommit their inseparability to each other, forged by their shared past. Catherine passionately proclaims “I only wish us never to be parted -- and should a word of mine distress you hereafter, think I feel the same distress underground” (Bronte 125), and Heathcliff responds with “nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us” (Bronte 126) reflecting that the state of their bond is so vital that even the idea of Heaven seems dreary when considering the distance it puts between him and
Victorian ghost stories written by female authors are laced with themes of revenge, spectral figures of all shapes and manners, and cleverly incorporated commentary on society during the time period of special importance seems to be the dynamic relationship between the ghost and the haunted. In the novel Wuthering Heights and the two short stories “Over the Wires” and “Oke of Okehurst” an individual is haunted in one form or another, but unlike most stories the specter is sought after. Specifically, the protagonists obsessively desire a connection with the deceased loved one trying to find solace from the weight of the present among the memories of the past. This common thread between …show more content…
In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw develop an unbreakable bond growing up together. As children “it was one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in the morning and remain there all day” (Bronte 37); the moors represented an escape from the harsh, iron-fisted rule of Hindley, and isolated as they were in northern England Heathcliff and Catherine only had each other to rely on for company and amusement. Catherine states “Nelly, I am Heathcliff .. our separation again -- it is impractical” (Bronte 64), explicitly declaring their inseparability and highlighting the intensity of their connection. So as Catherine is swept away to Thrushcross Grange, and Heathcliff mysteriously disappears into the moors, it is no surprise, upon their reunion, how quickly their bond is rekindled. Prior to Catherine’s death they recommit their inseparability to each other, forged by their shared past. Catherine passionately proclaims “I only wish us never to be parted -- and should a word of mine distress you hereafter, think I feel the same distress underground” (Bronte 125), and Heathcliff responds with “nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us” (Bronte 126) reflecting that the state of their bond is so vital that even the idea of Heaven seems dreary when considering the distance it puts between him and