An Interpretation of Wuthering Heights

Interpretation of Wuthering Heights from the Perspective of Ecocriticism

1.Introduction:

Emily was born in 1818 in the village of Thornton, Yorkshire, in the North of England, living in the world for just 30 years. She spends her whole lifetime in the house of Haworth, except that she spends less than two years in studying and teaching outside of her hometown. Haworth is isolated, remote moorland full of heather. In addition to her greatest fun in reading, Emily’s second greatest pleasure is to roam freely on the wasteland. She loves moorland; in her eyes, the darkest heather will bloom with daintier flowers than rose. In her heart, the silver-gray hillside is a paradise on earth. The moorland has cultivated Emily and nourished her rich imagination. She forms in her heart a deep rooted “moorland (nature) complex”. Leaving the moorland will make Emily feel very painful and depressed. She could not bear the shift from her home to the school---the shift from her quiet and isolated but carefree and unrestrained lifestyle to a strict and conformist lifestyle. She never feels happy until she comes back with the hard-earned knowledge to the remote village, the ancient vicarage house and the noiseless Yorkshire Mountains. In terms of psychology, the childhood experience has great influence on her personality apart from the influence of genes on her personality. As to the growth and development of the person of letters, the early experience has more influence. The early experience can sustainably influence the author’s ideas guiding creation in literature, esthetic sentiment, and style of writing, etc. The crucial early experience is obtained from the “habitat” that the author lives in. The childhood habitat has great influence on an author’s worldview and outlook on life. Since Emily lives her whole life on the moorland, this kind of “habitat” greatly influences her writing and outlook on nature.

In literary practice, ecocriticism claims that, by looking for...