Briefly outline the main features of the ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘The Woman in Black’

The mediaeval genre became popular in the mid-eighteeth centuary when The Castle of Otranto by Horace Warpole was written. Emily Bronte was influence by The Bridegroom of Barna, published in the 19th centuary when writing Wuthering Heights. Today, the equivalent of the medieval figment a horror novel by writers such as Steven King. The muliebrity in Black is a recent novel with gothic influences. The principal(prenominal) features of the knightly novels were the chief(prenominal) character, unremarkably an anti wedge dark, demonic and make by inhuman cruelty. This man unremarkably had occult origins and did non value m either a(prenominal) of societys morals.Later, in the nineteenth centuary when the Romantic movement developed, the gothic anti-hero became the Byronic hero in many novels. Like the Gothic protagonist, the Byronic hero usually had a secluded past, as well as dark, good looks and a hatred for societys moral laws. Heathcliff, in Emily Brontes novel W uthering Heights, is a good shell of a Byronic hero. Another weighty feature of many Gothic novels is the settleting. Gothic novels are usually set in a grim, hostile landscape a lot on a deserted moor or marsh, as in the case of Wuthering Heights and Susan Hills The char in Black. such grim landscape often mirrors the character of the hero. at that place are likewise references to the transmundane in many of these novels, such as the ghost of Jennet Humfrye in The cleaning woman in Black or the ghost of Cathy in Wuthering Heights. There is also a strong supernatural element in these stories often linked to the main character. Revenge is usually a strong alkali in Gothic novels. The anti hero often seeks revenge against the people around him, perhaps because of few earlier wrong he was the victim of or simply against society in general, because of the alienation he tones he has suffered.For example, in Wuthering Heights Heathcliff revenges himself against Hindleys son H areton because of the pain Hindley caused him when he was alive. Other features of Gothic novels include the presence of an quaint retainer, usually an old man. There is also usually a victim, often a fair haired recent woman. She is supposed to represent good and the moral set which the anti hero is trying so sticky to destroy. The idea of a Gothic anti hero is particular prominent in Wuthering Heights.In this prevail the main character is Heathcliff, an orphan who is brought to Wuthering Heights by the old Mr Earnshaw in his childhood. Like most(prenominal) Gothic heroes, Heathcliff has dark, good looks, a mysterious past and an insatiate go for to revenge himself on the people he feels have wronged him. The score of Wuthering Heights revolves around Heathcliffs life and his affinity with his soul-mate Cathy. Heathcliffs looks, and in particular his eyes are depict by the housekeeper and narrator Nelly as that couple of desolate fiends, so deeply buried, who never open their windows boldly.Later in the book Heathcliff is contrasted with Cathys future preserve Edgar Linton The contrast resembled what you see in exchanging a raw, hilly, sear country for a beautiful, fertile valley. This explanation not only describes Heathcliffs looks hardly also his charater, bleak suggesting his personality and hilly describing the mood swings he has. Heathcliffs desire for revenge against Edgar Linton, Hindley Earnshaw and, to a certain extent, Cathy, is shown by his actions during the novel. He abuses Hindleys son Hareton, as well as Edgars infant Isabella and his daughter Catherine.In contrast to Wuthering Heights, The Woman in Black does not have a exposed anti hero. Instead thither are two characters who pct this role. They are Arthur Kipps and the woman in black, Jennet Humfrye. Kipps is not the traditional Gothic hero because he does not have dark, good looks or a mysterious past. Instead, he is more like Lockwood or Edgar Linton in Wuthering Heig hts. The other main character shares some of the traits of the revenger and the victim in many Gothic novels. Jennet Humfrye is a ghost who had lost a child she had egress of wedlock and died of a wasting disease.She is now revenging herself on innocent victims. Whilst the idea of revenge is similar to the Gothic hero, Humfrye is a very different character because she is exsanguinous and also a woman. She is also not a traditional Gothic victim, because despite being pistillate she has a wasting disease and therefore isnt beautiful. She also does not embody the positives of society, such as worthiness until marriage that most Gothic victims do. The setting and aviation in Wuthering Heights and The Woman in Black is also an important feature of both novels.The setting is one of biggest similarities amid the two books as both are set in grim, inhospitable landscapes- Wuthering Heights on the Yorkshire Moors and The Woman in Black on a bleak marshland. Another affinity is the ho uses where the two novels are set Wuthering Heights and Eel marshland House. Both houses are bleak and very isolated. Arthur Kipps depression describes Eel Marsh House as a tall, careworn house of grey stone. There is a lot of adverse weather such as fall upons in both books. This echoes the personalities of the main characters and also helps to add up even more accent and atmosphere to the plot.For example in The Woman in Black, when Kipps discovers the nursery has been wrecked, there is a storm going on outside. He is unsure whether the nursery has been damaged by the storm or whether Jennet Humfrye has been there. The intrusion of the supernatural features in both novels. In Wuthering Heights, it occurs at the beginning and at the end of the book, where Lockwood and then Heathcliff encounter the ghost of Cathy. The Woman in Black is basically a ghost narrative and therefore the intrusion of the supernatural is a study part of the plot.In both books there is perplexity bet ween reality and the supernatural. In Wuthering Heights this occurs when Lockwood encounters Cathys ghost. It is quite clear to the reader that Cathys ghost did actually appear but Lockwood manages to convince himself that he was dreaming, overlooking the broken window and the fact that he never went to sleep. In The Woman in Black, Arthur Kipps is very sceptical about the worldly concern of the woman in black to begin with and does not recognise the ghost when he first encounters her, describing her as another mourner, a woman.There are, however, clues that the woman is a ghost, just like in Wuthering Heights. She is garmented in a very old forge dress and disappears very suddenly. I think elements of the Gothic genre are used very efficaciously in both The Woman in Black and Wuthering Heights, especially since neither novel is specifically a Gothic novel. I think that the theme of revenge is most prominent in Wuthering Heights because it is the driving force in arrears the pa ssion of Heathcliffs character.I think the setting of the story is used to great effect in The Woman in Black because the adverse weather and desolate marsh add a lot of atmosphere and tension to the plot. I personally prefer Wuthering Heights because I feel that Emily Bronte has managed to create characters with great depth and has managed to effectively show the passion between Heathcliff and Cathy. Also, whilst Wuthering Heights does have Gothic features to it, Bronte does not let them compromise the storyline in any way.