Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights presents the reader with the key Gothic element of suffering which is caused by either the mind or body. Psychological pain is caused to characters such as Cathy 1 and Heathcliff, who represent the divided self due to their obsessive nature over the other, causing suffering and unhappiness the characters such as Edgar and Isabella, who are used as mere pawns used to help Cathy 1 and Heathcliff have a better quality of life. Whilst the diseased body can be highlighted in characters such as Linton and Frances (who eventually die of their illness), they do not have such an impact as characters like Cathy 1 and Heathcliff, stressing a diseased mind produces more chaos and torment. Although, the character Hindley's alcoholic abuse significantly rises to extremes after his wife Frances death, although this signifies that diseased bodies do cause suffering, it is Hindley's depressed and tormented state which causes the pain for the other characters not Frances herself- Bronte's Hindley would have most likely been influence by her brother Bramwell too had a problem with alcohol which later consequented his death, it is this and the romantic language used to talk of the moors which shows her own biographical influences. Bronte also would have had the influencing factor at living at a time of critical diseases such as consumption, thus death in the novel is presented as a normality. Hence why Emily stresses a higher importance of a healthy mind than body.
A diseased mind is highlighted through characters such as Cathy 1 and Heathcliff through their obsessive and controlling nature which thus causes suffering for other characters, (such as Edgar and Isabella). Their corruptive relationship can be viewed in many different ways, an example of this can be seen when Cathy 1 discusses her 'engagement' to Edgar and her love for Heathcliff to Nelly. Her love for both men causes the divided self for Cathy 1, as with Edgar Cathy flourishes as the 'greatest woman in the neighbourhood' thus becoming a woman of high social status. Her transformation from a 'little savage' into a 'lady' happens after she has spent 'five weeks' at the Linton's house (Thrushcross Grange). The reason for her change may be due to the symbolic meaning of the houses thus a significant influence over their inhabitants, as the Grange is a 'splendid place' with 'crimson carpets', 'gold' bordered ceilings with have a 'shower of glass droplets' hanging from the centre on 'silver chains' highlighting the extent of the Lintons wealth and social status. It is for this reason Cathy 1 choose to marry Linton as not only would she would be 'proud' to call him a husband, but this would 'aid' her the help Heathcliff 'rise' out of Hindley's 'power'. Cathy 1's materialistic desire to marry Edgar would have been comphrensible to the contemporary audience of the time as marriage to an upper class gentleman was the aim of all the 19th Century women, this was due to the patriarchal structure of society which ensured women had a lack of legal rights, thus marriage was their only financial security. However her idea of using the marriage to help Heathcliff have a higher quality of life would have also been viewed as a corruptive use of marriage-the cornerstone of Victorian society-showing how manipulative and selfish Cathy 1 is when she is around Heathcliff.
On the contrasting side, Cathy 1's relationship with Heathcliff can be seen as restricting and obsessive, regressing from the stable mental influence from Edgar. This is presented when Cathy 1 returns from the Grange, and is formally presented to the residents of the Heights, it is then that the reader sees the first strain on Cathy 1 and Heathcliff's relationship, as when Heathcliff is permitted (by Hindley) to welcome Cathy 1 back, the contrast between their appearance is starkly highligted. For Cathy 1 is clean and presentable with ringleted curls, a 'silk frock', where as Heathcliff is 'dirty' and grimy with 3 months worth of 'mire and dust' coating him, showing a distance created between them through the reality of their class difference, hence why she tells Nelly it would 'degrade' her to marry Heathcliff. The social class difference having a negative impact on their relationship is further highlighted when Cathy 1 laughs at Heathcliff's bewilderment of her radical change from the 'rough headed counter-part of himself', making the excuse that she was surprised at his dirty state as she was surrounded by clean people at the Grange, thus Heathcliff was upset with Cathy 1 maturing into a lady. Although the social void between the two lengthens as Cathy 1's time with the Linton's increases, her bond with Heathcliff is stronger. This is exampled when Heathcliff makes the special effort to look presentable in front of the Lintons- 'Nelly make me decent, I'm going to be good'- because once again the idea of the Gothic divided-self reappears as Cathy 1's two worlds merge. This is clearly highlighted when Nelly tells Lockwood, 'the notion of envying Catherine was incomprehensible to him, but the notion of grieving her he understood clearly enough', as because he loves her he wants her to have everything she wants, however he fears that by the gaining of her desires he will lose her, thus his attempt to change his appearance- so he can be apart of her life whilst she also changes.This however backfires when Edgar insults Heathcliff's effort to change along with Cathy, evoking Heathcliff's rage and causing him to hurt Edgar in return. This escalates to Edgar and Isabella crying which causes Cathy 1 to snap at them both to be quiet to lessen the rage Heathcliff will receive from Hindley, signifying Cathy 1 will always side with Heathcliff.
It is Cathy 1's divided feelings on the two men that stimulates her corrupted notion that she can have them both, however when she later realises that this will not happen she creates suffering through self harm of starvation to make her lovers become 'friends', thus showing the idea that a diseased mentality causes more suffering. Her self harm to keep both men can be viewed as transgressive of moral boundaries, this is not only due to the violation of the sanctity of marriage, the cornerstone of Victorian society, but also a corrupted use of her own body. In the contemporary time of the novel, society was relatively religious, although new radical ideas- such as Darwinism- cropped up, Victorians still idolised the moral perspective, which not only promoted a patriarchal structure, but also created the idea of the upper class being respectable. Thus Cathy 1's inverted use of her body (which belongs to God) is transgressive of religious boundaries, and would have shocked the reader. However, Bronte's Gothic approach of inverting traditional values to create a new radical approach to a new way of life is a common use of the Gothic, as it's shocking elements (such as Cathy 1's self harm) would have shocked the readers and therefore making them confront issues they may have marginalised, such as the only weapon women have in a phallocentric culture is their own health.
However the effect of death (caused by a diseased/neglected body) also causes suffering. This is exampled when Heathcliff asks Sexton to dig up Cathy 1's grave, signifying the consequences of Cathy 1's neglected body which has catalysied Heathcliff's diseased mind. Heathcliff blurrs the moral boundaries, as when Heathcliff tells Nelly what he will say when he holds her dead body in his arms-if she is still I will tell myself she is sleeping, if she is cold I will tell myself it is the north wind- it evokes pathos for Heathcliff from the reader (and quite possibly Nelly) as although it is transgressive on the level of necrophillia (highlighting he is the dark byronic hero), it is his obsessive love for Cathy 1 which is his redeeming feature for all of the immoral actions he commits. It is also quite tragic as it highlights the fact that in the plot of the novel there has always been something (Hindley's abuse and degredation of Heathcliff; Edgar's marriage to Cathy 1 due to social status; death) that has seperated the two lovers, and Heathcliff is left behind to mourn her loss alone. However, this would not have been unusal for Emily Bronte as her house (the Parsonage) looked out over on the grave yard, and due to extreme death rates from diseases such as consumption in the 19th Century, it would have been a normality to see the dead being buried- or because there was an overwhelming amount of dead bodies, some graves would have been dug up and the body removed (even when it is decomposing) to make room for the other dead in the Village of Haworth.
To conclude, more suffering in the novel is caused by a diseased mind than a diseased body which is mainly highlighted through the main characters Cathy 1 and Heathcliff, whose destructive love causes pain and misery to all whilst also transgressing timeless moral boundaries, shocking audiences of different era's signifying the profound effect a diseased mind can have. It is the actions of those are mentally ill that produce the most shocking yet memorable events in the plot, whereas characters such as Linton and Frances are not paid much attention to. This could be because they are not apart of the key structual doubling that is within the novel and thus may not be seen to play a key role in the story- thus a diseased mind, being more focused on shows more suffering.
Grade B/ 28/40.
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