Wuthering Heights: The Complexity of Existence and the Limitation of Human Perception Sid Ali Kercenna College

Published in 1847 under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell, Emily Bronte’s only finished novel is a unique work when it comes to the way, in which, it deals with the complexity of the human soul and treats the mysteries of its psychology. This book follows an ingenious approach in its observance of the human psyche through multiple viewpoints, none of which is entirely reliable. This form of narration along with the use of flashbacks puts an emphasis on the human being’s limited perception and the difficulty of grasping something as deep and complex as the human mind. Bronte leads the way to such a conclusion gradually by tracing the source of this complexity back to its genesis on a national, regional, and even individual level. When it is a question of the latter echelon, Bronte’s masterpiece provides an abundance of psychological concepts and elements that appeal to the reader’s dialectic analysis.

The novel is set in the desolate moors of Yorkshire and addresses the relations between two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, over a period of three generations from the year 1771 to 1803. In spite of the differences between them, these two families were originally in harmony with their environment and with one another until their...