探討「咆哮山莊」新形象女性的特質

A Study on the New Image of Woman in Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is a thrilling story revolving around the heroine-Catherine Earnshaw's short life span: her love affairs, her marriage, and finally her death. However, all that happens in her life seems to do with her constant love for Heathcliff directly or indirectly. For Catherine, she is aware of what she is made of the same materials as Heathcliff, and gradually develops a deep love with him in confrontation with a ruthless patriarchal ruler, his brother, Hindley. But the man she marries is not her love, but an heir to Thrushcross Crange. Then with indignation and grief beyond measure, Heathcliff departs from Wuthering Heights without any hesitation and returns three years later with a strong intention to capture Catherine's heart and soul again. His reappearance, to some extent, initiates Catherine's antagonism against her husband When confronted to make a selection, she prefers to sacrifice her life rather than lose her natural and her self-identity. This paper is devoted to the construction of a new woman image, treating Catherine Earnshaw as the representative of the pioneer. After introducing the attributes of the new image of woman, the paper gives an elaboration on these attributes chapter by chapter.19世紀的小說，婚姻和大團圓的結局十分普遍，這是因為婚姻幾乎成為解決女性一切問題的最佳方法。《簡.愛》、《傲慢與偏見》等都是較為傑出的代表作。而艾米麗‧布朗德的《咆哮山莊》男女主角的結局卻與同時代的小說大相逕庭，它是拒絕女性在困境和社會習俗之間，尋求妥協的一部偉大小說。劇中，林得與凱薩琳雖結為夫妻，卻在舊日情人赫思克利夫歸來之後，無法保持對丈夫的愛，而情人與丈夫之間的矛盾關係，使她陷入無法自拔的感情困境。按照大多數作家的做法，凱薩琳和赫思克利夫之間只有兩種結局：一種是凱薩琳在道德力量的感召下拒絕赫思克利夫，完成大團圓的結局；另一種是凱薩琳打破世俗的束縛，與丈夫離婚，再與希思克利夫締結有真正愛情的婚姻，形成另一種大團圓結局。然而作者卻迴避了傳統女性的選擇，而設計一種新的結局：讓丈夫親眼看到凱薩琳臨終前死在赫思克利夫懷裡。當道德觀念與真愛不可兼得的時候，凱薩琳選擇的是犧牲自我的生命，而非自我意識的喪失，她那獨立的個性，新形象女性的風範，是傳統女性所無法比擬。艾米麗‧布朗德別具一格的寫法，要傳遞給同時代女性的是無窮盡的力量和勇氣：衝破男性文化的重重藩籬，實現女性的自我追求。