Sigmund Frued

Wuthering Heights and Sigmund Freud

Theodore, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Dec 23, 2008 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here." * More: * Freud * Wuthering Heights * Sigmund Freud * Ego
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Introduction
Wuthering Heights is a novel written by Emily Brontë back in the 19th century. The novel is about the relationships within and between the families and characters living in two houses on the Yorkshire moors. At its release in 1847 the novel received mixed critics, but has later become one of the most read and praised works in British literature.
The two families, as shown to the right, are the Linton's living at Thrushcross Grange and the Earnshaw's living at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff is an orphan who Mr. Earnshaw decides to bring home during a trip to Liverpool. Heathcliff and Catherine grew an unconditional love for each other during their childhood. However, as they grow older their relationship becomes complex due to Catherine's choice of marrying another man, Edgar Linton.
The aim of this essay is to analyse the relationship between the main characters Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff and Edgar Linton using Sigmund Freud's three-parted personality theory. My ambition is to find and prove connections between Freud's theory and the characters personalities.
Method
It goes without saying that the book Wuthering Heights forms the basis for this essay. A disadvantage working with an actual book is that it can be hard to search for quotes afterwards. Therefore, I will be searching for quotes (on) the online version. To gain any needed information about Emily Brontë, Sigmund Freud et cetera I will search Internet pages such as National Encyclopaedia or Wikipedia.
Background
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian physician and author. Freud has often been referred to as the father of psychoanalysis. In his structural model of the psyche he describes three elements which steers human behaviour: the id, the ego and the superego. It is important to add that he, in his theory, does not regard those three parts as actual parts of the brain; they are instead functions of the mind.
The id is the unconscious component of the psyche. It is driven by our basic desires, urges and needs without considering any possible consequences. Examples of such needs could be hunger, thirst or sexual related needs. The id expects those needs to be satisfied immediately; otherwise, it will provoke a state of anxiety or tension. According to Freud, the id is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality. However, it is also the source of all psychic energy.
The Ego is the pre-conscious component of the psyche. It is a so-called mediator between the Id and the Superego. The Ego tries to predict and fulfil the needs of the Id without crossing the moral borders of the Superego.
The Superego is the conscious component of the psyche. It stands in direct opposition of the id. The Superego contains our moral standards and ideals that we have obtained from our surroundings since we were born. It has a judgmental function, which tells us what is acceptable or not to do. Briefly, it is our conscience.
Discussion
A fundamental theme in the story is the struggle between dark and light. This theme has been an issue in literature throughout the 20th century since the origin of psychoanalyses. A frequent story is e.g. when a woman has to choose between two completely different men of certain stereotypes; one who is pure good, loyal and pleasant, and the other one who is adventurous, exciting, unreliable and often bad. This kind of story is to be found in Wuthering Heights through the relationships between Catherine Earnshaw and her two admirers Heathcliff and Edgar Linton.
Heathcliff is the anti-hero of the story and represents an id-driven personality. His looks are dark and rough. He is described as vigorous, passionate, sometimes impulsive and cruel. During his childhood, he does not reflect much over his situation, which will describe someone without that much of a superego. E.g., he takes Hindley's blows because he is used to bad treatment (see next quote).
"He seemed a sullen, patient child; hardened, perhaps, to ill- treatment: he would stand Hindley's blows without winking or shedding a tear, and my pinches moved him only to draw in a breath and open his eyes, as if he had hurt himself by accident, and nobody was to blame. This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor fatherless child, as he called him. He took to Heathcliff strangely, believing all he said (for that matter, he said precious little, and generally the truth), and petting him up far above Cathy, who was too mischievous and wayward for a favourite."
- http://www.literature.org/authors/bronte-emily/wuthering-heights/chapter-04.html
A person with a dominate super-ego would have seen the opportunity to benefit from the situation. However, Heathcliff did not care for Mr. Earnshaw's love because he did not want it, nor he needed it; the only important thing to him was Catherine's concern.
Heathcliff and Catherine have this previous mentioned unconditional love for each other. Heathcliff does not realise how the circumstances make their love doomed, he simply sees what he wants. When Heathcliff hears Catherine speaking to Nelly Dean about herself marrying Edgar Linton, he shows his dominate id by running away. When he returns he acts very selfish and inconsiderate trying to get back at Catherine and Edgar by marrying Edgar's younger sister Isabella Linton. At first, his evil plan seems successful, Edgar gets into despair about the destiny of his sister, Catherine gets confused and Isabella becomes miserable when she finds out who Heathcliff really is. After a while, Heathcliff has to face the consequences of his actions; the conflict between Edgar and Heathcliff is tearing Catherine apart. She becomes weaker and weaker and at the age of eighteen, she dies, but the id-driven Heathcliff is too naive to take the blame for it.
Edgar Linton stands in the direct opposite to Heathcliff. He is slender, has blonde hair, blue eyes and seems to be quite a weak person. However, Catherine is attracted to him thanks to his wealth and neat charisma. It seems that Edgar always thinks before he speaks or acts because he is afraid of conflicts, which is a typical behaviour for someone with a dominate super-ego. The following quote made by Nelly Dean proves Edgar's cowardness. It is from the time after the wedding when Catherine first moves to Thrushcross Grange.
"I observed that Mr. Edgar had a deep-rooted fear of ruffling her humour. He concealed it from her; but if ever he heard me answer sharply, or saw any other servant grow cloudy at some imperious order of hers, he would show his trouble by a frown of displeasure that never darkened on his own account. He many a time spoke sternly to me about my pertness; and averred that the stab of a knife could not inflict a worse pang than he suffered at seeing his lady vexed."
- http://www.literature.org/authors/bronte-emily/wuthering-heights/chapter-10.html
At last, there is Catherine Earnshaw, renamed Linton after the wedding. Catherine is described as free spirited but arrogant, and her looks are beautiful. Catherine's struggle to make the right decision regarding her love towards the two men in her life is one of the main themes in the novel. If she would follow her heart, she would definitely be with Heathcliff. Meanwhile, she does not think that Heathcliff is good enough for her. Edgar Linton is a decent, intelligent man with a respected family while Heathcliff is impudent and filthy with no family or inheritance at all. In a Freudian examination Catherine is a perfect example of a struggling ego; her id points in one favour and her super-ego in the other. Her (ego's) inability to take control contributes to her death.
Catherine's love to Heathcliff is something out of the ordinary. They are more like soul mates than lovers. When Heathcliff runs away, it is as if she looses a part of herself. More precisely, her Id. She becomes more sophisticated and letting her super-ego (Edgar) be in charge. Talking to Nelly Dean, she describes her love for Edgar and Heathcliff:
"My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I AM Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
- Brontë (1963:83f)
This quote pretty much describes the feeling I got about their relationships when I was reading book. It can also bee seen as a metaphor with the following content: Linton is her super-ego, which easily can be distorted by societal changes or changes in our moral standards. Heathcliff represents her id; it is always with her no matter what.
Conclusion
Writing this essay, I have found out that each of the three characters Heathcliff, Catherine and Edgar matches one part of the three-parted psyche described by Sigmund Freud. Heathcliff represents an id-driven person, Edgar Linton a super-ego dominated person and Catherine with an ego in command.
It think this was an interesting topic to study. Next time I read a book of the same nature I will probably think about the characters peculiarities more than usual and analyse them in my mind assisted by Freud's theory.