Abstract:

This paper aims at analyzing Gothic factors in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. First of all, it introduces Bronte sisters’ life and their main experience as writers. Then it reviews the origin and development of gothic novel and lists series of classic gothic elements. After that, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are compared in terms of theme and plot, setting, main characters and supernaturalism. By these comparisons, the paper exposes the gothic technique and features used in these two novels. Finally, it draws the conclusion that both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights succeed in using gothic elements to achieve better effects and attract more readers.

Key words: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; Gothic novel

摘要：

本文旨在分析夏洛特•勃朗特的《简•爱》及艾米莉•勃朗特所作的《呼啸山庄》两部作品中的哥特因素。在引入部分，着重介绍了勃朗特姐妹的生活背景及写作经历。接着对史上著名哥特小说及哥特黄金时期进行了回顾，并简单介绍了一些哥特小说中的经典元素。而本文的重点则在于将《简•爱》及《呼啸山庄》从多个方面进行对比，包括小说的主题、情节，场景设定，主要人物及超自然因素这四个方面。通过对比，文章揭示了这两部小说所具备的大量哥特特征。最后，文章得出结论：《简•爱》与《呼啸山庄》成功的运用了哥特元素，以此取得了上佳的艺术效果并俘获了中外大批读者。

关键词：《简•爱》；《呼啸山庄》；哥特小说

1. Introduction
Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte are among the most famous female writers in the history of European literature. Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 and her sister Emily Bronte was born two years later, in the golden age of Romanticism. The Bronte sisters lived in the most turbulent age in Europe. They lost their mother when they were young and the poor family finally settled down in the Haworth industrial zone, between the town and the wilderness, where the Bronte sisters spent all their lives. Thus, the Bronte sisters had witnessed the internal defect of Capitalism, the contradiction between labor and capital, the poverty of the unemployed, and the tragic death of child labors. All of these contributed to the creation of the Bronte sisters. Fortunately, their father was a knowledgeable priest who studied in the St John’s College of Cambridge.