IRJMSH Vol 12 Issue 8 [Year 2021] ISSN 2277 – 9809 (0nline) 2348–9359 (Print)

Analyse of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre from a Freudian perspective

can provide a better understanding of the characters of the novels as well as
the reader’s response to the text
Dr. Chandramallika Pramanik
Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith
Baranasi – II
Email Id-chandramallika1983@gmail.com
Contact No- 9593697515

Abstract : Sigmund Freud’s psychological theories can be used with reference to the evaluation
of literary works. Reading novels, poems and different compositions via the lens of
psychoanalysis offers the chance to analyse and consider the works of literature in their genesis
and presentation. Freudian doctrine can be viewed as a analyzing device that permits the
investigation of the enigmatic areas of human ride and therefore, its important contribution to
literature is associated to the discovery of hidden elements of the text, of the author and of the
reader as well. In this article, the principal characters of two Victorian novels, Wuthering
Heights and Jane Eyre are analysed regarding the tripartite shape of the thought alongside with
the Oedipus complex, the evaluation of goals and different components of sexuality. Several
passages from the two works are highlighted and mentioned in accordance to the
psychoanalytical theories with a essential center of attention on the characters: Heathcliff and
Catherine and then Jane and Mr. Rochester. The significance of the interpretative potential of
psychoanalysis is extensively emphasized.

Keywords : Literary analysis, psychoanalysis, skepticism, feasible, Sigmund Freud.

Psychoanalytical theories.

Introduction : Sigmund Freud is typically viewed to be the father of psychoanalysis, a

department of psychology that offers with the cure of intellectual problems by way of the
explosion of elements of the idea of which an character is normally unaware. Terms such as
unconscious, ego, super ego, Oedipus complex, sexual drives, death wishes, repression of
emotions, transference, protection mechanisms and interpretation of goals are nicely frequent
and broadly time-honored by means of many intellectual fitness vendors even although there has
regularly been some skepticism about their scientific foundation. Anyway, psychoanalytic
theories can be very useful to the evaluation of literary works for quite a few motives as Barry
outlines in his theoretical method to literature. Firstly, it is feasible to make connections between
the hidden content material of a novel or poem and the unconscious thinking as nicely as
between the specific content and the mindful. Secondly, the repression of feelings and the
disclosure of unconscious factors can be associated both to the characters of a novel, poem and
play or to The Writer himself. Thirdly,theories of sexually can be related to the representations
emotional struggling and intellectual dysfunctions in the shape of psychological Complaints or

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even madness. Fourthly, the Oedipus complicated performs a applicable function influencing
gender dynamics and the relationships between guys and girls in social contexts as it honestly
appears, for example, in the Shakespearean play Hamlet. Lastly, the faith that the evaluation of
psychological factors is extra necessary for the fundamental analyzing of literary works than any
different social or historic approach. In this paper, two novels of the English literature of the
nineteenth Century, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, will be analyses in accordance to unique
Freudian ideals in relation to the texts and with unique attention to the explosion of the important
characters of the novels Heathcliff and Catherine, Jane and Mr. Rochester.

Victorian Novel: Wuthering Heights :-

In WH extent1, the Components of the idea theorized through Freud, the Id, the ego and the
super-ego, and represented by means of three characters, respectively Heathcliff, Catherine and
edger Linton. The Id is characterized with the aid of being unconscious, chaotic, impulsive,
energetic, has no ethical regulations and is ruled through sexual and aggressive impulses which
want to be discharged regardless of any feasible Consequence. The peculiarities of the Id can be
related with Heathcliff’s behavior on the grounds that he is described by using Mr. Lockwood
the quantity I chapters-I to II as, “rather slovenly,” “an aversion to showy displays of feeling to
manifestations of mutual kindliness” and “the tone…. I no longer … can Heathcliff a capital
fellow”. According to Gold Heathcliff represents the Id due to the fact that he is wild and
uncivilized and as Nelly describes in quality I chapter IV, as an infant, he was “a dirty, ragged
black haired child” and a “gipsy brat”, in all likelihood a primitive or a individual of brutish
nature- Furthermore, he is quickly Judged in the novel as sinister “ it’s as darkish nearly as if it
got here from the devil”, with the use of the pronoun it possibly to depict him as a factor
alternatively than a human being. Such a description may additionally be demonstrated by means
of analogies, made in quantity. I chapter-I, to the location the place Heathcliff lives because
Wuthering Heights is in Contrast to “the atmospheric tumult” and additionally to the aggressive
behavior of the dogs ; both similarities mirror the nature of the owner. In Contrast, Edgar’s
nature is really the contrary considering he is Civilized, rich and good mannered and, as Gold
argues, he represents the Super-ego, an place of the thinking which is exceptional for its
morality, religiosity, parental and social prohibitions, disapproval of misconduct. These
components are simply in distinction with the Id. In order to spotlight Edgar’s disposition, it is
really worth to point out the description of Trushcross Grange given in extent I chapter IV : “a
splendid place carpeted with Crimson [………] and shimmering with little soft taper”, “we
should have thought ourselves in heaven” which is an antithesis to the representation of
Wuthering Heights’s place. Therefore, the Lintons are depicted polite and civilized : “Then the
woman servant [………] washed her feet; and Mr. Linton mixed a tumbler of negus, and Isabella
emptied a plateful of cakes into her lap and Edgar stood gaping, “wicked boy” Catherine,
instead, can signify the Ego due to the fact of her rationality, her attachment to the actual world
and the efforts, curiously conscious, to manipulate her herbal disposition. As a count number of

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fact, Catherine is first described as comparable to Heathcliff and, hence as informed by using the
phrases of Nelly in extent I chapter V : “A wild, wicked slip she was”, “She was much too fond
of Heathcliff”, “wakened in her a naughty delight to provoke him” and “turning Joseph’s
religious curses into ridicule, baiting me”. Catherine is, in part, aware of her true nature as shown
in the famous quote from chapter IX : “I am Heathcliff, an expression that underlines the strong
likeliness between the two or, in a psychoanalytic prospective, it suggests the existence of an
identification, a psychological mechanism by which aspects or parts of a person can be
interiorized by another, individual. Catherine may or may not be completely aware of her
analogy with Healthcliff, but what appears as astonishing and strange to Nelly is her decision to
marry Edgar because “I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighborhood……….” Which
is in stark contrast with the assertion “……….in my soul, and in my heart, I’m convinced I’m
wrong!”. It is evident that Catherine is ambivalent and smothers her authentic emotions via
repression a mechanism that Freud emphasized as being unconscious, and makes the selection to
marry for convenience, an issue that is in all likelihood pushed by way of the Ego. It is feasible
to infer that her preference is linked to an identification with Edgar or to the affect of ethical and
social norms and, eventually, to her desire to enlarge in wealth, as Gold argues, since a true
marriage used to be a important challenge for many female in Victorian age.

Catherine’s tendency to repress sexual drives or emotions of love, and additionally Heathcliff’s
flight, are each influenced by way of feel of humiliation and distance because “it would degrage
me to marry Heathcliff” aspects that rather foresee the tragic activities that will comply with in
the novel. The interestingly unfavourable nature of the novel is a theme that is mentioned
through Iwase, who states that Heathcliff and Catherine are each accountable of the tragic
exceptional that can be attributed to the composition. The conjecture is that each characters are
certainly egoistic and narcissistic, have an aggressive disposition toward the others and show
unrestrained animal impulses if now not a diabolical conduct, which might also affirm the
affiliation with the Id. As a consequence, they can in no way stay in peace however again and
again go through and quit up destroying their lives and the happiness of these who surrounded
them, an intense being Isabella’s marriage with Heathcliff. Catherine’s aggressiveness and
insensibility emerge in volume II Chapter-I in the words used by herself : “I care nothing for
your sufferings. Why shouldn’t you suffer? I do, “and later in the text, the theme of suffering is
depicted in the lines : “Are you possessed with a devil, [……….] I shall writhe in the torments of
hell?” It predicts that Fueud’s theories on Sadomasochism can help to understand the
relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff since they both struggle for love and fight
unsuccessfully against their aggressive drives. In the end, they can do nothing but let their nature
express itself. As Iwase argues, Heathcliff is so afflicted that his madness and vulnerability result
in his pathological obsession for Catherine’s ghost as shown in Volume I Chapter-III : “He got
on to the bed [……….] my compassion made me overlook his folly”. A madness that makes the
moment of his death even more impressive as described in the final chapter. “I could not think
him dead. […………] Ech! What a wicked up he looks grinning at death!” In the end, their love

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was once not possible both for a count of tragic destiny or for the choices and herbal inclinations
of the single individuals. Further evidence to support the contribution of Freud’s theories to the
analysis of WH is given by Hoeveler. The first dream described in the novel is that of
Lockwood’s volume I Chapter-III, “I began to dream [………….] to my unspeakable relief, they
woke me”. This dream can be interpreted in accordance to the following psychological
concept’s. Condensation, in which exceptional factors of a dream may be united in a single
image or context; displacement, a mechanism by which a talent content and the emotions
attached to it are displaced to a manifest contest that is more acceptable for the individual;
representability, which is characterized by the transformation of thoughts or ideas into visual
images. In the beginning, Lockwood is going domestic with Joseph but, in a 2nd part, to a chapel
the place he listens to a sermon and is then crushed up due to the fact of the objections he makes.
All matters considered, it is viable to argue that phallic symbols are represented in the dream by
using the “weapon” which Lockwood does now not posses whilst Joseph has a “heavy-headed
cudgel”. The discrepancy between these two characters might also mirror their genuine natures
considering Joseph is depicted as impolite and aggressive, elements linked to masculinity, while
Lockwood is instead inoffensive and gentle, traits which are usual of females. In addition, fear of
castration emerges underneath the shape of being overwhelmed by way of different human
beings in the chapel, a situation that can be correlated to the studying that Lockwood made of
Catherine’s account of the “awful Sunday” and of the carrier that “lasted exactly three hours” or
additionally, to his preceding and disagreeable come upon with the inhabitants of Wuthering
Heights, which was once characterized by means of Coldness and aggressiveness.

Victorian novel :- Jane Eyre

In Jane Eyre, the Freudian theories regarding the Oedipus complicated can be taken in a
consideration to give an explanation for the relationship between Jane and Mr Rochester. The
Oedipus complicated issues a odd stage of the man or women psychological improvement of a
little boy or girl, and is normally regarded via extreme emotion of love for the father or mother
of the contrary sex. While demise needs and aggressive behavior are expressed toward the
mother or father of the identical sex. In the novel, Jane can be compared to a little girl since she
has positive feelings of affection for Edward, who is twenty years older, Dell’ olio highlights the
fact that Jane’s love for Rochester is a consequence of the absence of a father figure in her
childhood . Little is told in the novel about, Jane’s father and mother and the first family picture
that appears in chapter-I, is characterized by coldness and solitude as shown by the weather
condition. “the dreary November day […..] a long and lamentable blast” and by the distance
between Jane and Mr. Reed who cannot be considered a caring and affectionate alternative
mother. Infact, the following description of her aunt is worth mentioning. “She regretted to be
under the necessity of keeping me at a distance” and again “She really must exclude me from
privileges indented only for Contented, happy little children. The preliminary photograph of
emotional for the truth that a younger lady is so in want of genuine love and of attachment to a

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parental figure, As Dell’ Olio argues, the relationship between Jane and Edward is so strong and
intense that an idealized father and a hypothetical daughter can hinder or diminish the affection
they have for each other. In fact, after many tribulations and much sufferance on both sides, the
final consideration made by the author in the last chapter is , “No women was ever nearer to her
mate that I am . […..] flesh of his flesh”, an intimacy which underlines the idea of blood
relationship or gene sharing that is typical of family ties. The Oedipus Complicated is same to a
love triangle in which a third persons, the father and mother of the identical sex intervenes to
obstruct or mitigate the expression of the unconscious sexual drives with the aid of the child.
Jane’s opponents can be represented both through Balance Ingram or Bertha Mason. In the
former case, the competition is no longer case, the competition is no longer a court number of
love due to the fact Rochester does no longer have authentic emotions of attachment to Blanche,
but the factor right here are Jane’s beliefs about miss Ingram which primarily situation their
social discrepancy. She is a threat for Jane, as shown in chapter-XVI, “the belle of the evening”,
was certainly the queen”, “A very rich and powerful one. She sang delightfully”. Therefore Jane
is overtly jealous and struggles with the fear of being neglected by Edward and makes sharp
comments about Balance, likely to emphasize the different between then as shown by. “Oh yes.
But you see there is a considerable difference in age. Mr. Rochester is nearly forty she is but
twenty five”, while Jane is even younger. Moreover when talking about the Ingram sister, Jane
says that “Mary had a milder and more open countenance than Blanche softer features too, and a
skin some shades fairer this last aspect is clearly in contrast with “this last aspect is clearly in
contrast with “this one little English girl”, as Rochester defines Jane in chapter XXIV. It is clear
from this assessment with Blanche Ingram that Jane Eyre belongs to a decrease social category
due to the fact that she is a person, at least initially with no case or fortune and pressured to work
as governess. Since the beginning of the novel the heroine struggles against her inferiority as
shown in chapter-II where she refers to her Cousin John; “Master How is he my master? Am I a
servant?” differently from her attitude towards Rochester, her master, as it appears in chapter-
XVII. “My master’s Colorless, olive fact, [….] full of an interest, am influence that quit mastered
me”, An fascinating work concerning the analysis of goals and artistic production in Jane Eyre
offers important insights into the psychoanalytic reading of the social situation women in the
Victorian age . Firstly, Jane’s dreams are used in the novel to categorical fears of motherhood
since their manifest content material and verbal description are frequently characterized by
means of anxiety and a sense of failure and incapacity to deal with little children. This is
apparent in XXV. “I was burdened with the charge of a little child […..] and wailed piteously in
my ear” and agam “however much its weight impeded my progress, I must retain it. The
elements that emerge in these dreams are likely connected to the events of Jane’s life her
marriage to Rochester which can be interpreted as a sort of imprisonment for a young girl and a
limitation of her freedom and independence. Other women at the time may have been
overexcited via the notion of marrying a wealthy man and mountaineering the social ladder, but
Jane goes towards the tide, an mind-set which is verified by using her as a substitute addle, her
steady emotions of emancipation and lack of showiness secondly, Jane’s paining potential is the

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expression of an inventive pleasant which lets in the heroine to emerge from her social inferiority
considering that she is a whole lot liked as proven in chapter-X. “That is one of my paintings
over the chimney- piece […..] well, that is beautiful miss Jane”. At the same time, it prevents her
from being conformed to the upper classes as she is not trying to draw people’s attention, unlike
miss Ingram as depicted in chapter-XVII. “Miss Ingram, who had now seated herself with proud
grace at the piano [….] her air seemed intended to excite not only the admiration, but the
amazement of her auditors. Exhibitionistic and voyeuristic drives are expressed also by Jane
since her painting may reflect an unconscious wish to show herself and to be watched by others,
as Arnautu argues, along with a need for admiration. In chapter-XIII, Jane’s self gratification in
these words. “Where you happy when you painted these pictures? Asked Mr. Rochester
presently yes, and I was happy. To paint them, in short was to enjoy one of the keenest
pleasures……..”. Apart from non-public satisfaction, it is necessary to think about that the
heroine’s creative abilities characterize the probability to distinguish herself as she possesses
novel and multiplied qualities. It does now not always observe that she belongs to an top social
class, indeed she represents an choice to the maternal position imposed on female by means of
society.
The second rival for Jane’s for Jane’s oedipal dreams is Bertha Mason, a alternatively
ambiguous Parent who in accordance to Atherton, represents the animal, instinctual and
disruptive aspect of the heroine, an component that in a psychoanalytic perspective can be
related to the common sexual and aggressive drives that represent the Id. In chapter XXVI,
Bertha is referred to with an impersonal pronoun, which dehumanized her, and she is also
compared to same kind of beast. “It groveled seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled
like some strange wild animal but it was covered with clothing……. A discern that interestingly
lacks any shape of ethical precept or self discipline like Heathcliff. She is an example, as every
other pupil argues, of the mad women who in the Victorian Society, were oftentimes Constrained
in an asylum or at domestic in a segregated area, an attic and deserted to the remedy of a single
assistant, commonly every other women. Isolation was once an ride that came about additionally
to Jane When, as a child, she used to be unjustly shut up into the Red room due to the fact of her
tantrums and irritable behavior. It appears that delinquent attitudes alongside with insanity or any
different difficult behavior that ought to emerge from the discharge of the Id and specifically
dominated or stored underneath manipulate due to the fact of the ethical policies that ruled
society.

Conclusion :

In conclusion, psychoanalytical theories can furnish beneficial insights into the perception of
these two masterpieces of English literature due to the fact that it is viable to anticipate that the
suppression of person needs and wishes, both consciously or in an unconscious way, the concern
to discover an sufficient compromise between the energies with the pressures female might also
came across in a patriarchal and misogynous society. All these factors, taken personally or in

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association, can reason an excessive emotional struggling and even a super quantity of
psychological distress. In WH, Heathcliff turns into mad due to the fact of the uncontrolled
power related with aggressive drives and the impossibility to fulfill love desires or to discover
some private pleasure in life, while Catherine behaves in a hysterical manner due to the fact of
the warfare between the repressed expression of the instinctual aspect and the needs of society.
Both characters are consequently, sad and disillusioned and it is evident that there will by no
means be in place on earth for them. In the identical way, Jane is continuously discontent and
stressed till she reaches financial indepence and except she may want to emerge as a decent and
rich woman, which is inall likelihood what she continually struggled to achieve. Her dedication
and obstinacy to elevate the social ladder are additionally correlated to the suppression of
motherhood as mentioned above, an mindset that display an unconscious and robust manipulate
over maternal instincts and the nurturing nature of females : the Ego strives for self-realization
however is in distinction with social pressure and sexual appetites. Edward Rochester represents
the fatherly affection that Jane may want to by no means trip in existence and, therefore, it is no
longer stunning that their relationship is characterized with the aid of sturdy emotions of
attachment and by means of incomprehension and controversial which are regularly determined
in familial context, mainly between a caring father and an adolescent daughter who is dwelling
an internal turmoil. Rochester is additionally the image of a society in which guys had been
effective and robust humans and assumed main roles, but in the novel a reversal of social roles is
in all likelihood highlighted. Jane developed into a mature and impartial man or woman whilst
her husband is transfigured into a disabled and based individual, thus reflecting the frailties and
weaknesses of a masculine society. It looks that the psychoanalytic antitheses between
masculinity and femininity finds a new equilibrium in the relationship between these two
character and in the future social models. In the end, the evaluation of from a Freudian
standpoint can grant a higher appreciation of the characters of the novel as properly as author’s
lives and personalities.

Reference :

Arnautu MV (2002). Jane Eyre : a feminist psychoanalytic perspective on the social status of the
Victorian woman. Identities in metamorphosis, Literature, Discourse and Multicultural Dialogue,
800

Atherton C (2014). The figure of Bertha Mason. Discovering Literature : Romantics and
Victorians.

Barry P (2002). Beginning theory. An introduction to literary and cultural theory.

Bronte C (1994). Jane Eyre. Penguin Classics.

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