{"id":883,"date":"2022-10-07T03:00:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T03:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=883"},"modified":"2022-12-01T20:38:41","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T20:38:41","slug":"hareton-nellys-definitive-proof-that-the-english-colonialism-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2022\/10\/07\/hareton-nellys-definitive-proof-that-the-english-colonialism-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Hareton: Nelly\u2019s Definitive Proof that the English Colonialism Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are multiple Gothic elements at work in Chapter 19 of Emily Bront\u00eb’s <\/span>Wuthering Heights<\/span><\/i>, which undermine the striking tranquility of \u00a0Hareton\u2019s education. Describing Hareton\u2019s transformation, Nelly states, \u201cHis honest, warm, intellectual nature shook off rapidly the clouds of ignorance and degradation in which it had been bred\u201d (Bront\u00eb 323). In this passage, the key\u00a0tension exists between the words \u201cnature\u201d and \u201cbred.\u201d The Oxford English Dictionary defines nature as \u201cphysical strength or constitution,\u201d while bred means \u201cto produce offspring\u201d (<\/span>Oxford English Dictionary Online<\/span><\/i> 1b, 1a). In using these two words in such proximity, one must consider the implicit argument between birth order and eventual merit of personality. Considering that Hareton’s father, Heathcliff, was appropriated into a relatively wealthy lifestyle after his low-class birth, and the pair were kept in similar ignorance during their shared childhoods displays Heathcliff’s affinity for maintaining ignorance.\u00a0 <\/span>The implication of the lines is that his birth order does not impact the ability to become \u201ccivilized\u201d by the Victorian standard. A valuable British citizen emerges as the dominant identity once Hareton is assimilated into Englishness through a British education. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a clearly implicit anxiety that rises within the Victorian time period of the national \u201cOther,\u201d which the novel subtly expresses through extremely characteristic imagery.\u00a0 Nelly emphasizes that Hareton\u2019s ignorance was dispelled like clouds. The same imagery is used throughout the novel to describe the tumultuous and mysterious moors between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange: a threatening, liminal space full of uncertainty. Similarly, Hareton signifies a questionable entity because he has a foreign countenance and, particularly distressing, unknown origin. \u00a0This micro image of the British colonial system testifies to Roger Luckhurst\u2019s theory that the gothic as a genre \u201cpulses in sympathy with the rhythms of expansion and crisis in the British empire\u201d with a distinct fear of \u201creturning us to a savage state\u201d (Luckhurst xiii-xiv). In this instance, <\/span>Wuthering Heights<\/span><\/i> is devoted to upholding the colonial doctrines of the British Empire, even if not explicitly because of the urgency and relief that accompanies Hareton\u2019s conversion from intellectual \u201cOther\u201d to citizen.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another distinctive link that testifies to a palpable relief at the success of Catherine\u2019s efforts toward civilization exist at the end of the passage when Nelly observes, \u201cHis brightening mind brightened his features, and added spirit and nobility to their aspects\u201d (Bront\u00eb 323). In this moment, the distinct influence of physiognomic principles is obvious. Nelly believes she can tell that Hareton\u2019s mind is progressing based on the increased attractiveness of his features. This implication is further complicated by the prominence of physiognomic ugliness as associated with criminality and violence across the rest of the novel. Furthermore, with his increasing intelligence, he gains nobility, a claim to a place in economic and social society, but also a spirit. This is fascinating because it reveals a distinct bias informed by religion, implying (through, and possibly misplaced in the British born Hareton) that perhaps global populations have no place in an afterlife beside good British citizens. In effect, to Nelly, a British education has quite literally saved Hareton\u2019s soul.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are multiple Gothic elements at work in Chapter 19 of Emily Bront\u00eb’s Wuthering Heights, which undermine the striking tranquility of \u00a0Hareton\u2019s education. Describing Hareton\u2019s transformation, Nelly states, \u201cHis honest, warm, intellectual nature shook off rapidly the clouds of ignorance and degradation in which it had been bred\u201d (Bront\u00eb 323). In this passage, the key\u00a0tension … Continue reading Hareton: Nelly\u2019s Definitive Proof that the English Colonialism Works<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4758,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344620],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}