Emily Brontë wrote only one book during her lifetime. It is called Wuthering Heights. She is also credited with writing several poems. Her work is regarded as a classic of English literature.
Detailed answer:
Emily Jane Bronte, born 1818 in Thornton, England, was a poet and a novelist. A daughter in a larger family of five, she faced a lot of loss and hardship in life. Her mother died when Emily was only three, leaving the children in the care of their aunt. The girl grew up shy but had a great adoration for animals and her sister, Anne.
Enrolled in a school at the age of six, Bronte suffered abuse and lost 2 of her sisters to an epidemic. These family tragedies have affected her writing and the general outlook on life. Her style was gripping, unique, and emotional. Some modern reviewers even thought that she was a man. Since childhood, she has written a lot of poems detailing the events in different fantasy worlds. Her only novel, Wuthering Heights, was published in 1847, a year before her death.
Wuthering Heights is a tragedy about the intricate affairs between multiple generations of people. The novel is presented and structured as a story told to one of its characters, a visitor named Lockwood. A housekeeper tells him the life story of Heathcliff, a landlord from the nearby manor called Wuthering Heights. The story is deep and engaging. The characters are influenced by each other’s attitudes and actions, changing due to the occurring events.
The figure of Mr. Heathcliff is especially notable, as he changes during the novel. Earnshaw family took him as an orphan. He develops romantic feelings for his step-sister and is consumed by feelings of revenge when she marries another man. Mr. Heathcliff is presented as a sympathetic character and a victim of mistreatment at first. He later grows into a cruel and vindictive person. His life with the children of the previous generation comprises the central portion of the novel’s second part.
Heathcliff’s love for a dead woman and the need to avenge his honor drives him insane. Lockwood, when hearing the whole story of Heathcliff, is shocked and repulsed. He decides to leave the house. The author shows the reader a fascinating evolution of her characters, which ties the tales of the past to the present. The mix of love and hate, kindness, and cruelty is the central part of the narrative and engages the reader into the plot. The language of the novel is passionate and vivid, with imagery that evokes emotion.
Bronte’s work was heavily criticized during her time because it challenged the cultural standards of the era. Critics were shocked and appalled by the nature of her novel and the actions of her characters. It is widely considered a classic of English literature and is influential to many authors. Emily Brontë has unfortunately died before she could write any more books. But the legacy she left has an impact on the world of today. Her works were one of the many that helped to empower female writers. They promoted equality in the field of literature.