Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights because she needed to give way to her passions. She was eager to unveil the wild side of an English person’s personality. She also strove for freedom and self-expression through her characters.
Detailed answer:
The renowned writer remains one of the most mysterious figures in English literature. Still, Emily Brontë’s biography has many obscure parts. Her fame is increasing each year, with a real obsession these days. She was a recluse who loved English moors and could be her authentic self only in her house with her siblings. So, why did Emily Brontë write Wuthering Heights.
- Personal Reasons
Emily was a shy girl who lost her mother in her early childhood. She witnessed her two sisters’ death as a result of their brief studies at a boarding school. She was raised in a beautiful but unwelcoming area of Yorkshire moors that evoked sadness in many souls.
Emily tried to study and work but could not fit in. It created her image as a weird girl for her contemporaries.
Emily Brontë found reconciliation with herself when she was in the untamed settings of the moors. She loved wandering and daydreaming. Her poems and Wuthering Heights show that the author was preoccupied with people’s passions, emotions, and suffering. Personal losses and character traits were the sources of alienation that gave the basis for her famous novel. She lost her mother and sisters, and no one can tell about the romantic losses she could have experienced. Even if Emily did not relate to Cathy, the character had to endure similar emotional tortures.
- Literary Influences
The first part of the nineteenth century was also the time when Gothic novels reigned. The author places Byronic heroes in dim environments where ordinary people feel uneasy and depressed. But her protagonists can resist and find beauty and pleasure in the most hostile places. Emily knew that English moors could be mysterious and majestic, making people more courageous and straightforward.
Having read many Gothic novels, the young author could not but create her own gloomy story. By writing a Gothic book, the writer used the instruments available at that time. Her desire to publish the book and see its success could also make her choose the style that was popular.
- Genius
Finally, can anyone keep a bird from flying? Can anything stop genius from creating? The answer is as simple as no! Brontë was a genius with a remarkable ability to feel the problems that existed in society. Due to this, the book was not received well in the nineteenth century.
People did not realize what their society represented. Those who acknowledged that fact could not believe that such passions could thrive in Victorian England. Emily wanted to make people stop building frames and boundaries that imprisoned strong and free souls. She wanted to be freed herself. Wuthering Heights became the universe for her freedom. Readers’ desire to feel the same way accounts for the book’s popularity.