Scarica paragone tra le principali opere dell'età vittoriana in Inghilterra e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! WUTHERING HEIGHTS (34 chapters, plot divided into 2 parts) HARD TIMES (3 sections: sowing, reaping, garnering) THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (10 chapters) THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (20 chapters) PERIOD High Victorian Age, 1847 High Victorian Age, 1854 (belongs to “condition of England” novels, it has a didactic purpose) Late Victorian Age, 1886 (doubt about Victorian values and sense of dissatisfaction with the society, which is hypocrite) Late Victorian Age, 1891 (new role of art and literature: the purpose is beauty, art for art’s sake, Aesthetic Movement) NARRATION There is a frame tale structure with 2 different non-objective narrators: -Mr Lockwood (first person narration, outer narrator. 1-4 chapter) -Nelly (first person narration, inner narrator, she’s not impartial. 4-34 chapter) The reader cannot trust everything he reads It is a denunciation novel with an omniscient narrator (third person narration), who is on the side of the working classes (the Hands) Epistolary novel with 3 different narrators: -Mr Utterson (third person narration, he’s the trustworthy narrator) -Dr Lanyon (writes a letter to Utterson) -Dr Jekyll (first person narration, confesses his experiments and the causes of it in the last letter) Novel with an omniscient narrator (third person narration), whose viewpoint sometimes shifts from objective to subjective. THEMES -social conflicts: gentry vs emerging capitalists/lower classes. The different social classes are represented by the two houses Thrushcross Grange (luxurious life, civility, snobbishness), Wuthering Heights (wild, stormy life, passion, intensity). -love vs social status: Catherine has got an inner conflict because she loves Bad effects of the industrialisation: - polluted cities (chap 5) and terrible working conditions of people. -critic of the utilitarianism (an action is good only if it produces happiness or richness), which increased avidity, self-interest and the gap in the society (the rich were privileged over the poor) -Struggle between good and evil (modern myth: science + anticipation of psychoanalysis and the theme of duplicity, showed by the mirror). It is related to the dichotomy in the Victorian society between outward respectability and inner instincts. This inner conflict was a consequence of the Victorian compromise, since the society imposed -theme of duplicity, represented by the painting who shows Dorian’s moral degradation and evil side. There’s the duality between body and soul (like in Mr Hyde). The moral lesson is that there’s a price to be paid for a life of dissipation. -Aestheticism, whose main principles are underlined in the Preface and the conclusion (supremacy of Heathcliff but marries Edgar for his social position. There’s the opposition between passion (Heathcliff) and respectability (Edgar), which was the main value of the Victorian society. -nature vs culture: Catherine feels attracted by culture and morality (Heaven, Thrushcross Grange), but her true self doesn’t belong to it, she’s wild, moody, vital (Hell, Wuthering Heights). She decides to act rationally, she doesn’t listen to her hearth. -transcending life: Heathcliff is part of her identity, they’re made of the same primordial savage nature. She’s got a desire of wholeness, which can be reached only with him. Furthermore, she wants to transcend every boundary imposed on her by the society (fear of entrapment). -destructiveness of love: her refusal to be confined, her immoral behaviour and, most of all, her marriage with Edgar will lead to her decline and death (represented by her dream). Her love to Heathcliff is all- consuming, obsessive and -contrast between the doctrine of Facts and the desire for Fancy, fun and imagination, which are the true values in life. Importance of education and writing, that are the only weapons against the materialistic Victorian society. There’s always hope for the young man. moral constraints: people had to repress their impulses. Everyone is a mixture of good and evil. beauty). The purpose of artist is the pursuit of beauty. -theme of manipulation: Dorian is manipulated by Lord Henry, who urges him to live a live of pleasure (Hedonism: pursuit of pleasure) and will make him become a criminal. Dorian in fact is weak and his tragic flaw is that he can be easily influenced. The novel also shows that basing our own self-esteem on other’s opinions is something unhealthy. In fact, before Lord Henry’s monologue, Dorian wasn’t neither conscious nor obsessed of his beauty.
