Since we began reading Wuthering Heights, I've been trying to get my head around the characters and their actions. Right now, the character I'm most puzzled over is Catherine: I've been trying to understand why she's so - for lack of a better word - crazy.
As of right now, I have only one theory: she has a psychological disorder. Right now I'm thinking she has either bipolar disease, schizophrenia, or a mixture of both. Most likely she has a mixture, which can be a lethal combination. Why do I think this? Well, as a person who's always been very interested in psychology, I've taken a few classes, therefore have studied the symptoms of these disorders.
Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme highs and lows of mood, which Catherine definitely has. Proof of this is how depressed she got when Heathcliff left the first time, how excited and giddy she was when he came back, and the stupor she sunk into at the end of our reading.
Proof that she may have schizophrenia is everywhere in the book. It can be characterized by extreme changes in mood, like bipolar, and by delusions and hallucinations, which she definitely had at the end of our reading.
So so far, I think I have quite a bit of support for my theory, but I will just have to wait and see if I'm even anywhere close to being right, I suppose.
I definitely agree with you! So far my least favorite character is Catherine because she acts so crazy most of the time. Just when I think she is okay, she does something extreme like hit someone or go into a fit. I thought that women in that time were kind of supposed to be like the women in Pride and Prejudice were supposed to be. I mean I get that the author might have wanted to go out of what society expected, but most of the characters like Catherine act extremly different than normal. Even in todays time I think her behavior would be considered weird.
ReplyDeleteSo I think a pyschological disorder is definitly being seen here!