The Experience of Purgation and Trauma in Victorian Women: The Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights

Abstract

This thesis will aim to present the metaphorical implications of purgation in the lives of Victorian female characters which is based on the primary speculations of patriarchal oppression and the women’s individual personality flaws. This paper uses psychoanalysis and Christian eschatology along with trauma studies to identify the purgatorial inflictions of women in the novels, Great Expectations(1860) by Charles Dickens and Wuthering Heights(1847) by Emily Bronte. The concept of purgatory in the lives of Miss Havisham and Catherine Earnshaw adds a newer depth to female trauma studies in the 19thcapturing the bleak lives of women during this time. With patriarchal control dictating female lives, emotional trauma led to a rise in mental illnesses mostly diagnosed amongst the women of this era. This research aims to introduce a new concept of female mental health during the Victorian times in order to introduce a more sympathetic lens for the readers to understand these two otherwise controversial characters. Their individual purgation stories are more common in Victorian literature than we might think. Miss Havisham and Catherine Earnshaw have been portrayed negatively due to their actions and behaviour towards other characters but the suffering of their victims rather overshadow those of their own for which this paper will bring out justice by showcasing them in the limelight.