Date Thesis Awarded
5-2018
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
English
Advisor
Deborah Morse
Committee Members
Kim Wheatley
Mary Ann Melfi
Claire McKinney
Abstract
The scholarship surrounding the life and works of Emily Brontë is generally divided in two sects. There are those who believe that Emily Brontë, although influenced by her father’s piety and role as a minister of the Church of England, rejected patriarchal Christianity in her works. The other primary body of scholarship argues that Emily Brontë is fundamentally Christian, although somewhat unorthodox. I argue that neither of these depictions of the religion of Emily Brontë are entirely accurate. Although Wuthering Heights itself can be seen as containing profane or heretical elements, such as the rejection of patriarchal Christianity and the profusion of the supernatural, when combined with Emily Brontë’s poetry a much fuller picture emerges. Emily Brontë transforms and critiques, rather than rejects outright, traditional religious attitudes through a duality of profane and sacred imagery in both Wuthering Heights and her poetry.
Recommended Citation
Danberg, Christina, ""O God Within My Breast": The Religion of Emily Brontë" (2018). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 1218.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1218
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