Tabitha Adams - English
Introduction
The Odyssey is the second known work of Western Literature, almost unanimously agreed to
have been composed by the ancient Greek poet Homer, towards the end of the eighth century
BC. Emily Brontë lived in West Yorkshire, England and published Wuthering Heights in 1847. I
was interested in the idea of identity concerning the protagonists of these texts, Heathcliff and
Odysseus, and I realized that each had a rather unique identity within their scope of
contemporaries. Both Homer and Brontë seemed fascinated with the portrayal of an
unconventional hero and although The Odyssey and Wuthering Heights appear two
incongruous works, written thousands of years apart, I believe the authors of each text achieve
a similar effect from the creation of their protagonists. In my essay I will discuss the research
question; “In what ways and to what effect do Emily Brontë and Homer portray their
protagonists, Heathcliff and Odysseus, in Wuthering Heights and the Odyssesy?”
It took Brontë a year to publish Wuthering Heights and the novel was not initially well received.
Victorian critics found it too morbid and violent, and Heathcliff as a character was regarded as
demonic, even by Emily’s sister Charlotte. Wuthering Heights has subsequently become one of
the most influential and keenly studied works of English literature.
Homer’s Odyssey depicts the hero Odysseus as unlike any hero from The Iliad or the rest of the
ancient heroic tradition. Homer’s Odyssesy influenced many Greek writers and philosophers
from Sophocles to Plato and the epic poem is seen as one of the forefathers of all Western
literature.
These two very different texts, both groundbreaking within the context of their time and
subsequently very influential, present us with two unorthodox heroes. In my essay I endeavour
to explain in what ways the heroes Heathcliff and Odysseus are unconventional and how an
unconventional protagonist allows an author to challenge the conventions of literature and
society.
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