The Role of Supernatural in Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre

I think that Emily and Charlotte Brontё go beyond the limit of the eighteenth century literary heritage. Unlike Walpole’s fiction, in which weird elements are used in order to entertain and unnerve the readers, elements of Gothic in Brontёs novels, by moving from the sober rational world to supernatural phenomena, serve the purpose of interpreting driving forces in individuals’ lives. Thus, by analysing the function of Gothic elements, visions, dreams, ominous signs and vocal telepathy, firstly, I try to argue that they do not serve the purpose of shocking the reader in Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre but contribute to the protagonists’ psychological transformation. Secondly, I claim that by employing supernatural effects the Brontёs suggest that the aim in life is to achieve the wholeness of Being, and when it is divided, it inevitably leads to fall of the individual.Bscanglisztik