Wuthering Heights: Brontë’s Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

This essay views Lockwood’s first dream in Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, in which “the famous Jabes Branderham preach[es] from the text,” as a “slice” of Methodist history. Enlisting E.P. Thompson’s suggestion that Jabes Branderham is modeled after Methodist Jabez Bunting, I argue that Brontë’s presen...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Stuchiner, Judith (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2020]
In: Religion and the arts
Year: 2020, Volume: 24, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 65-83
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Brontë, Emily 1818-1848, Wuthering heights / Methodism
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
KDG Free church
Further subjects:B Methodism
B Gentry
B Wesleyanism
B Enlightenment
B Religion
B Class
B Christianity
B Servant
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:This essay views Lockwood’s first dream in Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, in which “the famous Jabes Branderham preach[es] from the text,” as a “slice” of Methodist history. Enlisting E.P. Thompson’s suggestion that Jabes Branderham is modeled after Methodist Jabez Bunting, I argue that Brontë’s presentation of Methodism in the dream contains valuable socio-economic information. As an aspiring member of the gentry, Lockwood fears the subversive potential of Methodism and resents Branderham’s preaching of it and Joseph’s observance of it. I argue further that Brontë uses Methodism as a tool in her characterization of Lockwood and Joseph.
ISSN:1568-5292
Contains:Enthalten in: Religion and the arts
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685292-02401013