A Semiotic Approach to Illness in Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights”

Abstract

Our paper will approach the concept of illness from a cultural-semiotic point of view. Our aim is to provide a deeper understanding of the images of illness in "Wuthering Heights", which may also constitute a model for looking at depictions of illness in other Victorian novels as well. We have attempted to show how modalization in speech becomes a symptom (from a semiotic perspective) of illness. In other words, illness manifests itself in the sick character’s language, making it appear hallucinatory and hesitating. We have also tried to look at images of ghosts and vampires in the novel as icons of illness.

Cuvinte-cheie: concept, boală, cultură, semiotică, imagine, vorbire, limbă

REZUMAT

În articol, abordăm conceptul de boală din punct de vedere cultural-semiotic. Scopul cercetării este de a oferi un model de înţelegere mai profundă a imaginilor bolii în lucrarea "La răscruce de vânturi". Menţionăm că modelul dat ar putea fi utilizat în investigarea reprezentărilor bolii şi în alte romane victoriene. Prin demersul ştiinţific realizat, am arătat, totodată, dintr-o perspectivă semiotică, cum modalizarea în vorbirea personajelor lucrării poate fi şi un simptom al bolii, deoarece aceasta poate afecta şi limbajul. De asemenea, am încercat să interpretăm ca manifestări ale bolii imaginile cu fantome şi vampiri din roman.

LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION

English (main text and corpus)

UDC: 811.111’22:811.111-3.09”18”(092)Brontë E.

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Corpus

Brontë, E. (1985). Wuthering Heights. Penguin Books.

Received: February 2, 2015 | Reviewed: February 17, 2015 | Accepted for publication: February 27, 2015

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