Sexuality in pride & prejudice and wuthering heights

[monkeycmonkeydo]

Hi guys,
im in first year in college and am currently stuck on my english essay title :O


"Compare and contrast how Austen and Bronte represent sexuality in P&P and Wuthering Heights".

Im sure to most of you, this may seem pretty easy, but not to me!
Being the silly girl i am, i havent actually finished either books and know i wont have the time to as the essay is due in 3 days.
Ive seen both films and know all the themes, characters, plots etc.

But how do you think i should go about answering this?!
Ive already made a start on it, but dont want to keep referring to the 'sexual tension' between Elizabeth and Darcy.

Some opinions and advice on how to tackle the title would be much appreciated!!
thank you!

[myrna22]

Hi guys,
im in first year in college and am currently stuck on my english essay title :O


"Compare and contrast how Austen and Bronte represent sexuality in P&P and Wuthering Heights".

Im sure to most of you, this may seem pretty easy, but not to me!
Being the silly girl i am, i havent actually finished either books and know i wont have the time to as the essay is due in 3 days.

I've seen both films and know all the themes, characters, plots etc.

But how do you think i should go about answering this?!
Ive already made a start on it, but dont want to keep referring to the 'sexual tension' between Elizabeth and Darcy.

Some opinions and advice on how to tackle the title would be much appreciated!!
thank you!

I think you should go to your teacher and explain that you have not yet read the books and ask for an extension. Then read the books and, as you read them, pay attention to references, either direct or indirect, to sexuality and sexual imagery. Then spend a good deal of time putting together a thoughtful essay. :rolleyes5:

[monkeycmonkeydo]

unfortunately im in one of those situations where im just about passing english at this stage..
im not the best at it and i dont think it would go down well with my professors,
but thank you :)

perhaps if i have 3 different catergories within the essay and work on each one.
like...spend a third of the essay discussing just elizabeth and darcy,
then talk about just sexualty in wuthering heights
and then finish off by comparing them?

its 1,500 words... so hopefully its do able :P

[pooteeweet]

unfortunately im in one of those situations where im just about passing english at this stage..
im not the best at it and i dont think it would go down well with my professors,
but thank you :)

perhaps if i have 3 different catergories within the essay and work on each one.
like...spend a third of the essay discussing just elizabeth and darcy,
then talk about just sexualty in wuthering heights
and then finish off by comparing them?

its 1,500 words... so hopefully its do able :P

do your own homework

[myrna22]

unfortunately im in one of those situations where im just about passing english at this stage..
im not the best at it and i dont think it would go down well with my professors,
but thank you :)

perhaps if i have 3 different catergories within the essay and work on each one.
like...spend a third of the essay discussing just elizabeth and darcy,
then talk about just sexualty in wuthering heights
and then finish off by comparing them?

its 1,500 words... so hopefully its do able :P

If you plan to base your essay on the films, know that your professor is not as stupid as you may think: he/she will realize you have not read the books. Oh well. This is too silly.


Do your own homework. :iagree:

[monkeycmonkeydo]

do my own homework??

believe me.. i will be doing just that.

im not planning my essay on the film, im saying that im not a complete stranger to pride & prejudice or wuthering heights.

we've read the key chapters and scenes during lectures and ive got enough notes and brains myself to do it, even if i do struggle at english.

but i came on here hoping to possibly discuss sexuality in victorian times..

[myrna22]

do my own homework??

believe me.. i will be doing just that.

im not planning my essay on the film, im saying that im not a complete stranger to pride & prejudice or wuthering heights.

we've read the key chapters and scenes during lectures and ive got enough notes and brains myself to do it, even if i do struggle at english.

but i came on here hoping to possibly discuss sexuality in victorian times..

Now you are saying something different from your original post. Doesn't matter. You need to work out what you want to do on your own. Austen, btw, is not a Victorian novelist. Writing an essay at the university level, even first year, w/o reading the books is not the smartest thing to do.

[Katy North]

In college you need to read the whole book. By yourself. In your free time. It's something called "homework".

This thing called "homework" is assigned in other classes too. Usually teachers hand out something called a "syllabus" that contains guidlines for when certain homework assignments are due.

To write an essay you need five things... a thesis, an introduction, a body, a conculsion, and sources. If you don't know what these things are, find out and use them while writing your paper. Two of your sources will be Pride and Predjudice and Wuthering Heights. You should probably have a couple more sources. These are called "secondary sources" and are generally what the College library is used for finding.

Don't plagerize. Plagerism is the root of all evil. If a professor finds out you have plagerized, you will get an F, and it is easier for a professor to find out that you have plagerized than you might think. If you don't know what plagerism is, look it up, and find out NOW.

Also, don't procrastinate, though I have a feeling you may have done that already. :rolleyes5:

[Whifflingpin]

Is plagerism something about lying on a beach?

[kiki1982]

Well, firstly you had to start earlier with reading. It isn't as if those two books are huge ones. But what's more the problem, is that you cannot find quotes to prove your thesis if you haven't read the book. If you have studied the two books in class, then you'll be a able to come up with some kind of thesis anyway, but we will not give you quotes. That is where I draw the line (apart from for really huge books where you tend to need some help of one who knows the book by heart as you can't remember where the quote occurred). Then I could write your paper for you.

Really sorry, but start earlier next time.

[monkeycmonkeydo]

i didnt come on here to be patronised, its a little thing called help,but anyway...
i have plenty of quotes and managed to get a decent bit on elizabeth & darcy/ sexuality, the problem is heathcliff as hes never appealed to me.

i know hes inlove with catherine earnshaw, but sexually speaking....
in comparison, is he as highly sexual towards catherine as darcy is to elizabeth??
it was unrequited love afterall, so does that not mean that for the entire 20 years after her death, heathclff has been full of sexual tension, even after he died?

[Veho]

i didnt come on here to be patronised, its a little thing called help,but anyway...
i have plenty of quotes and managed to get a decent bit on elizabeth & darcy/ sexuality, the problem is heathcliff as hes never appealed to me.

i know hes inlove with catherine earnshaw, but sexually speaking....
in comparison, is he as highly sexual towards catherine as darcy is to elizabeth??
it was unrequited love afterall, so does that not mean that for the entire 20 years after her death, heathclff has been full of sexual tension, even after he died?

^ I wouldn't put that in your essay.:p

Good luck by the way. It's been a while since I've read either of the two novels, so I can't help.

[kiki1982]

:confused:

I do not see how Darcy is sexual to Lizzie... I would rather see an argument in Lydia and Wickham if you get what I mean.

Love/being in love is not the same as sexual tension, there is a big difference.

I would say that there is much much much more tension in Brontë than there ever was in Austen, explicitly.

Hmm, maybe there is omething in (self-)destruction?

[Blanket Heist]

1. Go to Sparknotes.com
2. Write down ideas that come to mind when reading Sparknotes. Write them down in your own words or you're screwed.
3. Find specific passages that support ideas you had/use passages to expand on different ideas and include them in the paper.
4. Receive passing grade.
5. Confess your undying love/gratitude to me.

[Katy North]

:iagree:

If you have the last minute blues
Then I guess Sparknotes will do...

[myrna22]

i didnt come on here to be patronised, its a little thing called help...:rolleyes5:


When I was doing my bachelor's, in English, I earned money typing papers for other students, so much a page. I typed papers for students in many other disciplines as it seemed most English majors could type their own. Most of the time, people would bring me their hand written papers (this is in the days before computers) one or two nights before they were due. They would invariably ask me to use a largish font and wide margins so that they met the required page number for the assignment. I mean, really: how stupid do kids think their teachers are?

What that has to do with this thread I have no idea. Afterall, the OP is not asking us to type her/his paper and is definitely not asking to be patronized.

[prendrelemick]

Write down ten pertinent sentances/statements.
Expand them into paragraphs.
Add intro, quotes ect..
Edit to fit seamlessly.

Recieve B- and resolve to start earlier next time.

I wonder what Miss Austin and Miss Bronte would think of the essay title.

[myrna22]

Recieve B-

You think? :rolleyes5:

[prendrelemick]

You think? :rolleyes5:



It used to work 30 years ago! I got alot of B minuses

[Emil Miller]

heathclff has been full of sexual tension, even after he died?

He must have been on super viagra.

[grace86]

To the original poster, I'm not trying to patronize and already patronized procrastinator (we've all been there I'm sure), but be careful using movie versions of the book to lean on in lieu of your required reading. Movies are good supplements, but only just. As in the case with the movie Wuthering Heights, I'm not sure which version you have watched, nor how much you have read, but if it's the one with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier - it only focuses on one aspect of the plot and leaves out the latter half of the book.

Relying on that too heavily instead of your reading will only be too obvious to your professor that you've left your work undone.

You know, I've found that professors are really usually ready to work with students who admit they need more time. I've asked for extensions multiple times with different professors through my university career.

Good luck and hope you do better next time. Both those books are worth the read.

[myrna22]

It used to work 30 years ago! I got alot of B minuses

Well, I grade essays all the time and this doesn't give me the impression of anything more than a C-, at best. C means satisfactory, and an essay put together with bits and pieces of information gathered here and there and without the writer having even read the novels, and it will be clear she/he hasn't-- this is not satisfactory.

[Kevets]

i didnt come on here to be patronised, its a little thing called help,but anyway...
i have plenty of quotes and managed to get a decent bit on elizabeth & darcy/ sexuality, the problem is heathcliff as hes never appealed to me.

i know hes inlove with catherine earnshaw, but sexually speaking....
in comparison, is he as highly sexual towards catherine as darcy is to elizabeth??
it was unrequited love afterall, so does that not mean that for the entire 20 years after her death, heathclff has been full of sexual tension, even after he died?
My only advice is to find a keyboard that contains a shift key and an apostrophe. Oh, and maybe be clear on the difference between sensuality and sexuality.

[Jazz_]

You have to be careful with the Darcy/Elizabeth "sexual tension" aspect - there is very little in the novel, but quite a bit in the movie (depending on which one you watched).

Darcy and Elizabeth never even kiss in the novel (and you can forget about the lake scene with Colin Firth - it never happened) - in the end the focus is more on love and tenderness than sexuality...

[myrna22]

You have to be careful with the Darcy/Elizabeth "sexual tension" aspect - there is very little in the novel, but quite a bit in the movie (depending on which one you watched).

Darcy and Elizabeth never even kiss in the novel (and you can forget about the lake scene with Colin Firth - it never happened) - in the end the focus is more on love and tenderness than sexuality...

Actually, I would say the focus of their relationship is, in the end, on the admirable character traits they find in each other. Love and tenderness? Though the 'love story' is an aspect of P & P, the focus of the novel is social commentary and satire. The famous first line tell it all.

[PSRemeshChandra]

Jane Austin's Pride And Prejudice is the classic example of puritan emotional affection. There is not even a trace of sexuality or even amorous sensuality to be found in the novel. Even then from the original request posed to the forum, it is evident that some teacher who set the subject wanted his or her students to explore for sexuality in this particular novel, which all who have read the novel know would be a futile attempt. Burdened with a misguided suggestion, a student who never read the book sought instant assistance in the forum, which proper or not, prompted her to never visit or use this site again. That was the real outcome of this talk. Why can't learned persons simply part with knowledge? And Pride And Prejudice is not at all considered to be containing social commentaries or criticism. In fact it and the author remained sterile to whatever were happening around. It is the only novel of it's times and the author the only person of that era that remained moot as if such a thing as the French Revolution has had happened in the world.

[OrphanPip]

There is plenty to write about in Pride and Prejudice with regards to sexuality, which does not imply eroticism or sensuality.

Take something like Foucault's historical observations that there was a paradigm shift in the 19th century from a focus on marriage as an economic transaction to marriage as a sexual transaction. Now, in general, I think Foucault is full of baloney, but his observation does make for an interesting dichotomy to build an argument around.

Looking at the language one could think about how the girls' quest for marriage is operating around competing concerns of marriage as a pragmatic economic arrangement, and marriage as a match of sexual/emotional satisfaction. I would say that Austen merges the too extreme paradigms, and presents an argument for an ideal of marriage that finds emotional/sexual satisfaction within marital pragmatism. Austen's novel is a comedy of manners, and as such we should think about how comedy operates as a genre. It is a genre that mimics and critiques the social sphere, and usually there is an implicit correction or harmonious vision of how social relations work that can be found in the work. I haven't read P&P in ages, but I'm sure a close reading could find something to build off of to write quite a lot about how sexuality is depicted.

Not that any of this is relevant to the OP of the necrotised thread.

[efdaney]

I would not focus Heathcliff as an example of sexuality. In the novel, his character is not portrayed as highly sexual, but rather as highly obsessive. Your point about his pining after Cathy for 20 years is more evidence of his obsession than his extreme sexuality.
Your teacher is being clever in choosing this assignment. They are both novels in which sexuality is expressed very indirectly. They have themes of romantic love which is not the same as sexuality. Plus, as was previously stated, the movies are going to contain more sexual tension than the novels. You are probably going to have to actually look through the text for examples. Even if you just pick pages at random. Your teacher is probably going to be looking for you to be doing what you are thinking of doing.