![]() ![]() ![]() The study will concentrate on Brontë’s appropriation and emphasis on the Gothic elements presented in nuce in Manfred, such as the spectral nature of Astarte, or the supernatural aspects of Manfred’s nature, whose will supersedes even Fate. ![]() My paper aims at investigating Brontë’s reading of Byron’s works, in particular her indebtedness to Manfred and to the relationship between Manfred and Astarte for the creation of the morbid passion experienced by Heathcliff and Catherine. Even though several critics have actually labelled the character of Heathcliff as ‘Byronic hero’, the debate has not delved into the textual or thematic evidence of the relation between Brontë’s protagonist and Byron hypertexts. Emily Brontë’s reading of Byron privileges this dark side of the literary myth, and her main focus is on the mysterious identity and Gothic aspects of the Byronic hero. For Victorian novelists, one of the most intriguing aspects of his works was his obsessive explorations of literal or symbolic sibling incest, as the possibility that desire arises from an identification between male and female versions of the same psyche. The widespread popularity of Byron’s work during the Victorian age introduced several subversive possibilities for reading his characters as icons of transgression and insights into the literary tabooed. ![]()
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