Abstract
Mary Hays’s Memoirs of Emma Courtney is an antecedent of, and possible influence on, Emily Brontë. Hays’s Memoirs (1796) and Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847) offer parallel representations of the passionate female. While Emily’s Catherine Earnshaw has received much attention in academia, Hays’s Emma Courtney remains overlooked. I examine Emma as an early ‘Catherine’, which, in turn, reveals Hays’s and Brontë’s similar criticism of ‘respectable’, patriarchal society, which allows no place for such passionate female expression. It is not coincidental that in the course of the novels, both Emma and Catherine are continually upbraided for and warned against their wayward passionate natures, both submit to passionless marriages, and, eventually, both are either psychologically or physically destroyed.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callSimilar Papers
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
