Gothic Temporality: Order and Continuity in Wuthering Heights and The Hound of the Baskervilles

Abstract

The distortion of mundane life is typical of Gothic literature. One of the defining features of mundane life is that of linear time, and the assurance of its regular continuity. This essay will explore how temporal distortion is used in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles to evoke a sense of unease and unfamiliarity. The analysis will focus on Brontë’s and Doyle’s use of repetition, circularity, and temporal uncertainty in order to uncover the ways in which the narratives comment on wider themes such as human progression, the nature of morality, and the existence of evil. The essay concludes that the difference between the two novels’ use of temporal confusion reflects Brontë’s and Doyle’s very different thematic concerns and philosophies. On the one hand, Brontë explores the role played by childhood and familial relationships in the duplicability of evil, while Doyle is far more concerned with damning primitivism in order to hail the coming of contemporary civilisation.