Wuthering Heights and the Colonial Uncanny

Abstract

Part of what makes the uncanny so compelling is that it is very difficult to define, and it is this uncertainty that haunts Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. This paper will discuss how Wuthering Heights’ Heathcliff can be seen as a manifestation of this uncanny; both familiar and unfamiliar. His racial ambiguity in combination with the money, status and power he acquires throughout the novel create an uncanny double of a wealthy gentleman, who is thus seen as dangerous and unfamiliar by the novel’s white characters. This paper will also examine how Wuthering Heights interacts with British colonial anxiety and how this relates to the uncanny as lines between the coloniser and the coloniser become blurred and produce an uncanny result.