For my final writing assignment, I am juggling between two different character pairings. One pairing I am thinking about doing is placing Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights and Catherine from Northanger Abbey together. Heathcliff stands as a typical gothic “hero”, and his situation meets a lot of the criteria/expectations that Catherine has about Gothic characters. I feel that Catherine’s kind nature and naivety paired against Heathcliff’s aggression and nefarious nature would produce interesting reactions. It might also be an interesting catalyst for spurning the change in Catherine that comes later in the novel. While Tilney’s “awakening” for Catherine was very kind, I imagine that an “awakening” from Heathcliff would not be so.
The second pairing that I am contemplating would be between Catherine from Northanger Abbey before her “awakening” and Catherine after her “awakening”. I feel that seeing the contrast between the two different Catherines would be interesting as well. It would serve as a self-reflective, almost cathartic moment for Catherine and, depending on the setting, could lead to some very humorous moments.
When speaking of setting, I am unsure of where I would like to place either of these pairings. I know that for the Heathcliff/Catherine pairing I wouldn’t like to place them in the house of Wuthering Heights, or any other location from that novel. I feel that placing Heathcliff in those situations would give him too much of a power advantage in a situation that he would presumably already have more power. Other than that, I have no solid ideas about setting for this pair. As for the Catherine/Catherine pair, I know that I would like to put them in a traditional/stereotypical Gothic setting. In order to get the most out of their interacts, I would like for them to be in some type of situation in which they have to depend on one another to “escape”. Other than these possible pairings and a general idea about setting, my ideas are pretty fluid about the final writing project, and I would be open to anything.
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