Abstract

This thesis examines the representation of post-courtly love in two Victorian novels, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. I define the post-courtly genre as literature from the nineteenth century that portrays the conflict between two ideologies of love, one that follows the courtly tradition of pursuing endless though unattainable love, and one that is expected to result in a marriage based on social Victorian values of domestic stability. The Victorian realist novel aims to offer a study of how individuals function in society and how society can be positively and negatively affected by the actions of its individuals. My central argument is that Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations demonstrate this realism by portraying how courtly love conventions are at odds with the fictional worlds in which the novels are set. The social and emotional need for a physical union with his beloved will prevent the post-courtly lover from following the conventional trajectory of courtly Iove. This can lead to the emotional deterioration of the post-courtly lover, will hinder his social progress, and may even hinder the social progress of other characters within his community as well. The post-courtly lover will thus be obliged to adjust his approach to love in order to be capable of properly functioning in the social world, or be forced into isolation and alienation from the social community.