Character Constitution in Heinrich von Kleist's Der Findling and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the similarity of character constitution in Kleist's short story and Emily Brontë's novel, which seems to work in a diversity of identity creating attempts supplied by the characters themselves, the multiplicity of narrative voices as well as by the reader. The exploration of the identity quest is based on the analysis of the rhetorical ways of creating an origin for the foundlings by the use of nature analogies, through moral discourse and social positioning. The foundling figures in both narratives are closely connected with corresponding female characters and their identification process is interrelated. I will argue that in both texts, due to the complementary nature of individual figures and the complexity of the narrative design, identification attempts fail on all levels, thus character constitution itself is necessarily frustrated.