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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/34451
The Next Step: Darwin, Brontë, Fowles
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The present article proposes Heathcliff and Sarah Woodruff as monstrous beings who reclaim their desire to be agent subjects in a society and a narrative which deny such a possibility. It would be possible to argue, however, that their monstrosity might be that of the unique specimen, the potential first stage towards the improvement of species through natural selection as theorized by Charles Darwin in 1859. The multiple references to Darwin’s study in the novel by John
Fowles demonstrate that such a theory could clarify what Sarah represents in the novel. In a retroactive manner, Darwinian theory might be used to understand what Heathcliff is, who Heathcliff is, and why he is the object of general animosity. It might be concluded that what is really monstrous about these two
characters is that both are new specimens, avant la lèttre, and they occupy a space to which language has no access.
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LÓPEZ, Gemma (López Sánchez). The Next Step: Darwin, Brontë, Fowles. BABEL - AFIAL. 2012. Vol. 21, num. 43-60. [consulted: 10 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/34451