【正文】 ce in the charm and beauty of Heathcliff. She is not only lured to marry Heathcliff, but also immured in Wuthering Heights for a long time until she escaped from Heathcliff and died in another city. “The Gothic novel strives to create feelings of horror caused by the terrifying tradition, horror caused by the terrifying transformation of human character. It deals with the unconventional, the unmon aspects of human nature” (Wanggang, Zhuang Dingshuan, 2002:214). Wuthering Heights provides an effective environment in which the dark side of human nature is put under careful examination. Human passion can be constructive and destructive as well. In the novel, various human weaknesses are exposed. Heathcliff is savage, Catherine selfish, Edgar weak, Isabella illtempered, and Cathy willful. Emily seemed to emphasize that it was fate that drove them together, and under a special environment human is the source of tragic disaster. GhostsGhosts appear throughout Wuthering Heights, just as they do in most other Gothic novels. Emily Bronte always presents them in such a way that whether they are really existing remains ambiguous.The most moving one in the novel probably is when Catherine’s image appears in Lockwood’s nightmare: a pale face, a pair of bleeding hands and the thrilling cry. Lockwood “tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobered, ‘Let me inlet me in!’ Lockwood “…bulled its wrist on the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes, still it wailed, “Let me in!” (Bronte, 2007:31). What threatens Mr. Lockwood is Catherine’s ghost in his nightmare, and nightmare is the mon vehicle used in Gothic novels. This is particularly true of Emily’s Wuthering Heights.After Heathcliff’s death, “The villagers would swear on the Bible that he walks: there are those who speak to having met Heathcliff near the church, and on the moor, and even in the house (Wuthering Heights)” (Bronte, 2007:394). Whether or not the ghosts exist, they present the Gothic feature in the novel and put readers into a horrible and confused situation. The novelists often use ghosts to reflect their internal emotion. The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of the fear is fear of the unknown. The ghost Emily described in the novel is the manifestation of the past mixed with the present, with the memory staying with people, permeating their daily lives. Strange LoveThe love between Heathcliff and Catherine is strange. They fall deeply in love not because of their appearances, but because of their similar personality. Catherine states, “He (Heathcliff) shall never know how I love him, and that, not because he’s handsome, but because he’s more I than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, he’s and mine are the same.” Their love denies difference, and is strangely asexual. The two do not kiss in dark corners or arrange secret trysts. Catherine and Heathcliff’s love is based upon their refusal to change over time. Their love is abnormal。 they do not say any words as the lover’s would normally say when they meet again after three years’ separation. They scold each other, and afraid to express any love to each other. Especially when Catherine is dying, they two still argue with each other, hurting each other with cold words. “I shall not pity you.” “I care nothing for your sufferings” (Bronte, 2007:187188). Their expression of love to each other is so strange that few readers can understand. Gothic plots“I got the sexton, who was digging Linton’s grave to remove the earth off her coffinlid, and I opened it. I thought once, I would have stayed there. When I saw her face again… And I bribed the sexton to pull it away when I’m laid there, and slide mine out too… by the time Linton gets to use he’ll not know which is which” (Bronte, 2007:338). When Heathcliff narrates this ghoulish scene to Nelly, the book presents one of its most Gothic moments. About 18 years after Catherine’s death, Heathcliff opens her tomb again and pulls out the board one side of the coffin, trying to recapture Catherine herself. He tries to break through what reminds him of his beloved by destroying the reminder. He asks the sexton to put him into the same coffin with Catherine. This crazy action brings us to an unbelievable Gothic setting, the tomb, the coffin and the mad Heathcliff.Moreover, when Nelly finds Heathcliff has died in Catherine’s room where she lived in her childhood, Nelly sees “his eyes met mine so keen and fierce”, “his face and throat were washed with rain, the bedclothes dripped, and he was perfectly still.”, “The lattice, flapping to and for, had grazed me hand that rested on the sill。 no blood trickled from the broken skin.”, “ He was dead and start.” Although these descriptions are not about bleeding, we still feel unfortable to face a moment like this. Moreover, when Nelly tries to close Heathcliff’s eyes, “they would not shut: they seemed to sneer at my (Nelly) attempts and his parted lips and sharp white teeth sneezed too” (Bronte, 2007:392393). All of these make us take with another fit of cowardice.4. An improvement on traditional Gothic novelsFrom the above analyses, we can see that Wuthering Heights contains a lot of Gothic elements. However, it is not just a traditional Gothic novel but an improvement on traditional Gothic ones. Emily Bronte uses the Gothic technique innovatively to describe the romantic story occurring in her times. Although she uses the Gothic technique to dramatize the story and expresses her emotions perfectly, yet she goes further than the Gothic tradition. This is shown in two aspects: firstly, Emily Bronte brings the realistic elements into the Gothic form to show the natural environment and traditional custom of her living surroundings。 secondly, she adds fervid emotions, mentality and fresh energy into this old form. Because of these, Wuthering