An alternative perspective on the afterlife

Only connect

Earlier this academic year Crossref-it.info launched Only Connect, for which the Crossref-it.info team have taken a series of themes and then looked at how each runs through and unites various texts, providing hundreds of helpful links to a variety of onsite sources.

At the end of last term Attitudes to death was released. It showcased how cultures alter through time in the way they approach the end of life, linking texts such as Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale, Marlowe’s Dr Faustus, Hamlet and the works of the Metaphysical Poets.

Take another look

Up until the end of the nineteenth century, many prose texts simply endorsed the conventional Christian Western worldview, that God would decide who ended up in heaven or hell, both envisaged according to established biblical imagery. However, part of the shock that greeted the publication of Emily Brontë’s Gothic classic, Wuthering Heights, was because she envisaged a fate for her protagonists very different to the conventional depiction of life after death.

Why not take a look at the newly launched material at Only Connect – ‘Attitudes to death’? You’ll discover direct links to references regarding ghosts and haunting, judgement and release, the blurred boundaries between death and life, plus imagery about spiritual freedom which has little to do with conventional perceptions. In Brontë’s novel there is no clear demarcation between life and the hereafter.

EPQ students

We know some students are developing theses for an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification). If you are of a slightly Gothic bent, the material you can explore within ‘Attitudes to death’ may be just what you need to construct a winning argument.

Coming soon

Meanwhile, look out for the next Only Connect theme being launched in May, about how texts reflect the ‘Impact of location’.

Enjoy the Easter break and give yourself some time to refresh your mind and imaginations before the hard slog of exam prep kicks in.