Copy of Wythering Heights

8/2/2019 Copy of Wythering Heights

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Plot Summary

By Michael J. Cummings... 2003

.......In 1801 in the Yorkshire moors of Northern England, a Mr. Lockwood rents ahouse on a manor, Thushcross Grange, from a dark and mysterious landlord, a manabout 40 named Heathcliff. He lives down the road four miles in a 300-year-old

estate called Wuthering Heights. Intrigued by Heathcliff, Lockwood asks thehousekeeper, 43-year-old Ellen Deanwhom everyone in the region calls Nellytotell him Heathcliffs story. She obliges, and he in turn writes down everything shesays. Here is the story that Nelly tells and Lockwood repeats in his diary........Forty-one years before, in 1760, a gentleman in the district, Mr. Earnshaw, whoowns Wuthering Heights and farms its landtravels to Liverpool on business andencounters a street waif, a dark-skinned boy abandoned by his parents. He speaksa strange language. Was he perhaps abandoned by a foreign visitor to England?Poor thing. Earnshaw cannot leave him behind. He returns with him to Wuthering

Heights and raises the boy, calling him Heathcliff, along with his own childrenagirl, Catherine, and a boy, Hindley. Also in the household are two servants, Joseph,a cranky old man, and Nelly Dean. Cathy resents Heathcliff at first, but in timewarms to him. She is a happy, spirited, likable childbut full of the devil. Nelly saysof her:

.......Certainly she had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; andshe put all of us past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day. From the hour shecame downstairs till the hour she went to bed we had not a minute's security that

she wouldn't be in mischief. Her spirits were always at high-water mark, her tonguealways goingsinging, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do thesame. A wild, wicked slip she was; but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetestsmile, and lightest foot in the parish.

In their playtime adventures on the moors, Heathcliff and Cathy draw close, intimate.However, Hindley, older and stronger than Heathcliff, treats him cruelly because hesees the boy as a rival for the affections of his father and sister. After his wife dies,old Earnshaw seems to prefer the company of Heathcliff to Hindley, and Heathcliffdelights in his favored status while Hindley becomes all the more hostile. But

Hindleys abuse of Heathcliff meets with severe censure if old Earnshaw witnessesit. As Nelly observes, Twice, or thrice, Hindley's manifestations of scorn, while hisfather was near, roused the old man to a fury. Eventually, Earnshaw sends Hindleyoff to school while Heathcliff remains behind........Three years pass, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights.He is now grown, about 20; Heathcliff and Cathy are just entering their adolescentyears. When Hindley returns to Wuthering Heights for the funeral, he brings a wife,Frances. One of his first tasks as master of the estate is to make Heathcliff a lowlystable hand and field laborer who must now live with the servants. Cathy, howeverwho has grown into a beautiful woman full of spiritcontinues her close relationshipwith Heathcliff and, over the years, falls in love with him in spite of his reduced socialstatus........One day, when they visit Thrushcross Grangethe home of the snooty Linton


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familya bulldog bites Catherine, and she remains with the Lintons for severalweeks while recuperating from her injury. After becoming acquainted with the Lintonchildren, Edgar and Isabella, she is captivated by Edgars aristocratic lifestyle andelegant trappingsand by his obvious interest in her. If she were his wife, shewould have all that he has. When she returns to Wuthering Heights, she exhibitsdignity, refinement, and good manners, taught her by the Lintons. Everyone exceptHeathcliff is pleased. He thinks her newfound social savoir-faire will put her out ofhis reach. Though she assures him that nothing has changed between them, shenevertheless cultivates her desire to be a woman of standing who lives like theLintons........Meanwhile, Hindleys wife, Frances, has a child, Hareton, but dies shortlyafterward. To drown his grief, Hindley turns to alcohol. He also makes Heathcliff awhipping boy, treating him even more cruelly than before........Cathythough now so passionately in love with Heathcliff that she says the twoof them are the same personconfides to Nelly that she has decided to marryEdgar Linton, who has made it clear that he wants her, because it would be

degrading to marry Heathcliff. Unfortunately, Heathcliff overhears the conversationand immediately abandons Wuthering Heights. Hindley has wronged himand nowCathy. While running after him in the moors during a storm, Cathy falls ill with feverand recuperates at the Lintons. The fever infects Mr. and Mrs. Linton, and they die........With Heathcliff gone from the Heightswho knows where?Cathy marriesEdgar, and time passes peacefully and happily as marriage treats them kindly. Butone day, Heathcliff returns to the moors and moves into Wuthering Heights withHindley, now an alcoholic, and Hareton. Heathcliff is cultured, educated, andwealthy, apparently having made his mark in business. He is also full of wrath and

means to unleash it against all who mistreated him. First, he lends drinking andgambling money to Hindley, knowing full well it will hasten his descent into the abyssof alcohol, debt, and desperation. Then he acquires liens on Wuthering Heights andturns Hareton against Hindley........When Heathcliff visits Cathy and Edgar at Thrushcross Grange, his attentions toCathy and to Edgars naive sister, Isabella, infuriate Edgar. Consequently, he andHeathcliff quarrel and become fierce enemies. Vengeful Heathcliff then persuadesguileless Isabella, who is taken by his dark good looks, to elope with him. He doesnot love Isabella; he wants only to spite Edgar and Cathy and to gain a potential

legal interest in Thrushcross Grange. These events dispirit Cathy, who believes sheis the root cause of all the conflict, and her health declines. To complicate matters,she is pregnant. Shortly after giving birth to a daughternamed Catherine after hermotherCathy dies. Heathcliff, overcome with grief, cannot let go and prays thatCathys spirit will haunt him. In the meantime, Heathcliff abuses Isabellahe hasloathed her from the day he met herand she escapes and takes refuge nearLondon. Hindleybeaten down by alcoholism, debt, and Heathcliffdies a fewmonths later........Heathcliff then sets himself to the task of raising Hindleys son, Hareton. But he

makes the boy a common laborer, treating the boy cruelly, as Hindley had oncetreated him. Hareton receives no schooling, no training for a respectable career.Consequently, he grows up ignorant, unloved. In London, Isabella bears Heathcliffschild, Linton, and raises him to adolescence without ever telling him the identity of


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his father. After she dies, Edgar brings the boy to Thrushcross Grange, butHeathcliffhaving the law on his sideclaims Linton and takes him to WutheringHeights. He is a sickly and ill-tempered boy, and Heathcliff despises him. But he isthinking ahead. He will have use for the boy........Many years pass. Catherine becomes an engaging child loved by all aroundher. During this time, Nelly Dean becomes her nanny. Although unaware ofWuthering Heights and its dark history, young Cathy happens upon it while exploringthe moors and becomes Lintons friend. AfterNelly forbids her to visit WutheringHeights, she returns anyway and continues her friendship with Linton, although shelooks down upon Hareton. Nelly then tells Edgar, who is in poor health, about thevisits, and he puts an end to them........However, Heathcliff carries out a deceptive scheme in which he forces Linton topretend that he loves Cathy. Secret letters are exchanged, and one day Cathyreturns to Wuthering Heights to see Linton. Heathcliff locks her in. When Nellycomes to fetch Cathy to Thrushcross Grange, he imprisons her as well, then forcesCatherine to marry Linton. If Edgar dies before Lintonwho remains sickly and is in

fact dying, Heathcliff will gain control of Thrushcross Grange. All goes according toHeathcliffs plan: Edgar dies first, then Linton........Heathcliff now controls Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He alsocontrols Hareton and young Cathy, who have no choice but to remain with him andthe housekeeper, Zillah, at Wuthering Heights in order to survive. Heathcliff rentsThrushcross Grange to Lockwood (the visitor at the beginning of the story). Here,Nellys narrative ends, and Lockwood ends his visit at Thrushcross Grange andgoes to London. However, six months later he returns and hears the rest of thestory, as follows:

.......In time, young Cathy learns to tolerate Hareton and even teaches him lessons.Seeing the children together revives Heathcliffs memory of his happy days with theelder Cathy. It is a memory that preoccupies him, robbing him of appetite and sleep.He even sees and speaks to ghostly images of Cathy. Eventually, he himself fallsillperhaps desiring to die so he can reunite with Cathyand softens his attitudetoward Hareton and young Cathy. Then he informs Nelly that he plans to make awill. One day, she discovers him dead. A physician cannot determine the precisecause. He is buried near Cathy, according to the provisions of the will........Stories are told later about how people of the area see Heathcliff alone, or

Heathcliff and Catherine together, walking on the moors. When Lockwood asksNelly about young Catherine and Hareton, she reports that they now controlHeathcliffs properties and will marry on Jan. 1, then live at Thrushcross Grange. Atlast, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are united and at peacepresumably.

Setting

The story begins in 1801, then flashes back to the 1770's and eventually returns tothe early 1800's. The locale is the Yorkshire moors in northern England. A moor istract of mostly treeless wasteland where heather thrives and water saturates theearth. The action takes place at two estates, Wuthering Heights and ThrushcrossGrange, about four miles apart. When the story begins, Mr. Lockwooda visitor tothe moorsestablishes the remoteness and isolation of the setting: "This is certainly


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a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on asituation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist'sheaven: and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolationbetween us."

Characters

.Mr. Earnshaw Owner of Wuthering Heights and father of two children, Hindley andCathy. He adopts a street waif, Heathcliff, and dotes on the child, arousing jealousyin Hindley. After Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights and makesHeathcliff a common stable boy and field laborer.Heathcliff A waif rescued from the streets of Liverpool and brought to WutheringHeights by Mr. Earnshaw. Heathcliff grows up there, becoming an enemy ofEarnshaws son, Hindley, but falling in love with Earnshaws daughter, Cathy. WhileHeathcliff is a small child, Hindley mistreats him. When Heathcliff is a young man,

Cathy betrays him by marrying Edgar Linton. Heathcliff abandons WutheringHeights but returns three years later a wealthy, educated gentleman. He vowsrevenge against all who had wronged him.CathyEarnshaws beautiful and spirited daughter, who falls in love with Heathcliffbut marries Edgar Linton instead.HindleyEarnshaws son, who torments Heathcliff when the latter is a small childmany years younger than Hindley. After Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights, hecontinues to mistreat Heathcliff.Frances EarnshawHindleys wife. Like Hindley, she maltreats Heathcliff. She dies

after the birth of Hareton.Edgar Linton Elegant aristocrat at Thrushcross Grange whom Cathy marries togain social position and the finer things of life.Isabella LintonEdgars naive sister. Heathcliff marries her to spite Edgar andCathy, then treats Isabella cruelly.Ellen (Nelly) Dean Level-headed housekeeper at Wuthering Heights and later anursemaid at Thrushcross Grange. Because she is at the center or on the peripheryof all the action in the novel, she is the narrator of the story, telling it to Mr.Lockwood, who writes it down for retelling later.

Mr. Lockwood A visitor to Thrushcross Grange. When he becomes interested in themysterious Heathcliff, he asks Nelly Dean to tell him the story of Heathcliff andWuthering Heights.Young Catherine The daughter of Edgar Linton and CathyHareton The son of Hindley Earnshaw and his wife, FrancesLinton Sickly child of Heathcliff and IsabellaJoseph A crabby old servantZillah A housekeeperMr. Kenneth: Doctor who treats CathyMr. Green: Attorney handling affairs for Edgar Linton and young Catherine.Herd-boy: Child who delivers a message to young Catherine and Ellen DeanManservant, Grooms


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Key Facts

FULL TITLE:Wuthering HeightsGENRE: Romanticism / Realism / Gothic (e.g., mysterious family relationships,vulnerable heroines, houses full of secrets, and wild landscapes)SETTING: Yorkshire, England, late 18th to early 19th centuryCLIMAX:Heathcliff and Catherines tearful, impassioned reunion just hours before

Catherine gives birth and then diesPROTAGONISTS: Heathcliff and Catherine EarnshawANTAGONIST: Heathcliff (we root both for and against Heathcliff)NARRATOR:Mr. Lockwood/Nelly Dean (its a classic story-within-a-story)POINT OF VIEW: Nelly Dean, a housekeeper, tells the story of the Lintons andEarnshaws to Mr. Lockwood, who passes along her story to the reader.Type of Work

Wuthering Heightsis a novel of romance, revenge, and tragedy. It exhibits manycharacteristics of the so-called Gothic novel, which focuses on dark, mysterious

events. The typical Gothic novel unfolds at one or more creepy sites, such as adimly lit castle, an old mansion on a hilltop, a misty cemetery, a forlorn countryside,or the laboratory of a scientist conducting frightful experiments. In some Gothicnovels, characters imagine that they see ghosts and monsters. In others, the ghostsand monsters are real. The weather in a Gothic novel is often dreary or foul: Theremay be high winds that rattle windowpanes, electrical storms with lightning strikes,and gray skies that brood over landscapes. (The word wutheringrefers to violentwind.) The Gothic novel derives its name from the Gothic architectural style popularin Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries. Gothic structuressuch as

cathedralsfeatured cavernous interiors with deep shadows, stone walls thatechoed the footsteps of worshippers, gargoyles looming on exterior ledges, andsoaring spires suggestive of a supernatural presence.

Themes

Theme 1: Love gone wrong. Relationships in Wuthering Heightsare like the moors:dark, stormy, twisted. Cathy loves Heathcliff but marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliffloves Cathy but marries Isabella Linton. Mr. Earnshaw loves his adopted son,

Heathcliff, better than his biological son, Hindley, causing Hindley to despiseHeathcliff. Linton and young Cathy are forced to marry.Theme 2: Cruelty begets cruelty. Hindleys maltreatment of Heathcliff helps turn thelatter into a vengeful monster. In developing this theme, Emily Bront is ahead ofher time, demonstrating that suffering abuse as a child can lead to inflicting abuseas an adult.Theme 3: Revenge. Heathcliffs desire to get even against all who wronged him is attimes so strong that it subverts his other emotions, including love.Theme 4: Lure of Success and Social Standing. Cathy marries Edgar afterbecoming infatuated with his image as a cultured gentleman with wealth enough tomeet her every need. Isabella marries Heathcliff after becoming infatuated with anidealized, romantic image of him.Theme 5: Class distinctions. Heathcliffs fury erupts after Cathy decides to marryup into the world of the Lintons, and not down into the world of Heathcliff.


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Theme 6: Fate. The entire novel depends on the forces unleashed when Mr.Earnshaw happens upon an orphan child, Heathcliff, on a street in Liverpool andreturns with him to Wuthering Heights.Theme 7: Prejudice. The upper crust, the Lintons, look down upon the lower crust,Heathcliff and his kind.Theme 8: The moors as a reflection of life around them (or vice versa) and lifebeyond. The dark, stormy moorswhere only low-growing plants such as heatherthrivesymbolize the passionate and sometimes perverted emotional lives of theresidents of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. In the gloomy wasteland,the Yorkshire folk, including Heathcliff himself, sometimes report seeing ghosts ofpeople buried in the moors.

Gothic Literature and the Supernatural

From beginning to end, Wuthering Heightsis a novel full of ghosts and spirits. Deadcharacters refuse to leave the living alone, and the living accept that the deceasedfind ways of coming back to haunt them. In a departure from traditional Gothic tales,

these hauntings are sometimes welcome. HEATHCLIFF, for instance, repeatedlyseeks out visitations from the ghost of his beloved CATHERINE. He even digs up hergrave in order to be closer to her. Bront uses otherworldly figures to emphasize theferocity of Heathcliffs and Catherines love; their connection is so powerful that evendeath cant stop it.

Nature and Civilization

Pitting nature against civilization, Emily Bront promotes the Romantic idea that thesublimethe awe-inspiring, almost frightening, beauty of natureis superior to

man-made culture. She makes this point by correlating many of the characters withone side or the other and then squaring them off against each other. For instance,HEATHCLIFF, whose origins are unknown and who roams the moors, is definitely onthe nature side, while his rival, the studious EDGAR LINTON, is in the civilized camp.Other pairings include HARETON EARNSHAW vs. LINTON EARNSHAW; CATHERINE vs.ISABELLA; and Hareton vs. CATHY. In all of these cases, Bront makes one charactera bit wild (perhaps by showing them in tune with animals and/or the outdoors and/ortheir emotions), while portraying the other as somewhat reserved and often prissy orfussy.But nothing is black and white in Wuthering Heights. Many of the characters exhibittraits from both sides. While Bront argues that nature is somehow purer, she alsolauds civilization, particularly in terms of education. Hareton Earnshaw personifiesthis combination of nature and civilization: Bront associates the young orphan withnature (he is a coarse, awkward farm boy) as well as civilization (inspired by hisdesire for young Cathy, he learns how to read). This mixture of down-to-earthpassion and book-centered education make him, arguably, the most sympatheticcharacter in the book.

Love and Passion

Wuthering Heightsexplores a variety of kinds of love. Loves on display in the novelinclude Heathcliff and Catherines all-consuming passion for each other, which whilenoble in its purity is also terribly destructive. In contract, the love between Catherineand Edgar is proper and civilized rather than passionate. Theirs is a love of peace


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and comfort, a socially acceptable love, but it cant stand in the way of Heathcliff andCatherines more profound (and more violent) connection.The love between Cathy and Linton is a grotesque exaggeration of that betweenCatherine and Edgar. While Catherine always seems just a bit too strong for Edgar,Cathy and Lintons love is foundedon Lintons weaknessLinton gets Cathy to lovehim by playing on her desire to protect and mother him. Finally, theres the lovebetween Cathy and Hareton, which seems to balance the traits of the other loves ondisplay. They have the passion of Catherine and Heathcliff without thedestructiveness, and the gentleness shared by Edgar and Catherine without thedullness or inequality in power.

Masculinity and Femininity

Written when gender roles were far more rigid and defined than they are now,Wuthering Heightsexamines stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Emily Brontconstantly contrasts masculinity and femininity, but not all of the comparisons aresimple; sometimes boys act like girls and girls act like boys. EDGAR LINTON and

LINTON HEATHCLIFF, for instance, are men, but Bront frequently describes them ashaving the looks and attributes of women. Likewise, CATHERINE EARNSHAW hasmany masculine characteristics; even though she is outrageously beautiful, sheloves rough, outdoor play and can hold her own in any fight. She is a complex mix ofhyper-feminine grace and loveliness and ultra-masculine anger and recklessness.HEATHCLIFF, with his physical and mental toughness, has no such ambiguitiesheis exaggeratedly masculine and scorns his wife Isabella for her overblown femininity.Emily Bront seems to favor masculinity over femininity, even in her women. Ingeneral, she portrays weak, delicate characters with contempt, while she treats

strong and rugged characters like Heathcliff, both Catherines, and Hareton, withcompassion and admiration, despite their flaws.

Class

Understanding the importance of class in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britainis essential to understanding Wuthering Heights. Generally, at the time, people wereborn into a class and stayed there: if your parents were rich and respected (likeEDGARS), you would be, too; if your parents were servants (like NELLY DEANS), youprobably would be too. Social mobilitythe idea that you can change your classstatus (usually for the better)was not commonplace.

In Bronts novel, however, class distinctions are constantly changing, much to theconfusion of the characters. There are two primary examples of this: HEATHCLIFFand HARETON. Because no one knows anything about Heathcliffs background, theyall treat him differently. MR.EARNSHAW adopts him and treats him like a son, but thesnobby Lintons refuse to socialize with him. When he disappears for a few yearsand comes back rich, the characters struggle even more over how to approachhimhe now has money and land, but many of them still consider him a farm boy.Likewise, Hareton has a hard time gaining respect. The son of HINDLEY, Haretonshould be the heir to Wuthering Heights. With land and standing, he ought to be a

gentleman. However, Heathcliff refuses to educate him, and everyone else mostlyignores him, so his manners (a very important indicator of class status) are roughand gruff. Only when young Cathy helps educate him does he achieve the classstanding to which he was born.


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Revenge and Repetition

Nearly all of the action in Wuthering Heightsresults from one or another charactersdesire for revenge. The result are cycles of revenge that seem to endlessly repeat.HINDLEY takes revenge on Heathcliff for taking his place at Wuthering Heights bydenying him an education, and in the process separates HEATHCLIFF andCATHERINE. Heathcliff then takes revenge upon Hindley by, first, dispossessing

Hindley of Wuthering Heights and by denying an education to HARETON, Hindleysson. Heathcliff also seeks revenge on Edgar for marrying Catherine by marryingCATHY to LINTON.Yet while Heathcliffs revenge is effective, it seems to bring him little joy. Late in thenovel, Cathy sees this, and tells Heathcliff that herrevenge on him, no matter howmiserable he makes her, is to know that he, Heathcliff, is moremiserable. And it isinstructive that only when Heathcliff loses his desire for revenge is he able to finallyreconnect with Catherine in death, and to allow Cathy and Hareton, who are sosimilar to Heathcliff and Catherine, to find love and marry.

SymbolsWuthering Heights

The childhood home of many of the books characters (HEATHCLIFF, CATHERINE,HINDLEY, NELLY DEAN, and HARETON), Wuthering Heights is a centuries-oldfarmhouse that symbolizes simplicity, wildness, and passion. Sturdy, substantial,and stubborn, the house is at one with the surrounding moors; it is fierce butunchanging. Its inhabitants share its characteristicslike it or not, they are in touchwith their raw, natural, and animalistic instincts. Wuthering Heights stands forunfettered, primal emotionsit isnature.

Thrushcross Grange

Thrushcross Grange, the house owned by the Lintons and then inhabited byLOCKWOOD, is a symbol of tamed, refined, civilized culture. Even when HEATHCLIFFowns it, he chooses to rent it rather than live in it, for its formality does not suit thelikes of him. In contrast to Wuthering Heights, The Grange stands for manners andcivility. It is an outpost of education and urbanity in the midst of the wildness of thenorthern English moors.

The Weather

The frequent storms and wind that sweep through Wuthering Heightssymbolize howthe characters are at the mercy of forces they cannot control. For example,LOCKWOOD, the city boy, thinks he can walk back to Thrushcross Grange through astorm, but the nature-respecting folks at Wuthering Heights tell him hes crazy; theyknow that the weathernatureis far stronger than he is. Bront uses the weatheras a metaphor for nature, which she portrays as a magnificently strong force thatcan conquer any character. The strongest characters are those who give the

weather the respect it deserves.

Climax


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Most analysts of Wuthering Heightsmaintain that the climax of the novel occurswhen Cathy dies, unarguably a decisive turning point. However, one may fairlyconclude that the climax comes earlierin particular when Heathcliff overhearsCathy say she intends to marry Edgar Linton. This event deeply wounds Heathcliff,causes him to abandon Wuthering Heights, and triggers the dreadful events thatfollow.

Narration........To tell her story, Bront uses two first-person narrators, Mr. Lockwood and EllenDean, called Nelly. Lockwood, who rents Thrushcross Grange, begins the narrative,part of which includes quotations of notes written by Catherine many years beforeher death. Nelly takes over the narration after he asks her to tell him the story ofHeathcliff. In flashback, she proceeds to tell the tale. From time to time, however,Lockwood or Nelly interrupts the tale to discuss or deal with present circumstances,as in the following passage in Chapter 7:

......."But, Mr. Lockwood, I forget these tales cannot divert you. I'm annoyed how Ishould dream of chattering on at such a rate; and your gruel cold, and you noddingfor bed! I could have told Heathcliff's history, all that you need hear, in half a dozenwords.".......Thus interrupting herself, the housekeeper rose, and proceeded to lay aside hersewing; but I felt incapable of moving from the hearth, and I was very far fromnodding. 'Sit still, Mrs. Dean,' I cried; 'do sit still another half-hour. You've done justright to tell the story leisurely. That is the method I like; and you must finish it in the

same style. I am interested in every character you have mentioned, more or less.'.......At times, the length of the story and the lateness of the hour make it necessaryfor Mrs. Dean, weary of talking, to halt the story. Lockwood then again briefly takesover the narration of Wuthering Heights, bringing the reader up to date on presentevents. Such a break occurs at the end of Chapter 9, when Lockwood says,.......At this point of the housekeeper's story she chanced to glance towards the time-piece over the chimney; and was in amazement on seeing the minute-handmeasure half-past one. She would not hear of staying a second longer: in truth, I feltrather disposed to defer the sequel of her narrative myself. And now that she is

vanished to her rest, and I have meditated for another hour or two, I shall summoncourage to go also, in spite of aching laziness of head and limbs........At the beginning of Chapter 10, Lockwood reports that he is sick. Whilebedridden, he says to himself,I am too weak to read; yet I feel as if I could enjoy something interesting. Why nothave up Mrs. Dean to finish her tale? I can recollect its chief incidents, as far as shehad gone. Yes: I remember her hero had run off, and never been heard of for threeyears; and the heroine was married. I'll ring: she'll be delighted to find me capableof talking cheerfully. Mrs. Dean came.

The housekeeper then resumes the story. She completes her account at the end ofChapter 30. Lockwood then becomes the narrator for the rest of the novel, but Nellyremains active as a character.


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Imagery

.......Bront's imagery undergirds the atmosphere of the novel and the moods of thecharacters. Here are examples.

Wuthering Heights

.......The isolated locale of Wuthering Heights reflects the alienation and isolation ofCathy, Heathcliff, Hindley, and Isabella. Mr. Lockwood calls attention to the isolatedsetting in the first paragraph of the story: This is certainly a beautiful country! In allEngland, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completelyremoved from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and Mr. Heathcliffand I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us.".......The wind-swept location is also suggestive of the tempestuous relationships inthe novel, as the following passagealso in Chapter 1indicates:

.......Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling. "Wuthering" being asignificant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which itsstation is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have upthere at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing overthe edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and bya range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of thesun.

Nature

.......The weather, the landscape and other aspects of nature generally reflect thedark, somber mood of the story and the chill that sickens the hearts of the centralcharacters. Consider, for example, the following passage at the beginning ofChapter 2:

Yesterday afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind to spend it by my studyfire, instead of wading through heath and mud to Wuthering Heights. . . [However] Itook my hat, and, after a four-miles' walk, arrived at Heathcliff's garden-gate just intime to escape the first feathery flakes of a snow-shower........On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made meshiver through every limb.

Heathcliff is of course like the black frost: hard and cold. In the following passage,an overcast sky suggests the mood of Heathcliff:He was leaning against the ledge of an open lattice, but not looking out: his facewas turned to the interior gloom. The fire had smouldered to ashes; the room wasfilled with the damp, mild air of the cloudy evening; and so still, that not only themurmur of the beck [stream] down Gimmerton was distinguishable, but its ripplesand its gurgling over the pebbles, or through the large stones which it could notcover. (Chapter 34)Gothic Atmosphere

.......Bront cultivates the Gothic atmosphere of the novel with imagery suggestingthat preternatural forces are at work, as in the following passage:


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.......The light flashed on his features as I spoke. Oh, Mr. Lockwood, I cannotexpress what a terrible start I got by the momentary view! Those deep black eyes!That smile, and ghastly paleness! It appeared to me, not Mr. Heathcliff, but a goblin;and, in my terror, I let the candle bend towards the wall, and it left me in darkness. . ........."Is he a ghoul or a vampire?" I mused. I had read of such hideous incarnatedemons. And then I set myself to reflect how I had tended him in infancy, andwatched him grow to youth, and followed him almost through his whole course; andwhat absurd nonsense it was to yield to that sense of horror. "But where did hecome from, the little dark thing, harboured by a good man to his bane?" mutteredSuperstition, as I dozed into unconsciousness. And I began, half dreaming, to wearymyself with imagining some fit parentage for him; and, repeating my wakingmeditations, I tracked his existence over again, with grim variations; at last, picturinghis death and funeral: of which, all I can remember is, being exceedingly vexed athaving the task of dictating an inscription for his monument, and consulting thesexton about it; and, as he had no surname, and we could not tell his age, we were

obliged to content ourselves with the single word, "Heathcliff." That came true: wewere. If you enter the kirkyard [churchyard], you'll read, on his headstone, only that,and the date of his death.

Figures of Speech

Following are examples of figures of speech in the novel:

AlliterationRepetition of a consonant sound

Chapter 2:......the first feathery flakes of a snow-shower.Chapter 5:......suspected slights of his authority nearly threw him into fits.Chapter 5:......heaping the heaviest blame on the latter.Chapter 7:......fingers wonderfully whitened with doing nothing and staying indoors.Chapter 17:... you may fancy my first fright was not much allayed. . . .

HyperboleExaggeration not intended to be taken literallyChapter 27:....every breath from the hills so full of life, that it seemed whoever

respired it, though dying, might revive.MetaphorComparison of unlike things without using like, as, or thanChapter 7:......Joseph and I joined at an unsociable meal, seasoned with reproofs. . .. (Comparison of reproofs to condiments)Chapter 10:....the stab of a knife could not inflict a worse pang than he suffered atseeing his lady vexed. (Comparison of the effect of vexation to a knife)Chapter 17:... ignoble as it seems to insult a fallen enemy, I couldn't miss thischance of sticking in a dart (Comparison of an insult to a dart)

Chapter 32:....one thin, blue wreath, curling from the kitchen chimney (Comparisonof a wreath to a curl of smoke)OnomatopoeiaWord that imitates a sound


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Chapter 9:......huge bough fell across the roof, and knocked down a portion of theeast chimney-stack, sending a clatter of stones and soot into the kitchen-fire.Chapter 32:....she heard the slight rustle of the covering being removed. . . .ParadoxContradictory statement that may actually be trueChapter 5:......she was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once. . ..Chapter 17:... a melancholy sweeter than common joy.PersonificationComparison of thing to a person

"But where did he come from, the little dark thing, harboured by a good man to hisbane?" muttered Superstition, as I dozed into unconsciousness. (Comparison ofsuperstition to a person)

Simile

Comparison of unlike things using like, as, or than

Chapter 3:......a glare of white letters started from the dark, as vivid as spectres.(Comparison of the glare to ghosts)Chapter 5:......We all kept as mute as mice a full half-hour. . . . (Comparison ofpeople to mice)Chapter 15.....he gnashed at me, and foamed like a mad dog. . . . (Comparison of aman to a dog)Chapter 18.....after the first six months, she grew like a larch. . . . (Comparison of a

baby to a pine tree)Study Questions and Essay Topics

1. Who is the most admirable character in the novel? Who is the leastadmirable?2. In addition to love, what other emotions have a powerful influence on thecentral characters?3. Write an informative essay that analyzes the personality of Heathcliff.4. To what extent does social status affect the course of action?

5. In what ways does the setting reflect the action and the personalities of thecharacters?6. Does author Bront inject her own views into the novel or remain aloof andobjective?7. In an argumentative essay, defend the thesis that Cathy remains a pivotalcharacter even after her death.8. In what ways are the choices Cathy faces like those of the typical Americanwoman of the 21st Century?

9. Heathcliff is a dark-skinned waif whom Mr. Earnshaw found on the streets of

Liverpool. Speculate on where Heathcliff came from and what his parents were like.Do you believe his adult character was shaped more by the genes he inherited or by

the environment in which Earnshaw reared him at Wuthering Heights?


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10. Why does Emily Bronte have so many different people telling this story? What

is the effect of hearing the story filtered through so many different narrators? Are

there characters that never get to tell their points of view?

11. Do you continue to root for Heathcliff, even knowing all of the horrible things

he does? Why or why not? Do you think he is cruel? Is his cruelty justified?

12. Are there any characters who are truly likeable or sympathetic?

13. How do spirits and the supernatural play a role in the story? How do they

propel the plot?

14. What is the effect of having the story take place in such an isolated place?

15. Is the ending sad or happy?

16. What part does social status and social climbing play in character behavior?

17. What exactly isHeathcliff's obsession?

18. How do the revenge plot and the romance plot intersect? How do they add to

or distract from one another?19. Why does Heathcliff spend more time on revenge than on trying to win

Catherine back?

20. To what degree do any of the other characters recognize or acknowledge that

Heathcliff is plotting revenge against them?

Documents

Copy of Wythering Heights