WUTHERING HEIGHTSBy Emily Brontë

THE VICTORIAN PERIOD

• The Victorian Age refers to the period in England when Queen Victoria reigned (1837-1901).• The British Empire had reached its height and ruled one quarter of the world.• During this time, the Industrial Revolution created profound economical changes in society.• England changed from a primarily agricultural country to

an industrial one, which created a great social upheaval.

THE VICTORIAN PERIOD CONT.• New class distinctions, such as a new middle class, emerged

from the growth of industrial production. • Upper class and gentry – landowners• Middle class – shopkeepers and the merchant• Low class and the poor – factory workers or the unemployed

• Rural life was ruled by a strict social hierarchy.• Lords and the aristocracy• Gentry class

• The Linton family• Gentleman farmers

• The Earnshaw Family• Prosperous enough to maintain lifestyles similar to the gentry

SOCIAL CHANGES

Brontë represents each social class in the novel through various characters.

• The Earnshaws are members of the respectable farming class

• The Lintons are members of the gentry

• Heathcliff makes his fortune (somewhat mysteriously) as a capitalist

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

During this time period, women’s rights were changing.

Why this is relevant:

• Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights during the beginning of the women’s rights movement in England.

• The primary concerns of the movement were the lack of women’s rights to vote and the lack of married women’s property rights. The latter issue arises in Wuthering Heights.

GOTHIC ROMANTICISM

Romanticism• nature as a powerful spiritual force• descriptions of the countryside• elevated emotional levels and passion• a desire to rise above the limitations

of ordinary human existence • a strong interest in death• a portrayal of opposites – escape and

pursuit, life and death• isolation, both emotional and

geographical• elements of the supernatural

Gothic• a castle, sometimes ruined or haunted• sinister, ruined buildings• extreme landscape and weather• death and madness• omens• ancestral curses• terrifying events• taboo and sensational topics• a suggestion of the supernatural• a villain or villain-hero (Byronic hero)

driven by passion• a heroine wooed by both a good and a

dangerous suitor• revenge

EMILY BRONTË• Born in northern England in 1818• Daughter of a reverend and his wife• Reclusive

• Had few friends outside of her family• However, Brontë was exposed to a microcosm of society

through her father’s congregation.• The people in her home of Haworth, Yorkshire were

characterized as being blunt, passionate, and colorful speakers.• These attitudes made their way into Wuthering Heights.• The novel is an accurate depiction of Yorkshire.

EMILY BRONTË

• Brontë’s sisters were Charlotte Brontë and Anne Brontë.• Charlotte – Jane Eyre (1847)• Anne – Agnes Grey (1847)

• The three published poems under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.• Brontë tended to her brother Branwell, who was dying from alcoholism and drug abuse.• She caught a severe cold at his funeral, which developed into tuberculosis. She died shortly after in 1848.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS• The novel depicts the dark side of human nature, using violence and obsessive love.• Novel deviated from the norm of the Victorian period

• Sinister realism• Dark overtones• July 1848 issue of Graham’s Magazine – “vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors”

• Similar to a Gothic horror• Ghosts• Supernatural• A tortured and dark protagonist

• The novel was met with much criticism when first published.• Characters were classless, rough in nature, and angry.

• However, the characters are true-to-life, and Brontë’s portrayal of the time period and laws are accurate.

• Modern critics place Brontë among the best of Victorian writers.• While her sister Charlotte was more popular during the time period in which they

lived, Emily is now viewed as the more talented of the two.

SETTING

• The Yorkshire Moors (England)• “Wuthering” means stormy or

turbulent/wild• The moor is an essentially hostile, but

also beautiful environment.• A desolate and isolated part of

England• The setting in Wuthering Heights

reflects the area where Emily Bronte grew up

• Characterized by rugged hills with scattered, hard, black stones with little vegetation

TWO HOUSES

Wuthering Heights • Wuthering Heights is located on top

of a hill where it is exposed to the harsh weather.

• Carvings and windows give Wuthering Heights a Gothic structure. The home is dark and gloomy.

• Earnshaws

Thrushcross Grange• Thrushcross Grange is located in a

valley where it is protected by a stone wall.

• The Grange is also luxuriously decorated.

• Lintons

Bronte emphasizes the relationship of each house to the natural world around it.

NOVEL STRUCTURE

• Wuthering Heights is told in medias res (Latin for "into the middle of things”). • This method describes a narrative that begins, not at the

beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle — usually at some crucial point in the action. • The purpose in Wuthering Heights is to add a sense of

mystery.

FRAME NARRATIVE

• The two main narrators are Lockwood and Nelly Dean, but other narrators arise throughout the novel when Nelly quotes what other characters have told her.• The frame narrative form of the novel adds complexity for the

reader. Lockwood is the outer layer, and Nelly is the inner layer. • Since the story passes through layers, the reader must question the

reliability of all that he or she reads. • Example: Nelly glosses over events to minimize her own guilt.• Example: Lockwood is naïve and lacks good judgment.

CHARACTERS• Heathcliff: brought to WH as a young boy by Mr. Earnshaw;

has a wild, uncontrollable nature; consumed by his love for Catherine Earnshaw.• Catherine Earnshaw: a wild girl growing up at WH; befriends

Heathcliff as a child; attracted to the refined life at TG; recognizes that she loves Heathcliff, but marries Edgar Linton.• Edgar Linton: a pampered boy living at TG; polite and well-

educated; attempts to “civilize” Catherine but does not understand her passionate personality.

CHARACTERS• Hareton Earnshaw: son of Hindley and Frances Earnshaw; used as a pawn

by Heathcliff to wreak revenge on Hindley; grows up to be strong with a bad temper.

• Cathy Linton: daughter of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton; sheltered upbringing at TG; eventually brings peace and happiness to WH.

• Hindley Earnshaw: despises Heathcliff for being favored by his father Mr. Earnshaw; unkind and self-destructive; mistreats and humiliates Heathcliff and Earnshaw’s death.

• Linton Heathcliff: the sickly son of Isabella Linton and Heathcliff; self-centered and unable to love anyone.

CHARACTERS• Isabella Linton: sister of Edgar Linton; raised at TG; shallow and weak;

later becomes abusive and vengeful after marrying Heathcliff.• Mr. Lockwood: first narrator of the story; rents TG from Heathcliff;

well-educated.• Mrs. Ellen (Nelly) Dean: second narrator of the story; once lived at WH

then became housekeeper at TG; sensible and trusted by most characters in the story.

• Joseph: elderly servant at WH; prone to evangelical ravings about sin; religious fanatic; speaks with a thick Yorkshire accent (sounds Scottish).

THEMES

• Spiritual love vs. superficial love• Constraint vs. Freedom• Storm vs. Calm• Revenge and retribution for past sins• Impermanence of self and the permanence of something larger

than self• Impermanence means temporary or not lasting.