Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte1818-1848

• Born in northern England; grew up near the Yorkshire moors

• Never had a career, never married, never left her home (isolated from society)

• Fifth of six children; sister Charlotte Bronte wrote the famous novel Jane Eyre

• Her mother died when she was only three; father a minister; Evangelical religious upbringing

• She was an “intensely private” person• Published Wuthering Heights in 1846

Emily Brontë

1818 - 1848

More about Emily• Tallest of the Bronte children• Extremely intelligent; taught herself to play the piano and

speak German• Unconventional religious beliefs for minister’s daughter;

rarely attended church; unlike the other children, never taught Sunday school

• Wrote under a male pen name along with her sisters to publish a book of poems

• Extremely thin—said to have starved herself often out of stubbornness

• Refused to see a doctor or rest when she contracted tuberculosis, until it was too late

Strong-willed…like her characters?

• Emily had an unusual character, extremely unsocial and reserved, with few friends outside her family. She preferred the company of animals to people and rarely travelled, forever yearning for the freedom of Haworth and the moors. She had a will of iron – a well known story about her is that she was bitten by a (possibly) rabid dog which resulted in her walking calmly into the kitchen and cauterizing the wound herself with a hot iron.

Novel written during 19th century Victorian Literary Period

• The Victorian Period is named after Queen Victoria---literary period influenced by return to Classicism—focusing on rationality/intellectualism (vs. Romanticism)

• It was a time when women were expected to be prim and completely centered on domestic life

• Romanticism was less in fashion (18th cent)—yet Bronte girls were “Romantic Rebels” (novels characterized by gothic elements such as haunted mansions and twisted love stories)

Romanticism• Stressed the importance of feeling rather than

thinking• Emphasis on the natural—the darker aspects

of existence, especially human nature• Focus on romantic attraction and strong

emotions• The “dark hero”- the protagonist who

embodies the passionate, brooding, possibly evil nature

Byronic Hero

Heathcliff is regarded as a classic Byronic hero. The Byronic hero was defined by Lord Byron’s epic narrative poem , Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in 1812.

Elements of the Byronic hero:– a distaste for social institutions and social norms– conflicting emotions or moodiness– high levels of intelligence and cunning– self-criticism– mysterious origins and a troubled past– self-destructive tendencies– a loner, rejected from society

Romanticism, the Gothic novel, and Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights contains elements of Romanticism and the Gothic novel.

Romantic elements:– 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

The Gothic novel

Elements of the Gothic novel– 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

Industrial Revolution and Social Class

• Wuthering Heights was written in 1847, which was a time when Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution were the dominant forces of the British economy and society. It was a time of rapid, often confusing, change that led to violence. As a result of the changing economy, the traditional relationships between classes and the social structure began to change.

Industrial, cont.

While wealth had traditionally been measured by land ownership, the eighteenth century had begun a trend toward a cash-based economy.

This created a middle class who were more economically powerful than its landowning superiors (gentry).

The power of yeomen, or the respectable farming class, as well as the traditional power-holding gentry was challenged by the newly wealthy capitalists.

Social Changes...

Each of these classes is represented in the novel by various characters.

• Hareton is a member 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 right to vote and the lack of married women’s property rights. The latter issue arises in Wuthering Heights.

Yorkshire Moors

• “Wuthering” means stormy or turbulent/wild• The moor is an essentially hostile environment

but also beautiful.• 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

Point of View(the perspective from which a story is told)

• Events in Wuthering Heights are told from several different points of view

• The novel opens and closes from the point of view of Mr. Lockwood

• The next narrator of the story is Mrs. Ellen (Nelly) Dean; her point of view is “closer” to the story itself than Lockwood’s

• Embedded within the narration of Lockwood and Nelly are points when characters such as Isabella Linton and Cathy Linton speak for themselves.

• The reader must ultimately decide what he/she thinks about each character because of the varying points of view

Framework Story• Wuthering Heights is highly praised for the unique narrative

technique Emily Bronte used to execute the novel, often referred to as a “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 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.

The Narration

Two filtersa. Mr. Lockwood

b. Nelly Dean

The Setting - Yorkshire, England

The Setting, cont.

Wuthering Heights is set in three locations:• Wuthering Heights

• Thrushcross Grange

• The Yorkshire Moors

Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange

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

• Wuthering Heights is located on top of a hill where it is exposed to the harsh weather and is dark and gloomy.

• Thrushcross Grange is located in a valley where it is protected by a stone wall. The Grange is also luxuriously decorated.

• The contrasting houses also directly reflect the inhabitants who live inside

• Thrushcross- Lintons; Wuthering Heights- Earnshaws

Character Mapof

Wuthering Heights

Characters• Heathcliff: brought to WH as a young boy by old 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 is married to Edgar Linton

• Edgar Linton: a pampered, somewhat spoiled 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 a pawn by Heathcliff to wreak revenge on Hindley; grows up to be big and 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 but doesn’t life to be around people

• 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)

Literary Elements and Techniques

• Structure: The first half of the novel tells the story of Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Edgar Linton. The second half mirrors the first by describing the actions of the children of the characters in the first half (Cathy Linton, Linton Heathcliff, and Hareton Earnshaw).

• Symbols: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange

• Foreshadowing: the use of ghosts

Novel Structure

• Wuthering Heights is told in medias res (Latin for "into the middle of things”). It usually 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.

C. Structure

1. Two main parts:last meeting with Cathy

Heathcliff’s motivation for revenge Heathcliff’s Revenge

Keep In Mind…

• Keep track of dates and how the story progresses.• Keep track of who is speaking. This will help you

keep your reading organized.• Keep track of whether or not the story is flashback

mode or not.• It is not necessary to understand all of Joseph’s

dialogue, but you need to keep in mind his characterization and the meaning behind what he says.