Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights Essay

This cold treatment only progressed and became abusive when Mr. Earnshaw, one of the few people to ever care about Heathcliff, dies and his son who loathes the protagonist becomes the master of Wuthering Heights. “He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm” (Bronte 71).

In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte used both first person point of view and transitions into third person point of view. With this unique technique, the reader’s emotions may lead to ambivalence towards the protagonists, unable to discern what side to agree on but able to understand with the selective characters of the story. The story is

This parallel is ironic – the reader is not inclined to view Lockwood as a ‘hero’, yet the novel is seemingly framing him as if he invariably is one. This distorts our reading of the novel, as Lockwood’s cowardice and pomposity renders this reading nigh improbable. Therefore, the ironies present in this implied portrayal of our central narrator tends to bend our reading of Wuthering Heights more as a pastiche, rather than a direct addition to the pantheon of Gothic fiction. This is supported when other characters from the novel are scrutinised: the younger Cathy is interpreted by Lockwood as the typically virginal maid present in Gothic literature, and – adhering to the literary tradition – feels compelled to rescue her from the Heights and

Novels are often taken by the reader at face value, and are never looked into on a deeper level. It is important to search for more than what is seen in a literary work. Wuthering Heights is a great example of a book with its own hidden secrets that can surface with a little research. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights depicts the oppression of women from mentally unstable individuals.

Throughout the telling of the story Miss Winter often changes points of view from third to first person, from “they” to “we” to “I”. The first time she uses “I” is in the telling of Isabelle’s death and Charlie’s disappearance (Setterfield, 204). Whilst Nelly is telling the story, she more often is telling it in third person, but the telling of the story changes to first whenever it is a scene of which she is in. The telling of Wuthering Heights is a frame story with multi-layered, first – person narration (Tomlinson). The frame narrative is Lockwood’s tale as a traveler (outsider), he is hearing the family history through Ellen Dean (aka Nelly) without any background knowledge. The interior narrative is the history reiterated by Nelly (an insider with intimate knowledge) with help of other minor first-person narrators who are players in the Interior story and who break in occasionally (Tomlinson). Parts of the story that Nelly is sharing with Lockwood she heard from other characters through tertiary narration, and then later relays them to him [Lockwood] (Tomlinson). Tertiary narration is the recounting of eyewitness narrations by people who have played some part in the narration that is now being described (Tomlinson). There are a few scenes in which Catherine is conversing with Nelly. Nelly is reiterating what Catherine shared with her during those discussions. After Isabella runs away with Heathcliff to be married she writes a letter to Nelly explaining what is

Heathcliff is introduced in Nelly's narration as a seven-year-old Liverpool foundling (probably an Irish famine immigrant) brought back to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw. His presence in Wuthering Heights overthrows the prevailing habits of the Earnshaw family, members of the family soon become involved in turmoil and fighting and family relationships become spiteful and hateful. Even on his first night, he is the reason Mr. Earnshaw breaks the toys he had bought for his children. "From the very beginning he bred bad feelings in the house". Heathcliff usurps the affections of Mr. Earnshaw to the exclusion of young Hindley-: "The young master had learnt to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a

In the first three chapters of Wuthering Heights, Lockwood is forced to grapple with the mystery of Heathcliff’s cruelty, watching him do things from “[striking] his forehead with rage” and “savage vehemence” to threatening to physically assault his daughter-in-law (27). The narrative which the original text of Wuthering Heights provides, however, is not concerned with the emotional progression of the individual, assuming that Heathcliff’s savagery is simply characteristic of his very existence. It is through Catherine Earnshaw’s perspective, manifested through her diaries, that Heathcliff’s cruelty can be assessed, not only as a product of his social environment, but as something deeply entrenched in his racial differences. Catherine’s sympathy

Martha Nussbaum describes the romantic ascent of various characters in Wuthering Heights through a philosophical Christian view. She begins by describing Catherine as a lost soul searching for heaven, while in reality she longs for the love of Heathcliff. Nussbaum continues by comparing Heathcliff as the opposition of the ascent from which the Linton’s hold sacred within their Christian beliefs. Nussbaum makes use of the notion that the Christian belief in Wuthering Heights is both degenerate and way to exclude social classes.

Gender played an important role in the style of writing known as "Gothic". Traditional stereotypes were often broken. Men were not always portrayed as dominant, strong, rational or masculine. Likewise, women were not always portrayed as weak, submissive, irrational, or feminine. This essay will take a look at the relationship between Catherine and Edgar Linton in Emily Brönte's Wuthering Heights. We will take a look at how their characters are portrayed, how this affected their marriage, and how each character retained some of the traits attributed to their gender.

In the gothic novel, Wuthering Heights, a man named Lockwood rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange in the moor country of England in the winter of 1801. Here, he meets his landlord, Heathcliff, a very wealthy man who lives 4 miles away in the manor called Wuthering Heights. Nelly Dean is Lockwood’s housekeeper, who worked as a servant in Wuthering Heights when she was a child. Lockwood asks her to tell him about Heathcliff, she agrees, while she tells the story Lockwood writes it all down in his diary.

In the first part of Nelly’s narration, she begins by telling how Heathcliff comes about the house. ‘We crowed round, and, over Miss Cathy’s head, I had a peep at a dirty, ragged, black-haired child.’ Such language explores that he is no ordinary child. The other children - Hindley and Cathy, couldn’t believe what their father had bought home. ‘Mrs Earnshaw was ready to chuck it out of the doors…asking how he could fashion to bring that gipsy brat into the house.’ Such a phrase would imply that if they were seen with the ‘gipsy’ they would be looked down on. They don’t understand Mr Earnshaw’s reason to bring him home. Cathy and Hindley rejected Heathcliff ‘they entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room..I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it might be gone on the morrow’ Nobody wanted it to be part of the household. This first introduction to Heathcliff already explores the view he is socially beneath the other inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. He is typically described as outside of the family structure. This would make him self conscious about himself and could be a reason for his actions later on in his life.

Love is a strong attachment between two lovers and revenge is a strong conflict between two rivals. In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte uses setting to establish contrast, to intensify conflict, and to develop character. The people and events of Wuthering Heights share a dramatic conflict. Thus, Bronte focuses on the evil eye of Heathcliff's obsessive and perpetual love with Catherine, and his enduring revenge to those who forced him and Catherine apart. The author expresses the conflict of Wuthering Heights with great intensity. Hence, she portrays a combination of crucial issues of romance and money, hate and power, and lastly

She talks about her daily life which involves the caring of the children and looking after the house, both very domestic features, and most of the story, and her life, are set in and around the house. As the strongest maternal character in the story, her descriptions of the children are often loving but she is not afraid to talk truthfully about their bad aspects. The narrative following the main character’s growth from children to adults, the five marriages that take place in the two households, and the changes of character’s hierarchy in society, all very domestic elements. Though Nelly has this maternal view and love of the younger generations under her care, she is still frightened by them, notably during Heathcliff’s final days with his sudden metamorphosis in mood from his general sullenness to being “uncommonly animated” (Brontë 328). During this time Nelly is quite unnerved by his drastically changed demeanour and one night goes to take him some supper. She is terrified by what she sees in his room, “The light flashed on his features… I cannot express what a terrible view I got, by that 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” (Brontë 329). After this frightful encounter Nelly is left wondering if he is

Given that no one ever chimed in to Mrs. Dean’s version of the story makes the reader wonder if everything said could all be true. Lockwood has no reason to not believe Nelly Dean so he does not question anything or try to pry further into whatever is being told to him even though everything maybe just be a mere opinion or how Nelly interpreted something.