Structure and Narrative Technique in "Wurthering Heights" and "Return of the Native"

Bronte illustrates that the truth can be manipulated rather than fixed. And it can be manipulated by depending on who is telling the story. She points out that language is manipulated by unreliable people like Lockwood and Nelly.

Nelly recalls Heathcliff’s description, "'We crept through a broken hedge, groped our way up the path, and planted ourselves on a flower plot under the drawing-room window. The light came from thence....it was beautiful- a splendid place carpeted with crimson and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower of glass-drops hanging in silver chains from the center and shimmering with little soft tapers.'" (47). The light shines on the calm area of Thrushcross Grange, setting up a completely different atmosphere from Wuthering Heights and carries very different symbolic meaning, showing how the Lintons are foils fo Cathy and Heathcliff, as they are civilized. The Linton are raised in a very cultivated society, one that not allow room for the savageness of Wuthering Heights. After Heathcliff flees Wuthering Heights upon hearing Cathy say that although she loves Heathcliff, she must marry the more respectable Edgar Linton, a storm is brewing outside, “About midnight, while we still sat up, the storm came rattling over the Heights in full fury. There was a violent wind, as well as thunder, and either one or the other split a tree off at the corner of the building…”

The overuse of a narrative device by an author can hinder a novel. However, such devices, when used with “intelligence and discretion [...can be] capable of moving and powerful effects, without which fiction would be much poorer” (Lodge 85). One such device used craftly by Emily Brontë in her novel “Wuthering Heights” is “the pathetic fallacy, the projection of human emotions onto phenomena in the natural world” (Lodge 85). By using this effect sparingly and only to exemplify the negative emotions and events of the characters, Brontë creates a sense of sympathy in the reader for the characters, thus creating a stronger connection between the two. Overall, Brontë uses different weather patterns to portray the negativity the characters are

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

Just as The Moors represent danger and difficulty, the love between Cathy and Heathcliff endangers everyone associated with them through their recklessness and becomes difficult to figure out their intentions. The weather on The Moors also has a tendency to correspond with whatever mood Heathcliff happens to be in, which can be seen in the first chapter. When Lockwood shows up to Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is cold and unwelcoming and as it just so happens there is a snow storm on The Moors. Another example of how The Moors reflects the characters would be well The Moors. This is portrayed when Nelly uses metaphors to contrast Heathcliff and Edgar.

He continued with this writing style over the next twenty one years, writing some of his finest novels. For example The Return of the Native, in which he dramatically symbolizes natural forces. Sometimes, Hardy would write about conflicts in Victorian society, human love, sexuality, anti-Christianity, and pessimism. This gained lots of criticism and harsh disapproval, which discouraged him; therefore, Hardy began writing poetry. Hardy’s poetry consist of a sermon on pessimistic themes, but his lyrical power is praised. He began with the Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898), and ended with his epic verse drama The

"He [Heathcliff] is more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees-my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath-a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff-he's always, always in my mind-not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself-but, as my own being."

He wanted to avoid the “the jeweled line” like many modernist, Thomas Hardy pursued to be called “dissonances, and other irregularities” (Ramazani and Stallworthy). Hardy’s childhood was in the Victorian Era but paved the way for the Modern Period. Yet, his works appear diverse in comparison to the Victorian Era for they have become known as disbelieving, harsh, and realistic. His works also challenged the standard of English with his contorted syntax, irregular, and intricate stanza formats. One of Hardy’s famous novels is The Return of The Native, which involves “two pairs of mismatched lovers” (Hardy). The novel immediately opens to Diggory Vann escorting Thomasin Yeobright to the rural village

            As a person of dignity, Nelly keeps secrets; as a nurse or servant, she reveals any unnatural or wrong acts. As a witness, she must take part in every scene of the book. We become familiar with her interference from when she admits putting young Heathcliff on the landing, to encouraging him to run away. One of the most symbolic instances of her interference is when she interweaves Heathcliff and Edgar’s hair for Catherine’s locket.

“My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” (Brontë, 82)

"The reader is shocked, disgusted, almost sickened by details of cruelty, inhumanity, and the most diabolical hate and vengeance," spitefully declares Clifton Snider, a renowned literary critic, regarding the novel Wuthering Heights. Yet, the raw emotion and the ruthlessly explicit details present in this cruel story induces its audience to continue reading. The perverse and brutal behaviors depicted by the characters were subjects repressed from being acknowledged in Victorian society, leading to an increase in the purchase of the book, because it represents the uncivilized free and wild thinking that intrigued curious people in the 19th century and that continues to intrigue people in the present. Therefore, through Brontë’s unconventional

"My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff."

Heathcliff’s unconditional love causes Catherine’s “melancholy” “mental state” because it is overwhelming and she is in love with him but a Victorian society wouldn’t accept their relationship because of the Heathcliff’s very low class, which would result in them being “beggars.” Catherine has “a peculiar expression arising from her mind set” before she tells Heathcliff “you have killed me,” this highlights her “diseased mind” and the suffering it is causing her because she hasn’t died yet but it could be interpreted that she feels as though she has which emphasises her suffering, but also her madness. The “peculiar expression” that Catherine is described to have could be because she was “thinking… of Wuthering Heights.” The “expression” could be interpreted as a smile, which would be “peculiar” to Nelly because she has been depressed living with Edgar, therefore a smile would be unusual; David Punter explains “Gothic reminds us we are driven by our passions” and Catherine’s passion is Heathcliff, which would explain her “expression” when thinking about Wuthering Heights. This idea of Catherine’s thought process in her “diseased mind” emphasises her pain and suffering because she cannot be without Heathcliff, her “soul,” yet she is continuously thinking about him, this is essentially what drives her insane.

“In all England”, observes Mr. Lockwood, “I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society” (Ch 1). Outwardly, this plain and insignificant statement characterizes the isolated position of the Yorkshire moors from the rest of the society. In closer examination, however, a reader might mark the significance of Lockwood’s remark in its relation to the characters in Wuthering Heights, who are indeed removed from the context of nineteenth-century English society, where people were able to take on the manners of the genteel with their achievements in social status. Wuthering Heights, set in the Victorian era, Can be viewed as the struggle between civilized, conventional human behavior and its wild, anarchistic side. In Wuthering Heights, she distinguishes the upper class as possessing the superior qualities and irreconcilable with the lower class. Bronte uses the Heights to illustrate these class differences, as well as some of the problems caused by such issues. There are many ways in which Bronte uses Wuthering Heights and the people that live there to explain class differences.

This essay will analyse how gender roles are represented in Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Height’s by looking at the characters of Cathy and Heathcliff. By analysing these two characters it will be clear that the protagonists challenge social conformity during the Victorian period in England. To fully realise this it is important to first understand what the prescribed roles were that they were challenging. This will be achieved through close readings of the text and references made to secondary sources to provide evidence that this opinion has been fully investigated. It will be clear by the end to see that the characters challenge the roles expected of their sex during this time and together they challenge social norms. This essay will answer ‘yes’