Wuthering Heights - Narrative Structure Essay

In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte uses Mr. Lockwood to show that language is not enough to tell the truth and understand the other person. When Mr. Lockwood greets Heathcliff on their first encounter, Lockwood misjudges Heathcliff. He writes, “Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us” (Bronte 1). Also he describes Heathcliff as “a capital fellow” (Bronte 1).

Wuthering Heights is a novel whose main character is said to have a double significance. He is said to be both the dispossessed and the dispossessor, victim of class hatred and arch – exploiter, he simultaneously occupies the roles of working class outsider and brutal capitalist. Heathcliff has all these characteristics because of his experiences. He is a character moulded by his past.

In its simplest form, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre tells the story of a young woman, Jane Eyre, who grows up poor, makes the decision to be independent, does so, and, eventually, marries rich. The novel follows her from her childhood to her reunion with the love of her life and she, throughout it, deals with classism and sexism and exhibits her own form of feminism. By the end, it becomes clear that, with this semi-autobiographical novel, Charlotte Bronte was providing a criticism on society’s discrimination toward those of a lower class, a subtle argument against the male-dominated society’s treatment of women, and an even subtler call to action for women to find their own agency outside of the men in their lives. On another end, however,

This quote represents the first point of the book in which Lockwood realizes the Heights hold a secret no one wants him to know about. It stirs up his curiosity about the past affairs at Wuthering Heights and leads him to inquire about the story. He doesn’t know why this woman’s name is scratched into the wall so many times with such precision and curiosity. This leads him to investigate the woman and her past relationship with Heathcliff, who loved her enough to ask her to haunt him.

Through Bronte’s use of the frame novel Lockwood, depicts the landscape of the moors through two contrasting description that explore his changed self-awareness of the world around him. The first “naïve” description of the moors as “a perfect misanthropists heaven” which foreshadows the truth revealed through Bronte’s representation of the malevolent Heathcliff. Bronte has thus depicted how an imposing landscape can affect the experience on an individual (expand). Additionally, Bronte represents the extreme states of being and experiences through her metaphorical representation of the landscape in which she compares her love of Heathcliff to the “eternal rocks” and Linton’s to the “foliage of the woods”. This contrasting representation allows Bronte to convey Catherine’s love and passion for Heathcliff as the experience she lives for, something that is always there and is constantly referenced too throughout the book. Whilst Linton’s as the relationship that withers and dies, thus ultimately linking people and landscapes to explain the impact a landscape can have on how an individual perceives the world around them. Thus, Bronte has shaped the audience response in which she reveals the influence of a landscapes on the identity of an

However, despite changes, the literary world remained predominantly male, and women writers not encouraged, or taken seriously. Consequently, to counteract this Emily Bronte published her novel Wuthering Heights, under the male pseudonym of Ellis Bell. Wuthering Heights is the story of domesticity, obsession, and elemental divided passion between the intertwined homes of the Earnshaw’s residing at the rural farmhouse Wuthering Heights, and the Linton family of the more genteel Thrushcross Grange. This essay will discuss how the language and narrative voices established a structural pattern of the novel, and how these differing voices had a dramatic effect on the interpretation of the overall story.

Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre embraces many feminist views in opposition to the Victorian feminine ideal. Charlotte Bronte herself was among the first feminist writers of her time, and wrote this book in order to send the message of feminism to a Victorian-Age Society in which women were looked upon as inferior and repressed by the society in which they lived. This novel embodies the ideology of equality between a man and woman in marriage, as well as in society at large. As a feminist writer, Charlotte Bronte created this novel to support and spread the idea of an independent woman who works for herself, thinks for herself, and acts of her own accord.

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

Austen has set out to save the rising art form of the novel. In this address to the reader she glorifies what a novel should be: the unrestrained expression of words conveying the wide range of raw human emotion. This veneration of the novel is necessary to the development of Catherine's fiction-loving character as it justifies the narrator's right to remain fond of this flawed heroine.

Pride and Prejudice portrays many central values that Weldon in Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen an epistolary attempts to put right in the readers mind. The values of the Female Experience, Marriage and social structure and class. Jane Austen portrays issues in some form or another through her characters, but it is through a reading of Weldon’s ‘letters to Alice’ that clarification of these issues is made more apparent. These intertextual connections that Weldon gives to the reader about Austen’s novel helps them understand Austen’s context, views of marriage and the structure and guidelines of the social system. Weldon encourages Alice to think of these themes in context of her own life, to explore the similarities and differences.

The primary topic, which is the theme discussed in Wuthering Heights, is on “natural supernaturalism.” In Wuthering Heights, there seems to be this idea that the novel focuses on metaphysics. However, the author does also minorly note other primary themes, such as “human love, its possibilities, limitations, and consequences.” Moreover, the writer notes that there is some similarity in style of Bronte’s in comparison to that of the poets Wordsworth and Coleridge -- as in some of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s works involve nature, as well as supernaturalism. Essentially, the character/narrator Lockwood -- in Wuthering Heights -- is the individual in where the themes of “natural supernaturalism” can be present. It is disclosed that this character had various dreams, in which Williams seem to interpret as involving some sorts of supernatural elements. Williams also claims that the closing words and conclusion of Lockwood’s narration suggest and emphasize a link to the idea of natural

In Emily Brontë’s book, Wuthering Heights; the vivid details, change of tone, and unique characters made it very fun to read. The book is about a man, Mr. Lockwood, and his experience in Wuthering Heights. He discovers the secrets behind Mr. Heathcliff and his wife, Catherine, who had passed away. The only people who claim to see the ghost of Catherine is Lockwood and Heathcliff that starts controversy in the house. Wuthering Heights is an intriguing book for its vivid details, unique characters and unexpected change of tone.

The description of the setting of Wuthering Heights is described so thoroughly, which emphasizes the gothic tradition in this book. It is 1801 and Mr. Lockwood, a new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, writes in his diary that he has rented a house in the Yorkshire countryside, or New England. After he arrived there, he visits his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff. Heathcliff lives

Wuthering Heights is depicted as a cold, threatening, and dark manor, situated on a "bleak hilltop." In the novel, "wuthering" is the local adjective to describe the "atmospheric tumult" present in the region. The rugged manor, Wuthering Heights, represents a "storm", characterized by the wild emotions and harsh behaviors of the inhabitants. The depressing atmosphere causes people to "shiver through every limb" at the "sorrowful sight" of the Heights. In deep contrast, Thrushcross Grange is described as a "splendid place" of elegance and comfort. The peaceful dwelling of the Grange represents higher values and morals, and is considered the "calm" residence of the novel. The author creatively reveals the theme of good versus evil, or the calm versus the storm, through the pronounced symbolic differences in the houses.

Nelly represents not only the power and wisdom of women, but also her compliance to dominance of men. ‘Nelly Dean is a manipulative creature who will go to considerable lengths to maintain the status quo of male authority.’ (Whitley, 2000: xi) By adding this trait to Nelly’s character Brontë reminds the reader of the order of the world. Even though the characters are fighting and representing women’s rights, they still do live in a man’s world – that is the novel’s connection with the reality. The character of Nelly is a great support to the statement of de Beauvoir (1949: 324):