V5+ Wuthering Heights themes

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

V5+ Wuthering Heights themes

Theme of LOVE - Divide into groups of three to four students & Discuss for approx. 5 to 10 min:

1) How does the love between Catherine (sr) & Heathcliff differ from the love between Catherine & Edgar and the love between Cathy (jr) & Hareton?

2) What is unrequited love & who experiences this?

V5+ Wuthering Heights themes

Theme of LOVE - Divide into groups of three to four students & Discuss for approx. 5 to 10 min:

3) How would we look upon Catherine and Heathcliff's love from a current perspective? 

Would we see it their love as passionate or abusive; 

Would Heathcliff be to blame for his actions or would he be a victim of his upbringing? 

Can we say the more monstrous Heathcliff acts, the more he shows his undying love for Catherine?

V5+ Wuthering Heights themes

Theme of  Social Class - Divide into groups of three to four students & Discuss for approx. 5 to 10 min:

1) What is the difference between Heathcliff's and Edgar's social class & how does this influence their love lives?

2) Can Heathcliff blame his temper on his youth/social class (an orphan raised as a stepbrother to Hindley, Catherine & by the unsympathetic & religious fanatic farm hand Joseph)?

V5+ Wuthering Heights themes

Theme of Nature vs Civilization (also Nature vs Nurture) Divide into groups of three to four students & Discuss for approx. 5 to 10 min:

1) How do the two homes in Wuthering Heights (Thrushcross Grange/Lintons vs Wuthering Heights/Earnshaws) reflect the characters of the people living there?

2) Bronte makes pairs of wild natured people vs civilized people. Divide the following people into wild or civilized:

Catherine / Heathcliff / Edgar / Cathy jr. / Hareton / Hindley / Linton 

V5+ Wuthering Heights themes

Theme of Nature vs Civilization (also Nature vs Nurture) Divide into groups of three to four students & Discuss for approx. 5 to 10 min:

3) How does Bronte show that nature and civilization struggle to co-exist in 

the novel? 

Who longs back to nature and who is more civilized in the novel? 

At what point do nature and civilization not co-exist? 

What happens towards the end of the novel - do nature and civilization co-exist? 

(Think of who symbolizes nature and civilization and what happens to them)

V5+ Wuthering Heights themes

Theme of Nature vs Civilization (also Nature vs Nurture) Divide into groups of three to four students & Discuss for approx. 5 to 10 min:

4) How would we look at Heathcliff, Catherine and Edgar if they were to live in today's day and age? 

Would their fate be the same? 

How could nature (inherent qualities/wild) vs nurture (upbringing determines life/civilization) be used to explain their fate? 

Are people formed more by nature than nurture?