Wuthering Heights V5 and V5 English+

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What is the worst kind of love?

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Novel Wuthering Heights

Gothic novel, Victorian novel/Romantic elements; written by Emily Bronte; published in 1847

Set in the moors of northern England; 

Now a classic/one of the greatest novels in English lit., but quite controversial at the time 

The novel challenged the Victorian morality of restraint, dignity, talked about mental/physical cruelty, challenged societal & religious views

Story in a Nutshell: 

Heathcliff's self-destructive journey while seeking revenge for losing his soul mate, Catherine, to Edgar Linton (ill-fated lovers/union impossible)

Main Characters: Heathcliff; Catherine Earnshaw; Edgar Linton; Cathy Linton; Hareton Earnshaw; Ellen (Nelly) Dean

www.sparknotes.com

Novel Wuthering Heights

Major Themes: 

Romantic love; brotherly love; love versus hate; revenge; crime and punishment; nature and culture; class structure; good versus evil; chaos and order; selfishness; betrayal; obsession

Framing device (story within a story)

A story that surrounds the primary narrative and sets it up. 

Lockwood's visit to Wuthering Heights and the supernatural occurrence he witnesses there frame Nelly's narration of the novel's main story

Wuthering Heights vs Thrushcross Grange

Wuthering Heights opens with a date that is significant for the setting as well as the form of the narrative. 

The present is 1801; however, the primary story line has taken place years ago. Two stories, two primary narrators (Lockwood and Nelly Dean), Gothic double

Most of the action in the novel occurs in Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange, or the moors in between the two houses. 

All three locations are "completely removed from the stir of society," and each house symbolizes its residents: Those at Wuthering Heights tend to be strong, wild, and passionate whereas those at Thrushcross Grange are passive, civilized, and calm. Heathcliff is the personification of Wuthering Heights.

Wuthering Heights: Mr. and Mrs Earnshaw (the parents), Catherine Earnshaw, Hindley, Heathcliff, Hareton (Hindley's and Frances' son/Catherine's nephew), Linton Heathcliff (Heathcliff's and Isabella's son)

Thrushcross Grange: Mr. and Mrs. Linton (the parents), Isabella, Edgar (husband of Catherine), Cathy Linton (daughter of Catherine & Linton)

Unreliable narrators Lockwood & Nelly

Readers are introduced to Lockwood, an unreliable narrator who tries to make sense of his surroundings and his landlord. In doing so, his impressions provide readers with the first glimpse of Heathcliff, the main character. Lockwood's perceptions are simultaneously significant for the reader while being wholly inaccurate for himself as a character. For example, he mentions twice that Heathcliff does not extend a hand to him, yet Lockwood still considers Heathcliff a gentleman. At the close of the chapter, Lockwood recognizes that Heathcliff has no desire to see him again, yet he plans to visit again nonetheless. (source: CliffsNotes.com)

Lockwood is clearly blind to the reality of the situation, although the extent of his misinterpretations is not fully realized. He is the first of many narrators to tell the story from a point of view that is limited and biased. 

In Wuthering Heights, stories are often told within stories, with much of the information being revealed second-handed. Lockwood is an outsider who serves as the driving force for Nelly first to tell the story of Heathcliff and Catherine, and then to relate the story of their respective children. (source: CliffsNotes)

Romantic Period (1798 - 1837)

Rejection of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality/reason that typified Neoclassicism/Enlightenment (Age of Reason).  

Characteristics Romanticism : 

• Deep appreciation of nature;
• Exaltation of emotion over reason ; senses over intellect
• Heightened examination of human personality/moods
• Preoccuption with the genius, the hero, 
• Focus on passions and inner struggles; 
• Artist = individual creator (creative license)
• Imagination; spiritual truth;  
• Return to medieval era (pre-industrialization); 
• Focus on exotic, mysterious, remote

Romantic movement values:

Laissez-faire approach to human interpersonal relations (children close to nature know what is good and learn from & by being in nature), feelings and emotions as opposed to tradition, customs and social norms. 

Victorian Era (1837 - 1901):

Characterized by a class-based society, a growing number of people able to vote, a growing state and economy, and Britain’s status as the most powerful empire in the world.

Victorian values:

Thrift, cleanliness, hard work, self-reliance, self-respect, and national pride

Family honour, personal integrity and social status were given importance during this period. 

 

Gothic novels characteristics

• 'pure, good-natured' female heroines, often in the hands of psychopathic individuals
• dumb, easily scared and lower-class servants
• remote locations (other countries in Europe) and times that have long gone by (to be approached from the perspective of the first readers of these novels, so often the (early) middle ages)
• dark castles and creepy mansions
• corrupt Catholic clergy and old, ruined clerical buildings
• corrupt nobles
• uncaring family and 'friends'
• love interests that are far away
• mysterious situations like locked doors, secret hidden rooms, strange lights, eerie sounds and missing portraits
• supernatural events or characters
• wild, foreboding nature in the form of, for instance, violent storms or deep, dark forests
• oppressed or 'deviant' sexuality

Gothic novel Double

Wuthering Heights is a gothic novel. 

Gothic novels focus on the mysterious or supernatural, and take place in dark, sometimes exotic, settings.

The double (gothic feature): 

The love of Hareton (son of Hindley) and Cathy jr. doubles that of Heathcliff and Catherine sr., 

and Linton (son of Heathcliff) doubles Edgar. 

The novel itself consists of two entire stories, each consisting of seventeen chapters; the second half of Wuthering Heights doubles the first. 

Nelly (Ellen) Dean

The chief narrator -  eyes and ears at Wuthering Heights.

Grew up alongside Hindley and Catherine Earnshaw

Catherine’s servant

Character Traits

Sensible

intelligent

compassionate & strong

feelings for the characters

(sides with Catherine, 

but also with Heathcliff)

Lockwood

The other primary narrator.

Wuthering Heights opens with Mr. Lockwood, a new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, writing in his diary about his visit to his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff. While entering Wuthering Heights, Lockwood notices but does not comment upon the date "1500" and the name "Hareton Earnshaw" above the principal door. Lockwood, an unwelcome guest, soon meets Joseph, a servant, and a pack of dogs that have overrun the farmhouse. Although he receives no encouragement from his host, Lockwood decides to make a return visit.

Character traits

His judgment of could be off 

Presumptuous

From England

Byronic Hero 

Extreme variation of the Romantic hero archetype 

Byronic heroes characteristics:

• Intelligent; Cunning
• Ruthless; Arrogant
• Depressive; Violent
• Self-aware
• Emotionally and intellectually tortured; Traumatized
• Highly emotional
• Manipulative, Self-serving
• Spiritually doubtful
• Often reckless or suicidal
• Prone to bursts of anger
• Prone to substance abuse; Self-destructive impulses
• Pursuing matters of justice over matters of legality
• Seductive and sexually appealing

Catherine Earnshaw

(marries Edgar Linton)

Character traits

Passionate

Free-spirited, adventurous rebel

Spoiled

Often arrogant

Has a temper

Heartbreaker

(brings misery to the men that love her)

Heathcliff Earnshaw

(adopted by the Earnshaw family - marries Isabella Linton)

Character traits

Callously Passionate

Loyal

Obsessive

Can be violent

Hindley Earnshaw

Frances Earnshaw

Edgar Linton

Isabel Linton

Young Linton 

Young Catherine

Hareton 

Young Catherine *same as previous slide