The Narrative Techniques in Wuthering Heights

Although Wuthering Heights was Emily Bronte’s only novel, it is notable for the
narrative technique she employed and the level of craftsmanship involved in it.
Although there are only two obvious narrators, Lockwood and Nelly Dean, a variety of
other narratives are interspersed throughout the novel. The reasons for this are that
the whole action of Wuthering Heights is presented in the form of eyewitness
narrations by people who have played some part in the narration they describe. Unlike
other novels where parallel narratives exist i.e. same event, within the same time
frame being narrated from different perspectives, Wuthering Heights has a multi-
layered narration, each individual narrative opening out from its parent to reveal a
new stratum (level) of the story. This intricate technique helps to maintain a continuos
narrative despite of the difficulties posed by the huge time-shifts involved in the novel.

Lockwood’s narrative is the outer framework of the story. He is then present as the
recipient of Nelly’s story and she in turn is the recipient of tertiary narratives.

A.) Heathcliff: Chapter 6, 29

B.) Isabella: Chapter 13, 17

C.) Cathy: Chapter 24

D.) Zilla: Chapter 30.

Nelly’s narrative is so dramatised that we could argue that much of it is in the form of a
tertiary narration, e.g. the conversation involving Heathcliff, Catherine and Edgar on
Heathcliff’s return is recorded in the words of the participants. The effect of this is to
present the story directly to the reader so that our perception is constantly changing
as if we were witnessing a drama.

The difficulty facing the author at the beginning if the novel was to find a method by
which the reader could be introduced into the household of the Heights, so that its
characters and its ambience could be understood. The purpose of Bronte’s narrative is
to draw the reader into a position where he can only judge its events from within.
Lockwood presents the normal outsider or the reader, by drawing him into the
penetralium, the reader is cleverly introduced to the realities of this hostile and
bewildering environment. The narrative form poses severe limitations for the author in
that she cannot use her own voice, the story must speak entirely for itself, its values
must be self-generated, created for us by the language which must be emotive and
strong, particularly in moments of self revelation and strong feeling. In Wuthering
Heights each narrative takes place within the action occupying an important place in
the dramatic structure so that the reader never stands completely outside the story.
We, like Lockwood, find ourselves as the direct recipients of Nelly’s narrative, we are
immediately inside the world of Wuthering Heights and therefore the events loom
large and have a more dramatic impact, because they are not prefaced for us by
editorial comment or introduction provided in the first person by the author.
While the larger frameworks of Lockwood and Nelly’s narratives, provide the necessary
objectivity, the smaller more condensed narratives like Catherine’s diary give us direct
glimpses into the imaginary lives of the main protagonists, these together form the
core of the story and are joined in subtle ways with each other. They suddenly appear
without warning and the memory of them remains vibrant in the background. The
modify over veins of all the outward events that Nelly or Lockwood describe, allowing
for an individual response or appreciation to the core developments of the story.
Bronte seeks to engage the reader directly through the reactions of her narrators, the
technique is abrupt and dramatic allowing little time for insight but confronting us with
a sharply focused scene where the characters are realised first as physical presences,
they are set in motion at once and the chain if events begins to occur, the reader is
immediately caught up in the overall experience of the story without having time to
consider its meaning. The background, the setting, the climate, the houses and the
animals all take on a life of their own, images of past and present are flashed together
"a glare of white letters startled from the dark as vivid as spectres - the air swarming
with Catherines".

Thus the novel itself begins at a point where the action is almost completed. The
questions which Lockwood asks of Nelly Dean, promote answers which give him little
insight but it is Lockwood’s fascination with the character of Mr. Heathcliff which
causes his mind to become "tiresomely active", thus requiring a full circumstantial
narrative. The kind of curiosity aroused by Bronte in Lockwood and therefore in the
reader, demands a complete imaginative reliving of the past. It is only through
experiencing the events as Lockwood did from Heathcliff’s arrival to that point in time
that he can be in a position to understand the complex set of relationships he
witnessed in the household of Wuthering Heights, that is why the apparently artificial
narrative structure is both necessary and convincing and we accept its conventions
without questions. Past and present interact on one another forming a single close knit
drama without division into parts.

The year 1801 is the story’s starting and finishing point up to the time of Lockwood’s
arrival at Wuthering Heights, as is September 1802 the start and finish of the events
dealt with in the final chapters. Nelly’s story is studded with dates which allows us to
work out the precise dates of major events, the ages of the characters and often even
the day of the week when an event occurs.

The only sudden jumps from present to distant past:

Catherine’s Diary: Chapter 3.

Beginning of Nelly’s Narrative: Chapter 4.

Heathcliff’s 2nd narrative: Chapter 29.

As the novel contains a history of 2 families whose fates are worked out over three
generations, it is important that a reasonable exact timescale is adhered to. Without
cluttering the narrative with dates, Bronte achieves this by the precise plotting of the
lives of Catherine and Heathcliff. Their life stories provide the time framework for the
novel and other events and the births, lives and deaths of other characters are related
to us in conjunction with developments in the lives of the two main characters.

Lockwood as Narrator

Lockwood is the outsider, coming into a world in which he finds bewildering and
hostile, he’s a city gentleman who has stumbled on a primitive uncivilised world which
he doesn’t understand, but which fascinates him. He arrives at the end of November
1801 as a tenant of Thrushcross Grange. After his initial meetings with his landlord, Mr.
Heathcliff, he is laid up for two months during which time his fascination with
Wuthering Heights leads to the beginning of Nelly’s narrative. By January 1802, he is
sufficiently recovered to return to the Heights where he informs Heathcliff of his
intention to return to London for 6 months. He returns briefly in September 1802,
when he hears the conclusion of Nelly’s narrative and the final events of the novel take
place.

In the novel Lockwood presents the situation as he sees it, the reader is thus brought
closer to the action, seeing it through the eyes of the narrator himself. The presence of
Lockwood in the book allows the author the author to begin the story near the end
and work backwards and forwards in time with little difficulty. The opening chapters of
the book are narrated by Lockwood and provide the reader with their introduction to
this early 19th century world. The format of Lockwood’s narrative is that of a personal
diary, which allows the development for the reader of an easy intimacy with an
impartial character whose style - self-conscious, a little affected and facetious is nicely
calculated to engage sympathy, while allowing ground for the reader to be amused at
the narrators expense.

With all his limitations, Lockwood is intelligent and perceptive and his precise detailed
descriptions are used by his creator to create subtle changes in situation and
character, an example of this is that when Lockwood first visited Wuthering Heights,
he commented on the chained gate, while at the end of the novel when he returns to
find Heathcliff dead, he noticed "Both doors and lattices were open". Changes in
character are also hinted at by Lockwood’s eye for detail, he has noticed changes in
both Cathy and Hareton - Cathy once described by Lockwood as "the little witch", now
has "a voice as sweet as a silver bell". Hareton described in the opening chapters as a
boor and a clown and has by the end of the novel become "a young man respectably
dressed" with "handsome features", therefore Lockwood, by fulfilling the role as the
detached outsider and observer, brings a dimension to the novel which is quite
different from the perception provided by Nelly.

Lockwood’s Style as Narrator

Lockwood uses an educated literacy language marked by detailed factual description

and perceptive observation and comment, both on situation and character. An
example of this is his description of Hareton "Meanwhile, the young man had slung
onto his person a decidedly shabby upper garment, and, erecting himself before the
blaze, looked down on me from the corner of his eyes, for all the world as if there was
some mortal feud unavenged still between us. I began to doubt whether he was a
servant or not... his bearing was free, almost haughty and he showed none of a
domestic’s assiduity in attending to the lady of the house."

Lockwood’s sentences are often complex consisting of a number of clauses or long

phrases, frequently separated by dashes or semi-colons, examples, "he probably
swayed by the presidential considerations of the folly of offending a good tenant -
released a little in the laconic style of chipping of his pronouns and auxiliary and
introducing what he supposed would be a subject of interest to me." A noticeable
aspect of Lockwood’s style is his use of words of Latin origin, e.g. prudential, laconic,
auxiliary. By the end of Chapter 3, Lockwood’s style has become more complex in that
his sentence structure is complicated, large numbers of adjectival and adverbial clause,
a liberal use of the semi-colon and comma, to give the impression of a narrator whose
command of language is sophisticated. "My human fixture and her satellites, rushed to
welcome me; explaining tumultuously, they had completely given me up; everybody
conjectured (guessed) that I perished last night; and they were wondering how they
must set about the search for my remains.

Nelly Dean as Narrator

Nelly Dean’s narrative, though copious and detailed, has an extraordinary, sometimes
breathless energy as if she were describing events that she had witnessed an hour ago,
every moment of which is vividly present to her. Nelly’s narrative is an art of stark
immediacy - of making the past live for us in the present. As much of Nelly’s narrative
is unfolded in the words of the actual characters, we the readers, feel that the
narrative is moulded by the pressure of events, not that the shape and interpretation
of events is being fashioned by the narrator. The sense of actuality is conveyed by a
series of concrete details that fall artlessly into place. Nelly’s sureness in relating her
narrative seems to arise out of an astonishing clear memory, the impression of rapid
excitement is achieved by concentrating our attention on movement and gesture,
action and reaction, intermixed with vehement dialogue which convinces by its
emphatic speech rhythms and plain language. The dialogue has no trace of a conscious
stylist, it is noticeable for the brief rapidity of the sentence, an example of this is
Nelly’s recollection of the time leading up to Catherine’s death, when Catherine
emplored her to open the window of her room - "Oh, if I were but in my own bed in
the old house!" she went on bitterly, wringing her hands, "And that wind sounding in
the firs by the lattice. "Do let me feel it! - it comes straight down the moor - do let me
have one breath!"

Nelly’s value as a narrator is clear from this example, she brings us very close to the
action and is in one way deeply engaged in it. The intimate affairs of the Grange and
the Heights have taken up her whole life, however, her position as a professional
housekeeper means that her interests in events is largely practical. She provides the
inner frame of the narrative and we see this world of the successive generations of
Earnshaw’s and Linton’s through her eye’s, although much of the dialogue, in the
interests of objectivity, is that of the characters themselves. As a narrator reporting the
past from the present, she has the benefit of hindsight and can therefore depart from
the straight chronological narrative to hint at the future.
A major contrast between Nelly and Lockwood is that she, to an extent, is a character
within her own narrative, which causes her several problems. At times she is involved
in the action, she is now describing and therefore she treads a difficult path between
romantic indulgence and moral rectitude, she both encourages and discourages
relationships. Her attitude to theme sways between approval and disapproval,
depending on her mood. This is primarily evident in the role she plays in the love
triangle between Heathcliff, Catherine and Edgar; at times taking Edgar’s side while yet
arranging the last meeting between Heathcliff and Catherine by leaving the window
open for him. She adopted a similar position between the relationship between Cathy
and Linton, at time colluding with Cathy and at other times judging and betraying her
for writing against her father’s wishes. There is an ambivalence in Nelly’s attitude and
this combined with her meddling nature renders her moral stance inconsistent and
even hypocritical. Despite these shortcomings, she is vigorous, lively narrator with a
formidable memory whose energy and unflagging interests allow the reader an insight
into the lives of characters.

As a narrator, Nelly’s style differs substantially from that of Lockwood, much of her
narrative consists of verbatim dialogue and as such is the language of the characters in
Wuthering Heights. When she herself is speaking as a narrator, her language is lively,
colloquial and imaginative, this has the effect of bringing characters to life and
providing the reader with many vivid and precise images, an example of this is her
reference to Heathcliff’s life "It’s a cuckoo’s, sir - I know all about it, except where he
was born, and who were his parents, and how he got his money at first. And that
Hareton, has been cast out like a unfledged dunnock." In this example the tagging on
of the phrase "at first" suggests that Nelly knows how he got his money later and
therefore arouses our interest in Heathcliff. Nelly is limited because of her
conventional, religious and moral sentiments, which often prevent her from a greater
understanding of the emotions or motives of the characters. This is important in
Bronte’s technique as it allows the reader to believe that they have a better
understanding of the characters and the developments, than either of her narrators.
The inclusion of so much dialogue and the tertiary narratives of the central characters
provide a direct communication between the reader and character allowing for greater
immediacy and for an individual response on behalf of the reader. In this respect both
Nelly and Lockwood are merely facilitators providing a mechanism through which the
reader can enter a world of Wuthering Heights and react in an individual fashion to the
events which transpire

Background

Wuthering Heights was published 1847, the only novel written by Emily Bronte. It was
published under the 'pen name' of Ellis Bell. Her life had been largely confined to the
village of Haworth, Yorkshire, where her father was a local vicar. Mrs. Bronte died
when the children were quite young and were reared by maiden aunts and
housekeepers. Very little formal education was experienced by the Brontes until they
decided on careers. All three sisters became published writers. Charlotte; "Jane Eyre",
Anne; "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" and Emily; "Wuthering Heights". The novel was
written between 1845 and 1847 and its first edition succeeded in selling only 7 copies.
The death of Emily in 1949 prompted Charlotte to write a preface to the second
edition, published in 1951. As Charlotte was a well known author in this height, the
book gained popularity and by the 20th century, the love story of Heathcliff and
Catherine became a classic of literature. The novel was influenced by the two styles of
the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The late 18th century was dominated by the
Gothic novel, in which the supernatural played the role. This reached its highest point
with the publication of "Dracula" by Brahm Stoker. This also influenced Mary Shelly to
write "Frankenstein". The early 19th century was dominated by the novels of Sir
Walter Scott and Jane Austin. These novelists were influenced by the romantic
movement of Wordsworth and Colderidge. Both of these influences are seen in
"Wuthering Heights", where the house itself and its inhabitants, the servants and the
dogs are typical of the Gothic novel, where Thrushcross Grange by contrast is more
typical of the world of Jane Austin. Therefore Wuthering Heights can be interpreted as
a compendium as both the Gothic and romantic novels of the periods immediately
proceeding 1847. Emily Bronte herself was the youngest of six children. Her father was
born Patrick Prunty on the 17 March 1777 in Co. Down. He was ambitious and won a
place at Cambridge, a magnificent achievement for the son of a story-teller. He
changed the spelling of his name to Bronte in about 1799, after Nelson was created
Duke of Bronte. When he left Cambridge he became a Church of England clergyman
and he married Marie Branwell in 1812. She was from Penzance in Cornwall, they had
6 children, 5 girls and 1 boy, Branwell. In 1820, the family moved to Haworth
Parsonage in Yorkshire, which was located on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, the
family lived there until he died in 1861. In 1821, tragedy struck the family with the
death of Marie, and the task of raising the family was then taken on by the mother's
sister. Her personality is reproduced in the character of Joseph in Wuthering Heights.
In 1824, 4 of the girls were sent to Cowanbridge Boarding School, to begin their
education, within a month 2 were dead due to the inhumane regime. The others, Emily
and Charlotte, returned home to be educated by their father. He had inherited his
fathers story-telling talents and he entertained his children in the Parsonage. In 1826,
Branwell received a present of a box of toy soldiers, the children gave each soldier a
name, invented a land where these characters would live, called Angria, while Emily
and Anne in turn invented another place called, Gondal, a practice then began of the
children writing chronicles of their own fabled country. In 1835, Emily was again sent
to the school of RoeHead, where Charlotte was a teacher, however she returned home
after 3 months. In 1837, she spent 6 months as a teacher in Halifax. Charlotte was of
the opinion that the sisters should open their own school, so in 1842, they went to
Brussels to approve their proficiencies in European languages, however they soon had
to return home for the funeral of their aunt and Emily never left Haworth again.
Charlotte then published a collection of their poems which sold only two copies. The
sisters then each decided to write a novel, Emily's Wuthering Heights seemed to be
both a commercial and literature failure when it was published in 1847. Meanwhile ,
their brother Branwell died in September 1848 and while attending his funeral, Emily
caught a chill and it developed into consumption, she refused all medical aid and died
on 19 December 1848. In 1850, Charlotte published a second edition of Wuthering
Heights to which she had written a preface, on this occasion it met with both critical
and commercial success, and by the end of the century it was regarded as one of the
greatest novels ever written.
Wuthering Heights’s Narrative Structure

Wuthering Heights has a fairly unorthodox narrative structure. Although there are only
two obvious narrators, Lockwood and Nelly Dean, a variety of other narratives appear
throughout the novel. The whole action is presented in the form of eyewitness
narrations by people who have played some part in the narration they describe.
Lockwood’s narrative is the outer framework of the story. He is the recipient of Nelly’s
story and she in turn is the recipient of other narratives. Nelly and Lockwood are
fundamentally different personalities and, therefore, each contribute to the reader’s
understanding of events and characters differently.
Lockwood is the outsider, coming into a world that he finds intimidating. He’s a city
gentleman who has stumbled on a primitive, uncivilized world that he doesn’t
understand, but which fascinates him. His fascination with Wuthering Heights leads to
the beginning of Nelly’s narrative. In the novel Lockwood presents the situation as he
sees it, the reader is thus brought closer to the action, seeing it through the eyes of the
narrator himself. The format of Lockwood’s narrative is that of a personal diary, which
allows an easy intimacy with an impartial character whose personality (self-conscious,
a little amusing) raises sympathy. Lockwood is intelligent and perceptive, and his
precise detailed descriptions are used to create subtle changes in situation and
character. Changes in character are hinted at by Lockwood’s sense for detail. He has
noticed changes in both Cathy and Hareton - Cathy once described by Lockwood as
"the little witch", now has "a voice as sweet as a silver bell". Hareton, described in the
opening chapters as a boor and a clown, has by the end of the novel become "a young
man respectably dressed" with "handsome features". Therefore, Lockwood plays the
role of a detached outsider and observer whose objective personality gives the reader
a trustworthy source. This brings a dimension to the novel that is quite different from
the perception provided by Nelly.
Nelly Dean’s narrative, although detailed, has a certain childish energy. She narrates as
if she were describing events that she had witnessed an hour ago. She sounds excited,
like everything she speaks of is vividly present to her. Nelly’s narrative makes the past
alive in the present. Because much of Nelly’s narrative is unfolded in the words of the
actual characters, the reader feels that the narrative is shaped by the events that
happened, not that the interpretation of events were shaped by the narrator. Nelly’s
sureness in relating her narrative seems to arise out of an astonishingly clear memory.
Nelly’s value is that she brings us very close to the action and is in one way deeply
engaged in it. The intimate affairs of the Grange and the Heights have taken up her
whole life. However, a value that she lacks is objectivity. Her position as a professional
housekeeper means that her interest in events is largely practical and that she is often
biased. She provides the inner frame of the narrative and we see this world of the
successive generations of Earnshaw’s and Linton’s through her eyes, although much of
the dialogue is that of the characters themselves. As a narrator reporting the past from
the present, she has the benefit of hindsight and can therefore depart from the
straight chronological narrative to hint at the future.
A major contrast between Nelly and Lockwood is that she, to an extent, is a character
within her own narrative, which causes several problems. At times she is involved in
the action she is now describing and therefore cannot be trusted to be objective. She
both encourages and discourages relationships. Her attitudes sometimes sway
between approval and disapproval, depending on her mood. This is primarily evident
in the role she plays in the love triangle between Heathcliff, Catherine and Edgar.
There is an ambivalence in Nelly’s attitude and this, combined with her nosy nature,
render her moral reputation inconsistent and even hypocritical. Despite these
shortcomings, she is a vigorous, lively narrator with a formidable memory whose
energy and tireless interests allow the reader an insight into the lives of characters.
In conclusion, the novel’s two main narrators provide disparate styles of narrating.
Lockwood is objective, reliable, and trustworthy, but lacks the “insider’s touch” that is
necessary for a lively narration. Nelly, on the other hand, has perhaps too much of the
“insider’s touch”, often being involved in the stories she recounts and rarely remaining
neutral. Together, the two narrators allow the reader to choose from the two sources
to gain the most accurate information. In doing so, one must keep in mind that a
certain narrator (particularly Nelly) is not trustworthy concerning certain people or
events that she has a personal interest in.

CONFLICT

The conflict of Wuthering Heights must be viewed on two levels:

Level 1 - Heathcliff's story

Protagonist

The main protagonist of the novel is Heathcliff, who was an orphan brought home to
live at Wuthering Heights. From the beginning, he was a "sullen, patient child;
hardened perhaps to ill-treatment." As he grew, he became even more dark, morose,
and gypsy-like, introducing strife into the peaceful lives of the Earnshaws and the
Lintons.

During the novel, Heathcliff is described as "rough as a saw- edge and hard as a
whinstone." His presence, like some brooding spirit of evil, darkly overshadows the
events of the whole story.

Antagonists

Heathcliff's antagonists are all the evil and demonic forces within him, especially his
vengefulness. Throughout the book, he is always plotting to get revenge for the poor
treatment he has received from various characters, such as the jealous and brutalizing
Hindley, the sulking Edgar Linton, the ambitious and ferociously intense Catherine, and
the infatuation-driven and foolish Isabella Linton.

Climax
The climax for Heathcliff is reached in the novel with the death of Catherine. She has
been the driving force of his life and his reason for living. After her death, he only
wants vengeance for all the wrongs done to him.

Outcome

Heathcliff's story ends in tragedy. At the end of the book, he dies a pathetic, lonely,
and bitter man.

Level 2 - The tale as a love story

Protagonist

Viewed as a tale that is bigger that Heathcliff, the protagonist of the novel becomes
the idea of love, in its true and purest form.

Antagonists

The antagonists to true love are all the things in the novel that stand between two
lovers committing themselves to one another. Although Heathcliff and Catherine
passionately profess their love to one another, they are separated because Catherine
has chosen to marry Edgar, a man who is more polished and civilized than Heathcliff.
The younger Cathy is forced by Heathcliff to marry Linton, whom she does not love. By
the end of the novel, however, she falls in love with and marries Hareton.

Climax

The climax occurs when Cathy and Hareton pledge their love to one another, proving
that true love can conquer many obstacles.

Outcome

At this level, the novel ends in comedy, for it is shown that love can overcome its
antagonists in life. The novel ends happily when Hareton and the young Cathy marry,
vacate the grim house on the Heights, and move to the Grange. Through their love,
many of the novel's painful conflicts are resolved. At the end of the novel, Catherine
and Heathcliff also are eternally united through death.

           

            THEMES

Major Theme

The major theme of the novel is love, especially that of Catherine and Heathcliff. It is
the product of their rebellion against Hindley and Joseph and the natural result of their
compatibility. Their love is realized only after death, but carried on symbolically by
young Cathy and Hareton.
Minor Themes

Heathcliff's revenge forms a minor theme of the novel. He works out a plan of
vengeance on both Hindley and Edgar. However, the spirit of Catherine prevents him
from bringing his plan to its conclusion.

The supernatural is another minor theme of the novel. Heathcliff, Cathy, Nelly, and
Lockwood are all subject to supernatural visions.

MOOD

The overall mood of Wuthering Heights is best described as somber and tragic. The
author says the plot is like a storm. On the last page of the novel, the reader sees the
phantoms of Heathcliff and the elder Cathy restlessly walking the Heights in rain and
thunder. However, there is a semblance of calm in Brontë's presentation of the
second-generation's story. It appears that the author is trying to resolve the basic
stormy conflict of the novel through the love of Cathy and Hareton. In contrast to the
restless Heathcliff and Cathy walking in the storm, Hareton and Cathy are seen on the
moors, peaceful and in love. They decide to leave Wuthering Heights, abandoning it to
the still restless spirits of Heathcliff and his Catherine.

            LITERARY / HISTORICAL INFORMATION

All Emily Brontë's girlhood was an unconscious preparation for the writing of
Wuthering Heights. In her preface to Wuthering Heights, Charlotte describes her
sister's feeling for the moors: "her native hills were far more to her than a spectacle;
they were what she lived in, and by, as much as the wild birds, their tenants, or as the
heather, their produce." Wandering over the moors in all seasons and weathers, Emily
Brontë loved them with as passionate and intimate a knowledge as that with which
she endowed her heroines of Wuthering Heights, the two Catherines. Those heathery
wastes around her home fed her imagination as vitally as they nourished her physical
well being. Emily Brontë's love and knowledge of her native place undoubtedly played
a powerful part in the writing of the novel, which Charlotte described as "moorish, and
wild, and knotty as a root of heath."

Emily might have taken the idea of Heathcliff's revenge from the Tales of Hoffman and
other German romances she read while at school in Brussels in 1842. The sources of
her characterization and incidents were various. As a child she had listened to the tales
of her father over the breakfast table. Some of these were weird Irish legends from his
youth. Others were lurid true stories of their own neighborhood in the recent past.
Emily's lively imagination eagerly absorbed all of his descriptions and changed some of
them into characters and events in Wuthering Heights.

In addition to all the tales she had heard, Emily Brontë had first- hand experience with
the wretched spectacle of masculine depravity. Branwell, the brother of Emily, had
high literary and artistic ambitions that were doomed to disappointment. Always in
trouble, and slowly destroying himself with drink and drugs, he was an unending
source of worry to his family. Emily's portrait of the disintegration of Hindley in
Wuthering Heights reflects Branwell's own disintegration

PLOT (STRUCTURE)

The structure of Wuthering Heights is not typical, for it is told as a flashback out of
chronological order. Emily Brontë, however, strives to tie all of the loose ends of the
story together by the last chapter. What was not understood by Lockwood or the
reader in the beginning chapter has been fully explained by the last one. In spite of the
broad span of time that passes in the book, the author also strives to weave the tale
into a unified whole by a repetition of theme, a small setting, and the constancy of
character in the person of Heathcliff, who dominates also the entire plot.

In actuality, the plot of the novel is divided into five different phases, which
correspond to the five stages in the plot of a classical drama. The brilliantly conceived
first section of the novel forms its exposition. It establishes the nature of the
inhabitants of Wuthering Heights, their relationships to each other, and the strange
atmosphere that surrounds them. Events in the novel are set in motion by the arrival
of Heathcliff, picked up as a waif of unknown parentage on the streets of Liverpool by
Mr. Earnshaw, who brings him home to raise as one of his own children. This opening
narrative, told by Nelly, deals mainly with the childhood and personalities of Heathcliff,
Catherine, and Hindley.

The real rising action of the novel's plot begins when Mr. Earnshaw passes away; his
death brings forth a quick succession of events that complicate the plot. Bullied and
humiliated by Hindley, Heathcliff develops a passionate and ferocious nature that finds
its complement in Earnshaw's daughter, Catherine. Their childhood affection develops
into an increasingly intense, though troubled, attachment to one another. Catherine,
however, decides to marry Edgar Linton, for he is wealthy and more polished than
Heathcliff, her true love. Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights before the marriage of
Catherine and Edgar takes place.

There are several key incidents that lead to the climactic moment of the novel.
Heathcliff returns three years later and finds the married Catherine is still attracted to
him, a fact that devastates her husband, Edgar. Heathcliff is allowed to stay at
Wuthering Heights with Hindley, who is now widowed with a son, Hareton; he has
become a hardened gambler and loses everything to Heathcliff. As a result, Heathcliff
becomes the master of Wuthering Heights and brings Hindley and Hareton completely
under his power. Ruled by a desire for vengeance, Heathcliff makes the two of them
suffer as he has previously suffered under Hindley's cruelty. As part of his revenge,
Heathcliff also marries Edgar Linton's sister, Isabella, and cruelly mistreats her. He also
unintentionally hastens Catherine's death, which is the point of climax for Heathcliff.

The unraveling of Heathcliff's revenge forms the falling action. He lures the young
Cathy, the daughter of Catherine and Edgar, to his house and forces a marriage
between her and his son, Linton. Since Linton is a sickly young man, Heathcliff knows
he will soon die, putting Heathcliff in a position to control both Thrushcross Grange
and Wuthering Heights. After Linton's death, he forces Cathy to stay on at the Heights,
a situation that allows an affection to spring forth between her and Hareton. She does
her best to educate him and eventually falls in love with him. Heathcliff's desire for
revenge eventually wears out, and he allows Cathy and Hareton to pursue their
relationship. All Heathcliff longs for now is death, which will at last reunite him with
Catherine.

The denouement, or conclusion, of the novel is reached with the death of Heathcliff. In
and through Heathcliff's death there is the promise that the two contrasting worlds
and moral orders represented by the Heights and the Grange will be united in the next
generation in the union of Cathy and Hareton.

            AUTHOR'S STYLE

Wuthering Heights is unique for many reasons. It is told by several different narrators,
including Nelly Dean and Lockwood. It is also told as a flashback, not entirely in
chronological order. It is also an interesting study in the Yorkshire dialect, even though
the dialogue can sometimes be a little stiff and artificial. The language used by Nelly
seems particularly improbable, coming as it does from a housekeeper, no matter how
well read she may be. It seems improbable, too, that Nelly should recall so many
conversations verbatim after a period of many years.

The images in the novel, which are vivid and powerful, contribute to its style. The
figures of speech are effective. Nelly describes Edgar's reluctance to leave the Heights
after his quarrel with Catherine through a powerful metaphor: "He possessed the
power to depart, as much as a cat possesses the power to leave a mouse half killed, or
a bird half eaten." Heathcliff says of Edgar: "I'll crush his ribs like a rotten hazel nut."
Edgar's growing interest in Cathy after the death of his wife is described in the
following manner: "for a few days . . . he seemed regardless of the puny successor to
the departed: that coldness melted as fast as snow in April." These are but a few
examples of Emily Brontë's picturesque style.

One of the most striking features of Emily Brontë's style is its lyrical quality. Among the
most celebrated in the novel is the young Cathy's description of her ideal way of
spending a summer day, contrasted with that of her cousin Linton. "He wanted all to
lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee." The
prose rhythms of Cathy's description almost cry out to be sung. All the 'm' sounds in
Linton's description, such as "morning," "middle of the moors," and "bees humming
dreamily among the bloom" convey exactly the desired impression of lazy drowsiness.
With Cathy's description the prose at once becomes brisker and full of movement. She
uses verbs like "rocking," "blowing," "flitting," and "undulating (in waves to the
breeze)." They help to build a picture of sparkling, dancing vitality. The last sentence in
the novel is a good example of Emily Brontë's unfailing sense of rhythm: "I lingered
round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath
and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered
how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
The language of the novel also characterizes human beings, establishing the cultural
differences between man and the social world he enters. Lockwood's speech is
pompous, mannered, bookish, and delightfully free from dialect. In spite of his lack of
education, Heathcliff is able to address Lockwood, the stranger, with elaborate
politeness. Joseph's language is different from the language Catherine uses. His is the
typical dialect spoken by a servant, while Catherine's speech is typical of a well-to-do
young lady who grew up in the country. Nelly Dean's language is a fine specimen of
standard English with a slight regional flavor. The language successfully reveals part of
each character's background.

SYMBOLISM AND IMAGERY

Emily Bronte uses both symbolism and imagery in her novel. The two houses,
Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, are highly symbolic. The Heights
represents a "storm," whereas the Grange stands for "calm." Lockwood explains the
meaning of "wuthering" as "descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station
is exposed in stormy weather." Brontë takes pains to stress the house's ordinary,
unfinished, and provincial nature. But its chief characteristic is exposure to the power
of the wind, which makes it appear fortress-like. It is an appropriate house for the
Earnshaw family: they are the fiery, untamed children of the storm, especially
Heathcliff, the foundling. On the other hand, Thrushcross Grange is set in a civilized
valley and stands in a sheltered park. Here, the effects of weather are always gentler,
filtered, and diluted. The Grange is a house of soft, clinging luxury, and its inhabitants
are guarded by servants and bulldogs. It is "a splendid place," rich, carpeted and
cushioned with crimson. In contrast to the Heights, it belongs to "civilization," which
values comfort more than life itself. Thus, it is a natural home for the children of calm:
the gentle, passive and timid Lintons.

Animal imagery is used by Emily Brontë to project her insights into human character.
Catherine describes Heathcliff as a wolfish man. Isabella Linton, after she becomes his
wife, compares him to "a tiger, or a venomous serpent." Nelly Dean sees his despair
after Catherine's death as not like that of a man, but of a savage beast. Heathcliff
himself, when he wishes to insult his enemies, compares them to animals. However,
these are not wild creatures he respects for their strength, but gentler animals that he
despises. Edgar Linton is "a lamb" that "threatens like a bull." Linton, Heathcliff's son, is
a "puling chicken." Heathcliff hates Hindley Earnshaw because he sees him as the
author of all his misfortunes. When he dies before the arrival of the doctor, Heathcliff
brutally says that "the beast has changed into carrion."

Symbolism is implicit also in various events of the novel. For example, on the fateful
night of Heathcliff's departure from the Heights, the storm comes "rattling over the
Heights in full fury." It symbolizes the storm that eventually destroys the lives of Cathy
and Heathcliff. Then again, after three years, on Heathcliff's return, he and Cathy meet
by the light of fire and candlelight, symbolizing the warmth of their affection for one
another. In these ways, and many others, images and symbols in Wuthering Heights
add meaning to characters, theme, tone, and mood.
           

            THEMES

Major Theme

The major theme of the novel is love. This theme is developed with constant
references to the special affinity that exists between Heathcliff and Catherine. It is the
product of a mutual rebellion against the harsh regime of Hindley and Joseph. From
another point of view, it is also the product of their rebellion against the kind of adult
tyranny exercised against children in the period in which they lived. Their own strong
personalities, coupled with their various mistakes and failures, compound their
problems. Consequently, life keeps them apart, even though they both pledge their
love and devotion to one another.

Catherine is a prisoner of her own class and upbringing. The situation is further
complicated by the fact that one part of her genuinely loves Edgar and genuinely
desires the kind of life he represents. But she is telling an undeniable truth when she
says that her love for Heathcliff "resembles the eternal rocks beneath." She knows that
the love that she has for Heathcliff is something very special and beyond comparison.
Nevertheless, she accepts Edgar's proposal of marriage even though she feels guilty for
betraying Heathcliff. For some time she hopes to have the best of both worlds by
marrying Edgar and retaining Heathcliff as a friend. But such compromises are
inevitably doomed to fail. She is in an impossible situation, caught between
irreconcilable forces.

Heathcliff also begins to undergo degeneration in the process. He too tramples on the
special bond that ties him and Catherine so closely together. Their feelings become
distorted into bitterness and hatred. As a result, Catherine dies an early death, and
Heathcliff becomes a bitter, vengeful man. The reunion with Catherine, for which
Heathcliff so longs, is denied to him by her parting. It is only through death that they
can be eternally united. Appropriately, after Heathcliff's death their spirits are seen
wandering together on the moors.

            In order to give a more positive view of love than the troubled relationship
between Catherine and Heathcliff, Emily Bronte brings together a younger generation
that can pursue true love. Even though young Cathy, Catherine's daughter, is forced by
Heathcliff to marry Edgar, his son, she rises above her problems. When her husband
dies, Cathy develops an attachment for Hareton and eventually marries him out of true
love. At the end of the novel, they plan to leave Wuthering Heights forever to begin a
fresh, new life together at Thrushcross Grange. In the end, Wuthering Heights emerges
as a truly great novel that affirms love's glory, both in life and death.

Minor Themes

The theme of revenge is also very important to the entire novel. As an "orphan" child
growing up at Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is abused by Hindley, who is jealous about
his father's affection for this gypsy outsider. When old Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley's
treatment of Heathcliff grows more brutal. The only thing that makes his life bearable
is the attention paid to him by Catherine, Hindley's sister. Then she betrays him and
marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff is devastated and promises to get revenge on both the
Lintons and the Earnshaws. He goes away for three years and amasses some wealth so
that he can put his plan of revenge into motion.

Upon his return to the Heights, Heathcliff becomes a cruel and unfeeling demon as he
carries out his plan. In vengeance, he marries, Isabella, the simple and infatuated sister
of Edgar Linton. He mistreats Hareton, Hindley's son, in much the same way he has
been mistreated. He takes advantage of the drunken, gambling Hindley, winning
Wuthering Heights from him as the collateral for his gambling losses. In fact, it is
revenge that dominates Heathcliff's life and the second half of the novel.

In the end, Heathcliff is unable to fully carry out his plan of revenge against Hareton
and Cathy because they remind Heathcliff so much of Catherine and himself. He,
therefore, finally abandons his vengeful plans and waits for death to reunite him with
his beloved Catherine.

The Supernatural as a theme

The supernatural element in the novel issues from Brontë's intense awareness of an
unseen world beyond the tangible, visible earth. A connection with this other world is
vitally important to many of the characters of the novel. Heathcliff declares, "I have a
strong faith in ghosts. . .I have a conviction that they can, and do, exist among us!"
Even the practical Nelly believes that Heathcliff himself may be a fiend, a visitor from
another world. Catherine, too, relates her dream of having been flung out of heaven to
Wuthering Heights. When she is delirious, she vows that she will not lie in the
churchyard alone without Heathcliff; and she keeps her word, for her sprit haunts him
for the remainder of his mortal life. When Heathcliff finally dies, Joseph and many
other local people swear that they have seen his and Cathy's ghosts wandering in the
night together on the moors. This pervasive presence of and references to ghosts
contribute to the supernatural element in Wuthering Heights.

STYLE

Emily Bronte's language is both spare and dense, which is why 

it's often compared to poetry. When you finish the novel, you 
have a firm sense of the bleak beauty of the moors, for 
instance, yet there are remarkably few descriptions of the 
landscape. What is there is immediately evocative.

Her prose is also unusually rhythmic, often violent and abrupt. 

The verbs themselves are almost hysterical, until the final 
paragraph, in which the moths "flutter" and the soft winds 
"breathe."
Her two sources of imagery are nature (animals, plants, fire, 
the land, the weather) and the supernatural (angel/devil, 
heaven/hell). These are evident in the words she uses and the 
mental pictures she evokes.

            POINT OF VIEW

There is no single point of view in this novel. The story is told 

by Lockwood, by Catherine, by Ellen Dean, by Heathcliff, by 
Isabella, by the younger Cathy, and by Zillah, the other 
housekeeper. Since the author never explicitly tells you what to 
think, you must evaluate the story in the same way that you 
evaluate each of the characters telling it.

            Lockwood and Ellen, who tell most of the story, appear more 
"normal" than most of the people they talk about (Lockwood is 
a conventional man about town, despite his brief sojourn to 
Yorkshire, and Ellen displays a practical, homespun wisdom), 
but you can't overlook their biases. Neither of them can 
appreciate the passion between Heathcliff and Catherine. You 
as a reader, can, however. You can see much more than any 
single character can tell you. Evaluating what each character 
says helps to draw you into the book.

           

            FORM AND STRUCTURE

Part of what makes Wuthering Heights such an extraordinary 

novel is its complicated narrative structure. Although telling a 
story from different, limited points of view has become 
common in this century, when Emily Bronte was writing, most 
novels featured an omniscient narrator-someone (often, but not 
always the author) who was not a character in the book, but 
who could address the reader, comment on the action, and 
describe the thoughts and feelings of any of the people in the 
story. Wuthering Heights broke the mold; it is told solely by 
characters in the book, most notably Mr. Lockwood and Ellen 
Dean, although portions of Ellen's narrative include stories told 
to her by others.

            The narrative itself consists of stories-within-stories-within- 

stories. Take a look, for instance, at Joseph's description of the 
dissipation at Wuthering Heights after Heathcliff's return. It is 
quoted in Ellen's warning to Isabella against Heathcliff, which 
is in her story to Lockwood, which is in Lockwood's story to 
you. Early readers were put off by this, seeing it as 
unnecessarily complicated and confusing; but most readers 
today view it as one of the novel's great strengths.

This book is full of doubles. There are two generations, each 

occupying half the chapters. There are two households, each 
with distinctive qualities. And the actions revolve around pairs 
of children (Heathcliff and Cathy, the younger Cathy and 
Linton, the younger Cathy and Hareton).

            Heathcliff and Cathy die without making a fact of the oneness 

they both feel is theirs. To Emily Bronte, their marriage is 
unthinkable. It can happen only as distant parody: the marriage 
of Hareton and Cathy the younger at the end of the book. 
Hareton is a watered-down Heathcliff; Cathy is a pale, though 
still vivacious, replica of her mother. [Wuthering Heights and 
Jane Eyre] end similarly: a relatively mild and ordinary 
marriage is made after the spirit of the masculine universe is 
controlled or extinguished.

Richard Chase, in Twentieth Century Interpretations, 1947

Heathcliff's revenge may involve a pathological condition of 

hatred, but it is not at bottom merely neurotic. It has a moral 
force. For what Heathcliff does is to use against his enemies 
with complete ruthlessness their own weapons, to turn on them 
(stripped of their romantic veils) their own standards, to beat 
them at their own game. The weapons he uses against the 
Earnshaws and Lintons are their own weapons of money and 
arranged marriages. He gets power over them by the classic 
methods of the ruling class, expropriation and property deals.

Arnold Kettle, An Introduction to the English Novel, 1951

Any choice between "the Heights" and "the Grange," any 

writing up and writing down, will be the manufacture of the 
critic, not the novelist. Emily Bronte's places of the heart are 
not stages in the development of the highest self, but totally 
different ideas of love, speaking different languages. What we 
do in reading the book is learn to understand the two 
architectures, and begin to measure the full and complex 
implications of their opposition, revealed to us with scrupulous 
objectivity.

Mark Kinkead-Weekes, in Twentieth Century Interpretations, 

1970

None of the other Victorians can successfully describe a death 

scene. Awestruck at so tremendous a task, they lose their 
creative nerve; their imaginations boggle and fail, and they fill 
up the gaps left by its absence with conventional formulas. A 
stagey light of false tragic emotion floods the scene; the figures 
become puppets, squeaking out appropriately touching or noble 
sentiments. But Emily Bronte's eagle imagination gazed with 
as undaunted an eye on death, as on everything else. The light 
she sheds on it is the same light that pervades her whole scene, 
and it is the light of day.

David Cecil, Early Victorian Novelists,

Figures of Speech

Following are examples of figures of speech in the novel:

Alliteration 
Repetition of a consonant sound

Chapter 2:......the first feathery flakes of a snow-shower.  

Chapter 5:......suspected slights of his authority nearly threw him into fits.  
Chapter 5:......heaping the heaviest blame on the latter.  
Chapter 7:......fingers wonderfully whitened with doing nothing and staying indoors. 
Chapter 17:... you may fancy my first fright was not much allayed. . . .
Hyperbole 
Exaggeration not intended to be taken literally
Chapter 27:....every breath from the hills so full of life, that it seemed whoever
respired it, though dying, might revive.
Metaphor 
Comparison of unlike things without using like, as, or than
Chapter 7:......Joseph and I joined at an unsociable meal, seasoned with reproofs. . . .  
(Comparison of reproofs to condiments) 
Chapter 10:....the stab of a knife could not inflict a worse pang than he suffered at
seeing his lady vexed. (Comparison of the effect of vexation to a knife) 
Chapter 17:... ignoble as it seems to insult a fallen enemy, I couldn't miss this chance of
sticking in a dart (Comparison of an insult to a dart) 
Chapter 32:....one thin, blue wreath, curling from the kitchen chimney (Comparison of
a wreath to a curl of smoke)
Onomatopoeia 
Word that imitates a sound
Chapter 9:......huge bough fell across the roof, and knocked down a portion of the east
chimney-stack, sending a clatter of stones and soot into the kitchen-fire.  
Chapter 32:....she heard the slight rustle of the covering being removed. . . . 
Paradox 
Contradictory statement that may actually be true
Chapter 5:......she was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once. . . . 
Chapter 17:... a melancholy sweeter than common joy. 
Personification 
Comparison of thing to a person

"But where did he come from, the little dark thing, harboured by a good man to his
bane?" muttered Superstition, as I dozed into unconsciousness. (Comparison of
superstition to a person)

Simile 
Comparison of unlike things using like, as, or than

Chapter 3:......a glare of white letters started from the dark, as vivid as spectres.
(Comparison of the glare to ghosts) 
Chapter 5:......We all kept as mute as mice a full half-hour. . . . (Comparison of people
to mice) 
Chapter 15.....he gnashed at me, and foamed like a mad dog. . . . (Comparison of a man
to a dog)  
Chapter 18.....after the first six months, she grew like a larch. . . . (Comparison of a
baby to a pine tree)

Setting

The story begins in 1801, then flashes back to the 1770's and eventually returns to the
early 1800's. The locale is the Yorkshire moors in northern England. A moor is tract of
mostly treeless wasteland where heather thrives and water saturates the earth. The
action takes place at two estates, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, about
four miles apart. When the story begins, Mr. Lockwood—a visitor to the moors—
establishes the remoteness and isolation of the setting: "This is certainly a beautiful
country!  In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so
completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and
Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us." 

Type of Work

Wuthering Heights is a novel of romance, revenge, and tragedy. It exhibits many

characteristics of the so-called Gothic novel, which focuses on dark, mysterious events.
The typical Gothic novel unfolds at one or more creepy sites, such as a dimly lit castle,
an old mansion on a hilltop, a misty cemetery, a forlorn countryside, or the laboratory
of a scientist conducting frightful experiments. In some Gothic novels, characters
imagine that they see ghosts and monsters. In others, the ghosts and monsters are
real. The weather in a Gothic novel is often dreary or foul: There may be high winds
that rattle windowpanes, electrical storms with lightning strikes, and gray skies that
brood over landscapes. (The word wuthering refers to violent wind.) The Gothic novel
derives its name from the Gothic architectural style popular in Europe between the
12th and 16th centuries. Gothic structures—such as cathedrals—featured cavernous
interiors with deep shadows, stone walls that echoed the footsteps of worshippers,
gargoyles looming on exterior ledges, and soaring spires suggestive of a supernatural
presence.
Publication

Wuthering Heights was published in December 1847 by Thomas Newby under the

pseudonym Ellis Bell. The novel—assumed to be the work of a man—did not receive
immediate critical claim because it offended Victorian moral sensibilities. About a year
after Emily Brontë's death in December 1848, her sister, Charlotte (author of Jane
Eyre), revealed Emily as the author of Wuthering Heights in a second edition of the
novel, and the novel eventually received the praise it deserved.

Themes

Theme 1: Love gone wrong. Relationships in Wuthering Heights are like the moors:
dark, stormy, twisted. Cathy loves Heathcliff but marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff loves
Cathy but marries Isabella Linton. Mr. Earnshaw loves his adopted son, Heathcliff,
better than his biological son, Hindley, causing Hindley to despise Heathcliff. Linton
and young Cathy are forced to marry. 
Theme 2: Cruelty begets cruelty. Hindley’s maltreatment of Heathcliff helps turn the
latter into a vengeful monster. In developing this theme, Emily Brontë is ahead of her
time, demonstrating that suffering abuse as a child can lead to inflicting abuse as an
adult. 
Theme 3: Revenge. Heathcliff’s desire to get even against all who wronged him is at
times so strong that it subverts his other emotions, including love. 
Theme 4: Lure of Success and Social Standing. Cathy marries Edgar after becoming
infatuated with his image as a cultured gentleman with wealth enough to meet her
every need. Isabella marries Heathcliff after becoming infatuated with an idealized,
romantic image of him. 
Theme 5: Class distinctions. Heathcliff’s fury erupts after Cathy decides to marry “up”
into the world of the Lintons, and not down into the world of Heathcliff. 
Theme 6: Fate. The entire novel depends on the forces unleashed when Mr. Earnshaw
happens upon an orphan child, Heathcliff, on a street in Liverpool and returns with him
to Wuthering Heights. 
Theme 7: Prejudice. The upper crust, the Lintons, look down upon the lower crust,
Heathcliff and his kind. 
Theme 8: The moors as a reflection of life around them (or vice versa) and life beyond.
The dark, stormy moors—where only low-growing plants such as heather thrive—
symbolize the passionate and sometimes perverted emotional lives of the residents of
Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. In the gloomy wasteland, the Yorkshire
folk, including Heathcliff himself, sometimes report seeing ghosts of people buried in
the moors.